Pushing Forward
Club members have been busy moving ahead with preparations for the Open House on Saturday, December 10th. Roadbed is going down, foam has been painted to eliminate the Pepto Bismol look, amd track will soon be laid. We’re using Peco code 100 flex track for the HO layout (the N layout is using Peco code 70).
From boxcar to wood chip car: an actual project carried out by the Ontario Northland.
Club member Brian has been busy converting a series of HO scale boxcars to woodchip service on his home layout. Brian writes:
"Between 1969 - 1972 the ONR converted 44 boxcars into wood chip gondolas and numbered them 7300 - 7344. Similarly, I took 6 of my ONR 40' boxcars and converted them into 40' wood chip gondolas. Basically, cut the roofs off, extended the car sides by 26'', built new doors, strip, primed, repainted, and decals from Highball Graphics [F-347]."
That's quite the project, and the end result is unique and impressive.
Perspective is everything.
Scott has been designing an HO scale ore dock for the club layout based on the CN prototype that delivered ore from Atikokan's Steep Rock Mine to waiting ships at Port Arthur (Thunder Bay) from the 1940s to 1980s. With help from Jeff, they appear to be getting closer to a match, with some changes to come. Jeff provided the photo below with the initial test pieces held side-by-side to the real thing, part of which still juts out into Lake Superior.
Scott used Google Earth to estimate the dimensions and Sketchup to draw the model for 3D printing.
Stay tuned for more 3D printed project features.
The good model railroading weather has returned.
Well, Labour Day is behind us. Thunder Bay's long summer evenings are drawing in and there's a chill in the early morning air. That means one thing: model railroading season is back in full swing!
Stay tuned for updates this month as both the N and HO layouts progress with their respective track plans. We'll also be talking to Fiona Gardiner on September 14th for her regular "Around Town" segment on CKPR Television. Some of the members are looking forward to various train shows this fall, too, including Manitoba Mega Train in Winnipeg on September 24-25th and Trainfest in Milwaukee, WI, on November 12-13th.
In the meantime, here's some recent progress on the N scale layout. Laurie was busy in August sculpting the interior walls of Flett Tunnel, which will be a signature scene not only for the N scale layout but for the club in general. Great work, Laurie!
Adding decals to a fleet of steam locos.
TBMR member Will Annand has been busy adding custom Credit Valley Railway decals to his fleet of nineteen N scale steam locomotives.
"Spent the afternoon decaling my locomotives. From a distance they look great, I am happy with them. I still have some work to do. I decided to photo all of them for inventory purposes."
Will says that five of the locos will reside on unpowered spurs around the turntable in his Orangeville yard and the 1880's locomotives will have their numbers on the roof of the cab.
Top shelf...where Grandma keeps the cookies.
Now that’s “top shelf”! Chris and Greg completed the third level of the N layout this evening. This level will be used for staging and storage.
As Greg wrote on the club’s Facebook page:
“All 3 levels up and foamed in the “N” room. Time to finish the helix and start laying some track. Chris has been driving this project. Won’t be long now.”
Pushing Forward Club members have been busy moving ahead with preparations for the Open House on Saturday, December 10th. Roadbed is going d...
