Workbench Wednesday - MR&T Hopper: Part 2

     A few weeks ago, I put together an Accurail hopper kit.  I was waiting for FRA reflector strips to arrive, and they did.  FRA reflectors became a requirement for railcars starting in 2005.  They are placed on the side of cars to provide warning to motor vehicles at night that a train is passing on the tracks.  It's especially important at unprotected crossings in the nighttime.  The stipes reflect off the headlights as the train passes.

    I ordered FRA reflectors from Smokebox Graphics.  As opposed to waterslide decals, these are very thin stickers (0.005") that actually reflect light.  Directions are provided on the packaging as to where to place them on a railcar.  They are easy to apply, and I like how they look.  I also ordered a set of the FRA strips as waterslide decals just in case I didn't like the reflective stickers.  I'll put them to good use on future cars.  I have plenty of freight cars that need these stripes.

Before

After

Layout Tour #6: The Don Valley

 The last part of Toronto on the layout, the eastern-most part, is the Don Valley.  In the Don Valley section of the layout is GO Transit's Don Yard.  This is a new (new for 2006) layover yard where GO commuter trains wait until they are needed for the morning and evening rush hour schedule.  

Next to Don Yard is the spur track heading to the Toronto Portlands.  If I had more space on my layout, I would have built the Toronto Portlands.  Since it wouldn't fit, I have this spur to house a couple chemical tank cars that are needed at the Ashbridge Sewage Treatment Plant.

On the other end of GO's Don Yard is the Don Valley Parkway. (DVP).  Scenery-wise, this is my favorite section of the layout.  The DVP follows the Don River deep into the valley as the highway makes its way to Highway 401.  The DVP is one of the primary routes to get from the suburbs into Downtown Toronto.  On the other side of the river is the Lower Don Recreation Trail.  If you look down the river, you'll see one of the bridges the trail uses to cross the water.  The scene includes the arched Gerrard Street overpass.  To the right of the overpass is a hydro substation.  The backdrop in this part of the layout is an actual image of the DVP and Don Valley. 

On the Layout: Brockville Background Buildings

    I've had these three Woodland Scenics building facades taped to the backdrop behind Brockville station since I finished this part of the layout.  When I first got these, I did a quickly spray painted them.  They have needed some attention and I decided to give it to them.  Each building's trim was painted.  The window glazing was spray painted black. Finally, then they were attached to the wall.  

    I also stained the fence to give it a weathered look.  I was hoping I could fit a few thin trees between buildings, but the station is just too close.  I may still add one along the sidewalk right up against the backdrop.

Workbench Wednesday - Signal Shack

     A few months ago, I was looking at pictures I had taken in Toronto back in 2010.   I was trying to decide what details are needed along the right of way though the Toronto Union Station Rail Corridor.  I noticed this shack in the middle of all of these tracks in one of my pictures.  Since taking this picture the shack has been replaced with an electrical control cabinet.  I'm guessing that the shack housed electrical components that worked with the corridor's interlocking system.  The Toronto Terminals Railway replaced the interlocking system with a more modern system, I think they demolished the shack and replaced it with the cabinet. 

Screenshot from Youtube video posted by TransitQuebec

I ordered a Fos Scale Model's Crossing Shed.  It's not a perfect match, but the dimensions of the shed work well with the space I have between the track heading toward Union Station.  This is a wood kit that I was able to build in a day.  I replaced one of the window frames with a piece of scrap wood from the kit to represent a piece of plywood this has been used to board-up a window.  

    The real Toronto Terminal Railway, the company that operates the rail corridor around Union Station, has been working for years to replace the interlocking system installed in the 1930's.  The Globe and Mail did a story on the system and published this video a few years ago.

Fleet Friday - CN's GTW Heritage SD70-M2

     I've been looking forward to picking this locomotive up from The Steam Shack.  This is Athearn Genesis's model of Canadian National's SD70-M2 painted in the Grand Trunk Western heritage scheme.  CN painted a number of their locomotives in railway schemes that became part of CN as they celebrated their 25th anniversary as a publicly traded company.  I picked the GTW locomotive for two reasons.  First, it was a scheme that used to run through my hometown as part of the Central Vermont Railway.  Second, the Kingston Subdivision, the rail line between Toronto and Montreal was originally part of the Grand Trunk Railway.  Athearn did a great job with the locomotive.  It looks, runs, and sounds great.

Workbench Wednesday - MR&T Hopper

    I recently purchased an Accurail MR&T (Milwaukee, Racine & Troy) Three-bay Covered Hopper from the Kalmbach Hobby Store.  It's been a while since I put a "shake box" kit together.  Accurail does a great job with their car kits.  They include the right amount of detail for a freight car and the assembly process is fairly straight-forward.  I swapped out the wheels with Intermountain 33" metal wheelset and used Kadee whisker couplers instead of the ones in the kit.   I've ordered FRA stripes from Smokebox Graphics to bring the car up to 2006 railcar standards.  The decals should be here in a few days.

Before...

...after.

    The MR&T is the fictitious Model Railroader magazine's office layout.  This layout is massive.  I was able to visit the Model Railroader offices a few years ago on a work trip to Wisconsin.  It was on my bucket list to visit the MR&T in person after seeing it in the magazine for decades.  The layout did not disappoint!

Fleet Friday - New Budd Cars

    The layout just added three new passenger cars to the roster.  These VIA Rail cars are Budd cars built in the 1950s.  The latest cars are baggage-dorm cars and manor sleeper cars.  These Budd cars are part of VIA's Canadian Train.  The Canadian is a long-haul passenger train that runs twice a week from Toronto to Vancouver.  The train consists of baggage-dorm cars, coaches, diner cars, mid-dome skyline cars, manor sleepers, chateau sleepers, and a park car.  There are normally ten or more cars that make up this train.  With the addition of the baggage-dorms and manor sleepers, I only need a diner car and some chateau sleepers to make the complete Canadian (hint hint Rapido).  

VIA Rail Baggage-Dorm #8609

VIA Rail Dawson Manor (Abbott Manor is not pictured but just ahead of this car)

Workbench Wednesday: Rue Courcelle Crossing Installation

    During my winter vacation I worked on installing the crossing circuits for my Rue Courcelle grade crossing.  The circuit boards, Grade Crossing Pro/2 and Grade Crossing Pro/2 Expander are made by Logic Rail Technologies.  The layout uses Logic Rail products on the Perth Street crossing in Brockville.  The GCP/2 will also be used on the Oshawa crossing.  I am working on getting everything wired on a sheet of plywood.  Once I have the wiring done on this, I'll mount it under the layout and then connect the wires from the crossing signals and (de)activation sensors. 

Logic Rail Technologies's Grade Crossing Pro/2 and GCP2/Expander.  The red and green wires will connect all crossing signal lights (left and right).  There is a crossing bell sound module and speaker.  The expander allows the crossing to function with more than one track.  Missing from this is all the wiring for the sensors to activate and deactivate the crossing.