On the Layout: Construction at Union Station

    A building as big as Toronto Union Station, it's always needing repairs.  Work is just beginning on the track-facing side of the station.  This temporary wall will keep passengers and staff using Platform 1 from getting mixed-up with the construction.

The wall is just .040 styrene with some scribed lines to show the door frames and different wood panels that make up the wall.  The wall is backed with some styrene strips across the top and horizontally on the sides and center to keep it standing.  I gave the wall a coat of white primer and weathered it with a wash of India Ink and 70% Isopropyl Alcohol.  Construction signs were added for detail.

    

Layout Tour #8 - Port Hope

     Welcome to Port Hope, Ontario.  Port Hope is a little more than 100 km east of Toronto and is on the shore of Lake Ontario.  The Port Hope Viaduct is a double track trestle bridge.  

To the west of the Port Hope Viaduct is an A-Frame hidden in the woods.  I really like this building.  It was one I wanted to make sure was on the layout.  I detailed the cottage with Adirondack chairs.  There is also a black lab waiting on the deck and a ginger cat waiting in the window for their owner to return.  The A-Frame is a Faller building and the figures are from Mini-Prints.

    On the east side of the viaduct is the Cameco Corporation.  Cameco is a uranium conversion facility.  It produces fuel for nuclear power plants.  It is rail served.  CN delivers tank cars of Hydrogen Fluoride Anhydrous throughout the week.  I scratch built the facility.  There are still a few details and some signage I need to add.

I added a model fusee on the crossing outside of the Cameco facility.  Fusees are road flares railroads use to catch the attention of motorists as they approach a grade crossing that needs additional protection.  Fusees are being uses at this crossing because of limited visibility on the hill and because the rail crew conducts several movements across the crossing as they move tank cars into and out of the facility.

Happy Father's Day 2023!

     My father has helped with my hobby since the very beginning.  He spent many hours making my first layout, The Pine Hollow, something I'll always remember.  He was the master electrician, track layer, and structure builder on that layout.  This is my favorite layout structures he made.  He scratch-built this covered bridge in the early 1990's.  It's made its way on two of my three layouts.  Although I didn't have room on the Toronto, Montreal & Brockville, it remains out for people to see when they visit.  My father's craftsmanship really shows in this bridge.  

    He continues to help with layout construction.  He built most of the benchwork for the TM&B.  I've loved working with him on layouts through the years.

    Happy Father's Day to him and all the fathers out there!

Workbench Wednesday - Replacing Wheelsets

     I have over 200 pieces of rolling stock.  It's the result of collecting railcars for many decades.  Some of these cars still have plastic wheelsets.  As cars are being brought out of staging the ones with plastic wheelsets are being replaced.  My preference is Intermountain's metal wheels.  I appreciate that you can buy them in box of 100.  I do not paint my wheels.  I might someday, but I'm okay with their natural metal look for now.

Three Walthers hoppers are getting their plastic wheelsets replaced with 33" Intermountain metal wheelsets.

On the Layout - Right of Way Mission Accomplished (For Now)

     I have finished adding the right of way details to my Union Station corridor.  They add some interest to a larger area of track and ballast.  More may be added as time goes on.  

    I know I want to add a few track crew workers, but I don't want to overdo it.  I have some Osborn Models wire reels on order.  I'll put one of these by the communications shed, just like I saw in one of my prototype photos, but that will be the last of it until I decide to install the dwarf signals to the right of way.  

    There is the possibility that I've installed some of these incorrectly, but that is okay with me.  In this case ignorance is bliss.

Trackside Photo #1

 

Grain train 874 is being led by CN 5624 as it crosses the Port Hope viaduct heading west with empty grain cars.

Workbench Wednesday: Poly Dome Markers

     I've been a subscriber to Model Railroader Video Plus (now Trains.com) for several years.  One of the episodes of Cody's Workshop demonstrated how to make right of way features.  The host went step by step in how to make poly dome markers to identify buried cables.  I decided I would give it a try since I've been on this detailing the right of way kick.

    I started by cutting .040" styrene rods into 8 scale foot sections.  Actually, I started with .047" styrene, because I didn't have .040" styrene, but I included it in an online order I placed during the week.   The order arrived before the weekend, and I liked how the .040" styrene looks compared to the .047".  I used my Northwest Chopper to speed up the process of cutting.  If you've never used one of these, it makes cutting styrene or wood strip a piece of cake, especially if you need to make several cuts of the same length. 

    

    Poly domes have a rounded top.  I used a tool called a Wire Rounder to round off the tops of the rods.  The effect is subtle but makes a difference.  I picked up my Wire Rounder at JoAnn Fabrics here in town.

    

    Depending on what is buried the color of the top of the dome varies.  I am modeling buried communication cables and so I painted the top 18 scale inches Poly Scale Utility Orange (no longer available).  I let the paint dry and scraped off any paint that ended up below the 18-scale inch mark.  I just used a hobby knife to scrape it off.   

    I started installing these near grade crossings and other spots along the CN mainline.  I started by trimming the styrene so that the markers did not look so big, I had them sticking up about 4 scale feet from the ground.  I then put a t-pin into the roadbed along the right of way or drilled into the benchwork needed.  White glue was applied to the bottom of the poly dome marker.  This was a pretty simple project to do and adds just a little bit more realistic detail to the layout. 

Fleet Friday: Amtrak Turboliner

     I got sucked into the hype around the release of Rapido's Amtrak RTL Turboliner.  These trainsets ran from the 1970's to the early 2000's along many Northeast routes.  They look amazing and they really are models that make you want to own a set even though you don't model Amtrak.  

    

    Although Amtrak does make an appearance on my layout with trains in both Toronto and Montreal, I just didn't feel I could justify paying for a set that would run on such a small portion of my layout.  In a moment of compromise, I ordered one of the extra coach cars in the Phase V scheme.  I think it'll look great as part of a train arriving at Union Station every once in a while.

   

     My unnumbered coach car arrived last weekend and it really is impressive.  It's full of the detail that Rapido is known for.  I also ordered replacement couplers for my car since it will be part of a consist that uses Kadee knuckle couplers.  The Kadee #18 medium coupler did the trick.  The Turboliner used a different style coupler from the standard knuckle couplers found in North America.  Rapido modeled the couplers that were found on the Turboliners.  This car will show up mixed in, just for fun, on the Maple Leaf or Adirondack trains when I want to add interest to my Amfleet consists.   

    I'll wait patiently for my preorder of Rapido's second run of VIA's Turbo Train.  This is the Turbo that I'm really excited about and will run on every inch of my layout.  No ETA for these trains as of yet.  The new Turbo Train will replace my original Turbo Train seen here on the layout.  More about this train in a future post.