On the Layout: Toronto Maintenance Centre Details

         When I built this layout, I knew I wanted a place to stage passenger trains, but the limited space has made it difficult to really use.  I have considered pulling up all the tracks in this session and building something else in this space.  The Toronto Maintenance Centre has a new lease on life as I've been having it play a much more important role in my operations.  With some careful thought, planning, and testing, it's become a great part of the layout.  I'll tell you more about the operational aspects in a future post. 

        Knowing that this space isn't changing and will continue to be used as a VIA Rail yard, I wanted to add some details to the facility.  The TMC is equipped with Just Plug lights, but I added a Walthers crane along with a few figures and other details.  It was worth the couple of days building and painting to begin making the place look like the bustling facility it really is.

    The crane was a Walthers kit, but I made some adjustments to give it a more modern look.  The workers are from a Bachmann pack.  I painted all the figures so they were all wearing high vis clothing as would be required at the real TMC.

Bachmann sales image

Painted figures

Fleet Friday: ScaleTrains CN C44-9W Replacement

     I bought one of ScaleTrain's C44-9Ws in the Canadian National scheme.  Apparently, the company made several errors in the production run.  To fix the mistakes, ScaleTrains made replacement DC/DCC Ready locomotives for everyone that purchased one from the first batch.  The locomotives were free, and modelers only needed to pay a small fee if they wanted a DCC/Sound Equipped locomotive (which I did).  The biggest wow to all of this is the fact that I could keep the first locomotive.  Not only that, but the company also included a sheet of replacement decals with road numbers that more accurately matched the features of the first run.  So, now I have two CN C44-9Ws.  I applaud ScaleTrains for fixing their mistakes in such a grand fashion.  

Original on the left and replacement on the right.  Can you spot any differences?

The original purchase

The replacement

A sheet of decals was included with the replacement locomotive.  I think I'll renumber the original locomotive 2673.  It was roaming around Ontario in 2006, the time my layout is based on.  The IC will need to be patched out.

On the Layout: CN Tower(ish) Completed

     I've been away from blog for a while, but work continues on the layout.  My vacation started last week.  My first task was to review all of the work orders I've written that still need to be completed.  One of them was a project that I started last summer, my take on the CN Tower.  I'm happy to say it got crossed off the list last Friday!

    The idea of building a replica of Toronto's CN Tower never entered my mind when building this layout.  I knew I wanted a tower to loom over the city.  Faller made one that I felt was "good enough" for my liking and I purchased the model and installed it on my second layout.  It got damaged and I wanted to install exterior aviation lighting on it, so I purchased a new tower in the spring of 2023.  

    Construction of the new Faller tower started in Summer 2023.  I worked with Bob from Bakatronics.  He built me a circuit board based on the company's Tower Beacon/Flasher so that I could have lights flashing at three different spots on the tower.  Bob did a great job on the board.  He installed all the resistors, installed an on/off switch, made a clear wiring diagram for me, and tested the whole thing before shipping it off to me along with the red and bright white LEDs.  I have Bakatronics' Airport Beacon on top of my Place Ville-Marie model in Montreal and their Fusee kit at the Cameco crossing in Port Hope.  I've enjoyed using their products.

    Last summer I built the tower, painted figures, and installed the LEDs.  The new tower came without a motor.  The motor makes the restaurant on the top floor revolve around the tower.  I used the motor from the old tower so that I could still have this effect.  Most of figures started unpainted and from a collection I had since I was a kid.  The cooks are from Miniprints.  The Faller set includes tables and chairs.  The kit also includes plates and glasses.  They are great details.  The LEDs required soldering leads and keeping all the wiring organized.  I also installed Just-Plug lighting for the tower's restaurant.

I used 22-gauge wire for the LEDs and there was a lot of it.  All this, along with the motor wire and Just-Plug wires were creating problems with trying to string everything through the tower's base.  Wires were getting stuck in the tower.  It was proving to be frustrating, and I concluded that I was going to rewire the LEDs with a small gauge wire so I could get everything else to fit without breaking the leads to the LEDs.  This is where the project stopped.  I packed it all up and put everything under the layout until last week.

    As vacation started, I looked at the project with fresh eyes.  It has been a year since I started construction on this project.  I found a hollow tube (it was actually part of a wind chime) and began stringing the upper wires through it to avoid them getting caught in the web of other wires.  I had everything done in about a half hour and was ready to put everything together.  

    I installed the circuit board under the layout, connected the wiring, did the wiring for the motor and Just-Plug system, and turned it on.  It all worked like it was supposed to.  I'm so happy it's up and running!  

There are a couple things that I need to do on the punch list for this project.  First is the need to earthquake proof it.  The tower has a sturdy base, but I am concerned that if I need to do any major construction to the layout that included vibrations or shaking, the tower may come tumbling down.  I plan to install a wood dowel, from under the layout, into the tower to keep the structure from falling. Second, I need to install the base of an antenna at the top.  The tower kit has an impressive television antenna for the top, but the clearance from layout to ceiling does not allow me to use it.  I plan on during something to represent the base of an antenna and then just imagine the rest of it being obscured by clouds.

        While I was under the layout, I also connected a few other Just-Plug lights that has been ready to be installed, they just didn't have the plug ports installed under the layout.  I installed the exterior lights outside of the yet to be built Rogers Centre (next door to the CN Tower), the entry lighting at the CBC Broadcast Centre and all the interior lights in The Charles lobby.

    The first week of vacation proved to be a productive one.  More to come!