Jan 27 - New layout "wows" Friday Night Group!

The Friday Night Group recently visited Chris Lyon's home in Orleans to run the inaugural train ops session on this "brand new baby" of a layout. In fact, the model railroad is but two months old!

The image to the left shows Chris explaining to Stan, Bob and Bill the idiosyncracies of the time saver he has incorporated into his layout. Judging by the looks on the boys' faces, they may just be in for the operating "time of their lives"!

The train to the left showcases some of the locomotives and rolling stock Chris has stored away and is eager to have running on his layout.

Indeed, the boys of the FNG were suitably impressed when they visited Chris's new layout this past Friday evening for his first operating session. Not only is the layout new to the Friday Night boys...it is "new" (period).

Marty and Michel, you (both) and I have to move outta da way for there is a new "speed builder" in our midst. Chris moved to Ottawa this past summer. He began his layout construction in November starting with room preparation, benchwork and lighting. In less than two months, track is in and trains are operating. The time saver Chris incorporated along a 12 foot (inside) section of the layout has proven to be very challenging, yet rewarding. It includes an engine servicing facility, yard tracks, a team track, a lumber mill and a few other industries that process a variety of cars including those big modern tankers. The inclusion of a short runaround (and not being allowed to proceed out of yard limits) means crews must contemplate moves creatively before heading out to their engine! This area alone kept a number of the boys busy in shifts throughout the evening. Rumour even has it that (after Friday night's visit) Bob is revamping all plans for his prospective layout room and he intends to have, not one, but two time-savers incorporated into areas of his layout. "What better way to keep some of the boys entertained who like to stay in one place in the layout room!" Bob was heard to say. (big grin)
The time saver concept led to some interesting discussions in the room. Chris made it really challenging for the boys by having a "full yard" leaving little room for maneuvering. Indeed, sometimes yards are "chock-a-block" full while at other times they appear almost empty. After discussions, it was felt (by a couple of the lads) that having the time-saver yard filled to about 75% capacity would allow greater "wiggle room" when taking on the challenge of racing the time saver. One thing that is not in doubt, Chris...it was certainly entertaining.
For those boys not there Friday night, I had visited Chris's place the Sunday before and ran the time saver. That was basically the only track on the layout. Well...you should've seen the shocked look on everyone's faces when they descended the stairs to the layout room and were presented with a long coal drag being hauled around the entire layout room behind a pair of BNSF diesels. Yes, Chris had accomplished this trackwork in five days including a three-track yard (to be enlarged later - maybe this coming week!) which held another lengthy container train behind two diesels, one in BCRail's red, white and blue colour scheme and the other an Northern Alberta Railrways jobbie!

Marty, Chris's layout room reminds me very much of yours back here in Ottawa. The carpeted stairs leading to the basement resemble your Ottawa stairwell with the many photos hanging on the wall. Like your old room, Chris's layout room is carpeted and extremely well-lit. No one will suffer from SAD (seasonal affective disorder) in Chris's basement as he has flourescent fixtures which illuminate all aspects of the railroad.
I ran all the mainline trains and held meets (passes) with the other mainline crews. I really enjoyed the challenges of the timesaver working with Bob and later Fred. It was fun observing Stan and Bill working together as well. Jim enjoyed studying the "hobby shop" below Chris's layout...hundreds of boxes! In fact, Chris tells us that most of the equipment (excluding some of his earlier locomotives) found on the railroad have been purchased in the past few months for this railroad. Reminds me of you, Marty, when you changed from N to HO.

On behalf of Chris...a great big "Thank You" to all who attended his inaugural operating session...there will be many more to come on this quickly developing layout!

To see more of Chris's layout visit www.lyonvalleynorthern.blogspot.com where you will learn of the many developments Chris has managed to achieve in such a short period of time!
Cheers, Mike

2006 Modular Rally

This weekend the annual modular rally was held at St. Anthony's Soccer Club. I managed to snap a few shots of new work done by Jacques Thuot on his NTC Branch modules. Jacques is a master modeller whose work has appeared in Model Railroader Magazine. Next time I must take a tripod with me to this event

Cheers, Mike H.

A Tale of Two (or more) Towers Along the Boston and Maine

Indeed, a new tower graces the duckunder location of my model railroad...an important area of "first impression" as one enters the room.

The top photo shows the standard Atlas tower that has filled the void adequately over the years. This tower was built when I first got into the hobby along with the schoolchildren in my classroom when we built a layout to commemorate Canada 125. (See MR issue July 94)

It also appeared on the layouts we set up at Railfair where the school kids gave clinics on the various aspects of model railroading they had learned as a result of our exciting classroom project.

In this image we see the new tower...an American Model Builders LaserKit that was a "gem" to put together. Seen here in the B&M maroon and depot buff colours, the tower certainly belongs trackside outside North Dover.

The kit for this tower offered many "peel and stick" parts which made for tremendous ease of construction. All doors, layered window parts, stairs and corner areas followed this method.

I used Erie Lackawanna maroon and Americana Sand for the two colours. The match is very close. While conducting research, I found many images of B&M structures,and depending on the season, the time of day or the age of the structure, the colour varied from a very yellow/maroon combination to a tan/maroon look. As you can tell, I was excited to have my new B&M tower in place at the duckunder for last evening's ops session. Of course, the question begs to be asked..."Why didn't you build the proper tower years ago, Mike?"

The image to the right shows another tower on my layout, the one that protects the interlocking where the Maine Central interchanges with the Boston and Maine. This tower, also situated at the duckunder, is located on the other side of the backdrop and viewable by those who have already entered the train room.

The structure was a magnificent plaster kit I built years ago. I painted all wall sections the concrete colour of the mortar first. Once dried, I used one of my daughter's red felt markers and brushed the tip carefully across each section. The red felt tip touched the bricks but did not flow into the mortar crevices...a unique way of "painting" the brick colour!That's MEC train #391, a unit tank train which has delivered fuel to the many pulpmills inland and is returning with empty tanker traffic to interchange for loads at North Dover.

The Maine Central train visible in the second image is about to enter the "portal" that separates the staging area (at the duckunder) from the layout. In the third image, we see the same train moments later entering the layout room. The tower and the highway overpass perform the duties of "masking" the portal opening.

As for last night's operation session, we had a baker's dozen in attendance and all were entertained with an excellent evening of train ops. Thanks to Bob and Fred who began the night on the 1170 switching local industries. They were relieved by Jim and Rick who continued with switching chores including assisting Mike and Stanley when they entered town in care of the "Conley Job" with an empty coal car to be exchanged for a loaded one. John and Peter performed admirably later in the day on the 1170 as they provided an assist for passenger train #9, "The East Wind" with Bill and Dave in the cab. After a passenger stop in N. Dover, milk cars were exchanged and #9 was on its way to Portland. ...and so the evening continued with many more trains run by other crews..ah, yes...lots of fun.

Cheers, Mike