Running Up and Down Vancouver Island With Jim

This week, Jim hosted the boys of Friday Night for the first time in the new season and his layout ran like a charm. Jim, you've really got the operations sequence down to a science now...and except for some eager train crews, separation between trains resulted in a flawless evening of operations!

Jim conducts a careful maintenance plan between sessions that ensures trains run well for his eager enthusiastic crews, including Bruce and me (in red supporting our Canadian troops). The two of us are standing near the wye approach to Jim's peninsula which houses both terminal points of the railroad.

It appears that Fred and John have completed the make-up fo their train in Nanaimo and are about to head out of the yard in a southbound direction to Esquimalt near Victoria.

Their journey will take them through Ladysmith, and Chemainus before they arrive Esquimalt. The image shows the peninsula Jim has cleverly designed which houses both terminuses of the railroad.

Hey Jim, I didn't know that the railroad diesels had an all-white paint scheme? (big grin)

Fred is the engineer aboard the train and he and John have arrived Ladysmith. That's Fred, Jim and Carl in deep discussion as to the potential order of train movements around Ladysmith.

That's the Vancouver Lumber Company yard beside the main just below Fred. Fred has broken the engine from his and Fred's train and the crew is awaiting assistance from the Ladysmith switcher with the exchange of traffic.

Bruce and I later worked the Vancouver Lumber Company's yard and took a run up to the mine and logging site.

Carl is certainly enjoying himself judging by the smile on his face...or maybe he's overheard one of Fred's many hilarious jokes!

The Ladysmith operator has a vital role to play in the train operations sequence. While he rearranges traffic in the yard and at the barge, he must always be aware of northbound and southbound traffic coming his way, when he will assist these crews with their drops and lifts.

Imagine what happens when both trains arrive the same time and occupy the main and siding! Well, this occurance took place back in the days of the E&N and it did so Friday evening as well! Did Carl have a smile on his face then?

In the meantime, Stan is pretty quiet in the background...what's he up to with that furtive look on his face. "Oh, nothing at all!" Stanley is heard to say.

He's just taking a momentary break for the railfan crew before he gets back to his work with all those hoppers destined for the mine.

Jim's mine is a joy to operate offering a two track lead into the industry with one track ending in a stup siding and a crossing over to the other track beyond the tipple making for interesting operations.

While Jim's layout has very little scenery (yet) he has a couple of structures to help give the "feel" of what the industries are for. This image was taken in Ladysmith area.

Jim has slowly began accumulating rolling stock for his operations and with each visit we see more and more examples on the layout. Hmmm...maybe Mikey, the scenery man, should make it over in the interim between this session and the next time we visit Jim's place!


What would a train ops session be without a healthy dose of little edibles. Did I say "little". Hmmm, Jim...those seem to be "O" scale, or better yet, "G" scale sweets!

Jim's crew lounge is located in the same room as the layout and seat eight or so operators comfortably. Like many of us, he has a TV with videos, but we didn't have time to watch any this time as we were all kept suitably occupied throughout the entire session!

A big "Thank You" to Jim for getting his layout ready for an early season session. The trains ran extremely well and the session was certainly well organized.

This final shot offers a good "overall" shot of Jim's developing railroad. That's Bruce and me ni the foreground with Carl working Ladysmith towards the back of the room.

One final note...Jim always asks us to point out and record any finicky areas of track and I'm happy to note that these little jot notes are rarely occuring as his layout develops with pride.

New Season Begins

Hello all! A new season has begun for the Friday Night Group as we kicked off train ops at my place. I hope you'll enjoy some of the pics and the stories!

Here I am at the duckunder entrance to the room with my good buddy, Don Leger. I'm dressed in red, our country's colours, to support our Canadian troops overseas...as every Friday, Canadians have been asked to do so.

Don was a well-known radio personality in the Ottawa area...and, now in his retirement he has taken up model trains as a hobby. I wonder just what he's going to learn hanging around a group of guys like us?!

You'll find my staging tracks at the duckunder entrance to the room. In the earlier years of the layout, I simply had trains "staged" and ready to go on these tracks. One day, the lightbulb came on and I realized that I could keep a second crew occupied making up trains here while the first crew worked the town of North Dover. (I can keep three two-men crews occupied at any one time.)

Don's job was to use B&M switcher SW9 #1223 to make up traffic for the outbound train MP3 in the yard at Lowell and hostle the mainline power to the train. In reality, train MP3 departed Mechanicville earlier in the day and will pass through Lowell and North Dover before arriving in Portland later in the day.

Later in the session, we spot Don again signed up for another job with fellow operator John Mitchell. They are working the North Dover switcher and their first orders are to lift a milk car from Marshall Creamery that will be placed on a B&M milk train arriving town in short order.

Judging by the smiles on the lads' faces, all are having a great time. John models the NYC and Canada Southern and is an avid poster to Yahoo groups. John's operations clinics are a "must attend" as he researches his railroad thoroughly and it is a joy to operate!

The industrial area of North Dover looms in the background. Note too the valence above. The goal of the layout room is to have no light source visible when you are standing in the pit inside the room...just the lighting's effects on the layout itself.

Here we see our crew of Leger and Mitchell having just traversed the team track and Station Road as they proceed onto the trestle at Marshall Creamery.

Station Road sees much activity when passenger and freight trains arrive town. We just can make out the corner of an eighteen wheeler pulling into the station parking lot.

Note how Station Road climbs a steep hill in the background as it heads to the Main Street in town. The mainline is just beyond the switcher and the main ducks into a tunnel situated below Main Street.

That Hoods car is adorned with an elegant picture of mama cow...if an image of a cow can ever be thought of as being elegant!

It would not be advisable to swim in the water below Marshall Creamery. The trestle certainly looks well built. It serves the purpose of allowing traffic to be transported to the creamery's loading dock.

Our crew of Mitchell and Leger have coupled on to the milk car and will lift it from the industry. Shortly, the car will be on its way aboard a fast-moving B&M milk/passenger train.

Chris looks like a happy camper as he is about to take train #11 The East Wind on its tour into North Dover. Of course, a stop will be made to pick up a milk car in town.

Chris is relatively new to Ottawa, but his layout is developing nicely. He accompanied me down to Merrickville the evening before as I was asked to give a clinic on tree-making to the young railroad club down that way. They are in the process of making the Railfair Raffle Layout this year with all proceeds going to the Childrens' Hospital of Eastern Ontario. In this image you can see how the valence protects the viewer's eyes from lighting when they are standing in the layout room proper. The layout makes use of a combination of both flourescent and incandescent lights.

Chris is at the controls of train #11 "The East Wind" on its outbound journey as it slows for a station stop in North Dover. That's the shores of the Salmon River as it winds its way around the town's environs. The reflection from the water is a pretty scene.

That Monon car is some distance from home. Railfans are excited as they haven't seen a car of this heraldy in these parts for many years.

Note the buildings rising in the background and how they make for a dramatic vertical effect!

Well, it looks like Stan remembered to support the troops as well as we spot him all dressed in red. Stan is a superb modeller who has been heavily involved with the Niagara Frontier Region of the NMRA over the years. He is now editor of The Flimsy and still manages to find time to get out and run trains when he isn't busy assembling a craftsman kit!

That's Jim in the foreground. Jim models the E&N as it ran on Vancouver Island many moons ago. In fact, we will be meeting next Friday to run trains at Jim's place. Jim handlays all his tracks and his layout is a clever design whereby both terminuses of the line share the same peninsula!

Quite a bit of milk traffic plied the rails last evening...not an uncommon sight in New England in the 50's. We spot a milk train crossing Stanley Bridge on the outskirts of town. In traversing the Salmon River, this train has departed New Hampshire and is entering the state of Maine.

Three manufacturers have come out with highly detailed milk cars in the past year...Intermountain, Walthers and Roundhouse. To say the least, I feel I have rounded out my fleet quite well.

As this image depicts, it's late spring in New England and the foliage is thick and lush!

Many of the boys got their first look at the Alder Model station I built for Chris. Once I completed the resin kit, I felt it would look great on a diorama, so I spent a day or so creating this station parking lot scene. I painted the station in the western colours Chris had asked for. There was no need to make the track part of the diorama as the scene will fit snuggly beside Chris's already laid trackage...I just place a length of track on cork up against the diorama for the image.

This is a "Third Class" passenger station with hip roof. Chris loaned me a couple of books on Western stations and I had a blast putting this scene together for him...as well as learning a great deal about Canadian stations in the west!

I hope you have enjoyed this first posting of the new train season on the blog. Feel free to leave a comment and we'll see you next week!

Cheers, Mike