New York Central/Canada Southern Reborn

It was with a sense of excitement and curiosity, we descended John's stairs to see the newest additions to his fabulous CASO/NYC layout after it had been closed for the last operating season to undergo refinements...and the boys were delighted with what they saw! More on this later. The image to the left was taken just after we finished our session. That's John standing proudly in the back to the far right.

The double-decked nature of his layout is readily apparent in the background. Can you identify any of the other lads. Let's begin in the front row from left to right. Yup, that's me laying back lounging on the sofa in red. Carl (who always wears a tie to our sessions) is next. Beside Carl is Bob, then Jim and Bill. Standing in the back row at the far left is Chris (Lyon Valley Northern) holding the can of pop. Ah-ha! We have a very special guest in our midst. The gentleman wearing the red vest is our good friend from Sweden, Matti Vertinnin. Beside Matti is Bruce, then Fred and Harry and, again, John! Thankfully, I was able to use my tripod and time release to dive on the couch for the shot!

Bill looks pretty occupied with his work in and around Talbot Yard on John's lower level as Fred steals a moment away from work to smile for Chris, our intrepid photographer. Harry, in the background is working away either in Windsor yard on the upper level or on the outskirts of St. Thomas on the lower level. Those backdrops sure look good, John! John's layout can easily handle (and needs) a large crew to bring the system to life. While space is at a premium in any of our layout rooms, the boys in this picture seem to be quite comfy in their surroundings!

I enjoyed myself working the shift as Detroit yardmaster. This task keeps a fellow quite busy throughout the entire session making up and breaking down passenger train consists and routing trains through the bustling yards of this metropolis.

This image depicts the coach yards in Detroit. John has cleverly made use of building backdrops cut out and glued onto foam core boards to provide some 3-D relief along the wall.

Seeing as this NYC manifest freight did not take the crossovers at the Windsor/Detroit tunnel, I've routed him through the terminal area on track 9 and not the usual track 7. Indeed, we yardmasters are clever fellows who always have a "back-up/failsafe" always on the ready in instances such as this!

You can recognize the "landmark" building tower above the terminal tracks in Detroit. John has done a masterful job to create the essence of this being a large terminus!


These next two images show John's newest section of the layout, Chatham. There is a large yard here and a number of industries. While ballasting work still is required, John has turned what used to be staging into a vibrant and exciting area of the layout to operate.

The backdrop image certainly captures the feel of southern Ontario near C&O country.

We are in the furnace room area nearby John's massive helix. There are plenty of industries here to keep a crew occupied all night!

The building structures placed up against the wall are not totally flat. It's amazing how just an inch or two of depth can make all the difference especially when the buildings vary in their depth out from the wall. This effect certainly helps to enlarge the scene and make it look both realistic and busy!

A total of seventeen trains were run in the session. Named NYC passenger trains such as trains #50, "The Empire State Express" and trains #47 "The Detroiter" plied the rails as did the "Mail and Express". The CPR got into the action as well with "The Chicago Express", CPR train #21. C&O fast freight #55 from Buffalo to Rougemere Yard was run as were a number of locals C&O and NYC locals.

The image to the left shows the mainline in the background heading through an opening in the wall where a large helix is located. The industries here represent those in Leamington, Ontario.

John's layout is a joy to operate, keeping an entire crew well occupied and entertained on a Friday Night!