Howard's New Train Room

It was a pleasure visiting the Ontabec Central in its new surroundings. No, the layout has not been moved to a new location. Rather, things have been shuffled around inside the railroad room itself.

We all know that Howard likes to keep all aspects of his model railroad hobby within the confines of his spare room in the apartment he shares with his lovely wife, Gerry. Along with the model railroad, this includes his workbench and his huge spraybooth to boot!

With the assistance of our good friend, Rob Kazakoff, Howard has had a special "island" designed and built and placed in the centre of his room where he can work on models from both sides. The spraybooth rests here as well and Howard simply attaches a special hose to his vent to the outside when required. He still has his pegboard attached to the inner wall of the room where countless supply parts are housed.

The first image shows the overall layout room while the second shows Howie leaning on his work area with the staging tracks along the far wall. Perhaps the greatest benefit to these changes is the free and easy access afforded operators to the staging area.

Train ops commenced with the crew of Mike and Don working the staging yard designing the traffic flow for the next set of events. This included making up the train that would eventually enter the city of Overbrook.

A second crew, Fred and John, worked the city tracks taking on the challenges of switching out the far side of town along Ontario Street followed by working the near side of town at Scoddy Industries and Phideas Furniture. When Mike and Don had their train readied, it was "off to Overbrook" as witnessed in this scene of the Alco RS1 piercing the buildings as its train enters the yard.

This dramatic view shot from a fire escape near Scoddy's shows the Ontabec Central train entering yard limits as it pierces a number of buildings on its way into town.

This train has come from the staging tracks situated to the left of the image along the other wall. The crew will drop its cut of cars on the mainline in town and pick up a cut of outgoing traffic from the siding. The local crew will then haul the drag and begin its chores in town...and the cycle will continue between the two crews of two!

This shot shows the great effort Howard has put into creating a wonderful urban flow to the layout. You are definately not "out in the country" when you operate the Ontabec Central.

Some buildings are but a few inches in depth as they act as relief along the back two walls of the layout room.

Phideas Furniture is located below us and you can see the elevated track to the back left of the photograph. The boxcar to the right is sitting in front of an industry along Ontario Street.

While the layout is not a big one, Howard has planned just the "right amount" of track. The layout proves challenging to operate, yet not cumbersome.

Here we see some of the trackage leading into the Scoddy Facility. That's Ontario Street to the back with a number of cars spotted along its length at a half dozen or so industries.

Yes, Howard is a "neat freak" and he wants all to see how he keeps all wiring and electrical connections in an orderly fashion. After all, Howard mentions, it sure helps whenever troubleshooting is required! Although we know that never happens at Howie's place! Howard is happy to mention that he truly enjoys that Lenz system.


And just who are these people who help Howard bring his layout to life. Well let's see..the boy in red supporting the troops is none other than our good buddy Fred Adams. John Mitchell of NYC fame is his partner on the evening.

They had a ball taking on the challenges Howie's layout puts forth and they took on two or three assignments on the evening!

Now, here is a "posed shot" if I ever did see one! You see, Don was the engineer on my crew, not the brakeman on this night.

Don and I switched out the town in record time and were able to head back to the crew's quarters in no time at all. Fred and John were heard to whisper between themselves..."My God...they're done already!"


For our final shot...here's the Holy Trinity...the Father, Son and the Holy Train Ghost! Or, as he is known, the Pope, the Cardinal and the Bishop. They sure look like a strange bunch...but if you ever get the opportunity to meet 'em...you'll be changed forever!

Thanks to Howie for a great evening of train ops! The Ontabec Central was "Resurrected Once More"!