First post of 2009...Dirty deeds, done dirt cheap!

Hi to all...I must get on here and post more often! As the title alludes to, I have started to work on the scenery component for the layout. Some photos to show what I've been up to (with the help of our round-robin 'FRED' mini-group members...)

This is a 'before' photo of the Winfield (British Columbia) area. As you can see, I have done some more backdrop painting.

Some close-up photos of the backdrop...I might tone down some of the autumn colors, especially to the left of the log cabin in the 3rd photo...just a little too 'bright'!



A 'before' photo of the river mini-scene. I wasn't happy with the arch bridge, so I decided to remove it and place a through truss bridge in its place...


This helps to fill in the corner of the room. A modest tunnel with a swift outflow creek (with rapids, cascading water and a waterfall or two), draining into a small pond, which in turn will drain into the mountain river. This is plaster cloth on top of chicken wire, with another coat of plaster painted with a sandy 'dirt' color. I determined the creek flow and pond contour by pouring real water (with blue tint) down the creek and into the pond. Worked like a champ...


A closer shot of the outfall creek. Note the rock 'castings', made out of scrap drywall mud chunks!


I tried to do some moderate rock outcrops with SculptaMold, carved to look like rock strata (foded and mangled), with a diluted wash of India Ink. I would say the result is satisfactory!

The river scene looks good...at least the one bank does! I went and did some more plaster carving with a dental pick, along with another shot of india ink wash, to bring out more rock relief around the tunnel portal. The wing abutment was scratchbuilt, with 1/8" FoamCore board, with a thin coat of drywall mud and stained with the india ink wash.
An overall 'chopper' view of the project to date. Hope you enjoyed the photos!

Ken.

More layout photos...

I'm awake on a Sunday afternoon after a long night building DP (distributed power) trains. Both 301 and 303 must have been close to 200 cars and at least 18,000 tons. Head end power for both trains was 2200 series ES44DC's leading, with a 2400 series Dash8-40 CM trailing. We placed the remote about two-thirds back, using single EMDI 8800 series SD70M-2 single locos.

Anyways, enough of that...Let's continue with my update of the layout.

We left off with viewing the shops at Kelowna. Here is another look. The CN is currently represented with an ex-NAR SD38-2 and a venerable GP9. One gets a good look at the elevated thru staging yard at Kalamalka. Soon there will be a SD40-2w patrolling the KW line, from Kamloops as well...

Kootenay Western has acquired 2 ex-ATSF F45's for service between Kelowna and Fort Steele on Jack Slimmon's Kootenay Southern. As you can see, these units are due for a trip to the paint shop. The new scheme will be very similar to the mechanical reefer behind the trailing unit and the caboose at Kalamalka.

Eventually, Kalamalka will be partially hidden by a view block, depicting Kelowna's skyline.


The two photos above show recent work at the Winfield turnback loop. The two industries on the switchback spur ("Pasture Prime Meats" and "Ashland Chemicals") will be interesting to work, given that cars spotted to the Hiram Walker distillery would have to be moved out of the way beforehand. One can see the backdrop has been started. I was using the scrap piece of foamcore board for my pallette, and I've kept it in order to match colors for the trees.

The white styro board is temporary, and will be replaced with the distillery and some of downtown Winfield.

Two more shots of Winfield loop, showing the progress on the scenery to date. This is aluminum 1" chicken wire. I thought I would try it and it seems to work great guns so far. Very good at holding its shape. Figured this would be a good place for a campground - right next to the tracks! There will be a small ranch or farm on the hill, named after Old Man Murphy - and individual I have had the misfortune of meeting from time to time!




A closer look at my backdrop painting. In the second photo, I'm not certain about the uniform slope to the left. I might alter that. Hoping the grove of evergreens on the scenery blends OK with those on the backdrop. I'm quite pleased with how the distant mountains came out on the upper right.

Well, that's it for this time. Keep posted for future updates!

Ken.

I'm back after a long time :-)

Boy...It's been a long time since I posted here! Something like a year and a half...Needless to say, I've been busy 'workin on the railroad'.

The layout is 90% operational. I just have to install the 'Nicole Street' spur, across the mainline from the shop track, wire up the shop track complex and some new spurs. I have begun painting the backdrop and installing the chicken wire for the scenery base. So far, so good. Some photos for your viewing pleasure...

This is the 'Kelsey Bay' lumbermill complex. The boxcar spot to the right will have a loading shed for loading plywood and lumber, plus unloading mill supplies. To the left is the chip loader. Past the boxcar spot is the lumber loading area for the bulkhead flats. The distant spur to the right will be for Monashee Manufacturing (steel fabricator). My oldest daughter's great uncle owned this facility in Kelowna. Unload coil steel and supplies, load steel products and scrap metal. To the far left is the car barge. More on this later...


This is the car barge, which will service Penticton. The barge might even serve the car barge apron at Trepanier Creek (near Peachland) for the Brenda Mines copper concentrator.



An overview of the Kelsey Bay area. This will be interesting to switch, especially when the Kelowna 'city' yard job makes a long pull out of the yard and blocks the Kelsey Bay 'Laker' tramp job. Oh...and did I mention the common 4-car runaround shared by the city job AND the Laker tramp job??
An overview of the Kelowna shop complex. Note the 'leased' CEFX AC4400CW in Track 1. This is a Kato, with DCC and sound. To the right is the caboose track. This will also serve as a stores delivery track, for OCS materials, like track and ties and so on. Next is the fuel and sand delivery spur. This may also see the 'RIP' (repair) track incorporated with it.Then we have Shop 1, and shop 2 for layover power and local power storage. Above the yard, one can see Kalamalka, which will be the thru staging yard, once the stub staging yard is built. Another sound equipped unit, this a Broadway SD40-2. Needs a trip to the paint shop, since being acquired from the Rock Island Line.

I just got called to work, so I'll have to cut this short. I'll do another post before the weekend is over...

Ken.

More work in the layout room

Well, here we are...my first post of 2007!

Still plugging away in the layout room. I have the walls painted (with a few small blemishes to fix). Now to prepare for the installation of the suspended ceiling.

Some photos...


Overall view of the room. I have placed banner paper on the floor to aid in track planning. The 'doughnut' sort of looks like a 'boomerang' at present...

A closer look at some ideas for the carferry / lumbermill area. This is 24" wide by 8'8" long. Doing this allows me to use full scale templates or actual turnouts and track to get some idea of what will work (hopefully!)

The second photo is a freehand sketch of the shelving unit that I will build to under the carferry / lumbermill area.

Just imagine the 36" duckunder / swingout section at 52" above the floor. I did this to see if there would be access problems. Doesn't look like it!


This is where the (planning) magic happens! Note how the drafting table is located next to the beer fridge! Don't know if you can see the scale room mockup on the fridge, but you might be able to see 'Kenny' (from 'South Park') located inside the layout room! Geez...how many empties are in that red bag, Ken??

Needless to say, the adjacent wall unit will have to be moved before benchwork construction begins...
Next big task will be installing drywall around the cold and hot air plenum ducts, so the suspended ceiling can be installed. I will need a couple of guys with strong backs to help...some of the guys will be here tonight to help with this...

An overall view of the long wall, where Kelowna yard will go. Gotta get that wall unit out of the way!! I'm quite happy with how the two-tone paint worked out. The guys in my group (the "FRED's') are looking forward to sitting on the futon running trains, with a Digitrax throttle (using the UR90 infrared receivers) in one hand and a beer in the other. Good thing I put the fridge right next to the futon!

That's all for now...Ken.

Room prep continues...

Hello again to all. I've had a tough time posting photos on to the blog, so I had to download Mozilla Firefox browser to fix the problem. Well, as you can see, I've pretty well finished the taping and sanding in the layout room. The walls are about 50-60 % primed and I hope to have the walls painted by month's end.

Seeing as it is after 2 AM, I'll just make this a short and sweet entry for now.

Ken.

New power for the KWR!

Well, it would seem that the Kootenay Western has received some new power from both CN and the Santa Fe. A former NAR SD38-2, recently repainted and renumbered as 1653, was spotted on its way to Kelowna from Fort Steele. This is being leased to Kootenay Western from co-parent CN.
Here is 1653 on the high trestle over Dolores Creek, just outside of the town of Canyon Creek on Jack Slimmon's Kootenay Southern. The 1653 will be assigned to yard switching and local freight duties between Kelowna, Winfield and Vernon.
KWR's "new" F45's were spotted on the point of a through freight in the town of Canyon Creek. KWR management might not be able to repaint the 3600 hp units for awhile, as they are needed for the daily through freight from Kelowna to Fort Steele on the Kootenay Southern. These were purchased outright from the Santa Fe.
This the same train departing Canyon Creek for Fort Steele. These Athearn units have been reworked, with the powered unit having a Mashima can motor, NWSL wheels and fitted with a T1 DCC decoder. The dummy unit will eventually be equipped with a small CCD wireless video camera. Talk about realism in miniature!
On to the real McCoy...I was called on a grain "spotter" to Vermilion AB on the former Canadian Northern mainline, now CN's Vegreville Subdivision. What with all of the residents of Ukrainian descent around Vegreville and Vermilion, we call this "the Kubassa Trail". Taken late in the day just east of Vegreville. I had just spotted 22 hoppers at the adjacent elevator.

The next morning, we returned on a loaded grain train with SD70M-2 8017 on the point. This is at the west switch at Vegreville, after a meet with train 452. This is "dark" (OCS) territory. Apologies for the off lighting on both shots!

Now this little guy must be a railfan at heart...a true ferro "equine" ologist!! One short blast from the Nathan P5 horn sent him running back to Mommy, seen to the right in the photo!

That's all for this edition, ecxept to say that Len K. will come over bfore the end of july to finish wiring the basement. After that, I will finish the drywall and the suspended ceiling. Once that is in place, then construction of the Kootenay Western can begin in earnest!

Have a good weekend ... hopefully I will have more to report soon!

Ontario trip

The wife (Gail) and I took a trip out to Ontario to go visit with friends and family. We flew from Edmonton to Ottawa on the 13th of May. That's me with the hat, notice the Oilers pin on the hat...



Met up with Chris Lyon (on the left in the photo) the next day to go see some of the finest model railroad layouts in the Greater Ottawa vicinity. Viewed 3 great layouts (sorry, no still shots...Gail had the digital camera as she toured Ottawa with an old neighbor and Chris's wife Lela), then went to Chris's to try my hand with switching out the 2 coal mines on his layout.

After dinner at the Montana's in Orleans, Chris and I went to Mike Hamer's HO Boston and Maine layout. This is an abslolutely stunning layout...almost makes a person want to break out in song, doesn't it, guys??






A couple of shots from Mike's layout...notice yours truly looking on approvingly!


The photo I like is taken from the perspective of the cyclist as he (or she) approaches a level crossing. The B&M passenger train is blasting through the
crossing...

















The local switcher is tucked away in'the hole' as the hotshot freight approaches North Dover station. By the looks of the station platform, the varnish can't be too far behind the freight...










We departed Ottawa the next day on VIA train 79 to Toronto and Chatham, Gail's birthplace. Lela was kind enough to accompany us on a 'mini-tour' of Ottawa and a bite to eat at downtown Ottawa's Byward Market. This is the first opportunity for Gail to ride the train. Of course, this is 'old hat' for me...


All Aboard!!















We had a 2-hour layover in downtown Toronto. The main hallway in VIA's Union Station left one with a surreal feeling...like being in a cathedral, perhaps. Just imagine the numbers of passengers using this facility throughout the years...

I was able to walk up to the headend of VIA 75 (our train to Chatham) in the train shed and took this shot. Notice the GO commuter train preparing to leave westbound to the left...

It was a rainy, dreary day in T.O. We decided against going up the CN tower on this day. We actually returned to Toronto from Niagara Falls on a sunny day a week later to do this. Drove to GO Clarkson station and took the GO train to Union station and hoofed it to the tower. That was a good distance on foot for the two of us!
Chatham VIA station in the evening. We had a good time here, checking out Gail's childhood haunts and getting reaquainted with some of her old friends and aquiantances...
This is the Chatham Railway Museum, which is actually ony 2 blocks from Gail's childhood home. Located inside an old CN smoothside streamline baggage car, in the green / gold paint scheme.
Another shot inside the museum. A model representation of the passenger trains that travelled through Chatham...
We departed Chatham the next day on VIA 72 for London to meet with some more friends and pick up our rental car. Not many photos, which is part to do with allof the video we shot. At or near Komoka (5 miles west of London), we were delayed for over 2 hours when a stack train ahead of us struck a pedestrian trespasser at 60+ MPH. Needless to say, this person was instantly killed. We did not leave London until quite late in the afternoon, arriving at our friend's farm near Bailieboro about 10:30 that night. A long rainy day, to say the least...This is young Kenny (Ken Sr. had his 40th birthday party on the Victoria Day weekend). Somebody must have let it out of the bag that I like to sing. First time I've ever done Eric Burdon's 'House of the Rising Sun'. I don't think the old hogger is going to give up his day (?) job any time soon...
The birthday boy...dunno, I don't think he looks a day over 38...Must have been tough to find a bartender that night...
Ken's wife Lorie must have been really tired when we took this shot. Maybe she's just conserving energy...who knows? The whole weekend was quite cool, as evidenced by the touque...
Off we go to Niagara Falls for 4 days. We finally got some lovely weather and decided to take the helicopter tour above the Falls. Gail took this spectacular shot of Horseshoe (Canadian) Falls. After this, we visited Gail's cousins (which she had not seen for 40 years) in Welland, then drove to London. We spent a day and a half around London bfore flying home last Tuesday.
But before we left, we managed to run into a couple of famous people...Who said 'Bogey" was dead. We had seen him in Niagara-on-the-Lake! I taught Tiger everything he knows...LOL!

















Tribal-class destroyer HMCS Haida display at Hamilton Harbour. I had the see this grand old lady while we were in the vicinity...Canada's most famous warship during the 2nd World War.

Well, that's it for this edition. Hope you enjoyed the photos!

Regards...Ken.