A Visit to Andrew Castle's Home Layout

On Monday, January 10, 2017, after many failed attempts, I finally was able to spend a few hours at Andrew Castle's house to take in his excellent models on his layout that is developing quite nicely!

Believe it or not, I did not take many photos, but rather took some notes the old school way with a paper and notepad!  For those of you that don't know, Andrew is an excellent modeller, and has just a couple locomotives on his roster that are factory painted.  The first photo that you can see below is of two excellent custom paint jobs featuring CN 4762, (GP38-2W) & CN 9410, (GP40-2W).

Custom painted CN 4762 in HO Scale.

Custom painted CN 9410 in HO Scale.

Andrew models a few different prototypical scenes, including Onslow to Brookfield, NS on the CN Bedford & Springhill Subdivisions, along with the Truro A-Yard and a portion of the CBNS Hopewell Subdivision.  Although not much scenery is done, the models that Andrew has taken the time to build, reconfigure, strip paint off of, repaint, etc look extremely sharp!  The scene below hosts covered hoppers that in time will be a recreation of CIL Fertilizer, more commonly known as Truro Agromart today, located in Onslow, NS.

Covered hoppers on the CIL Fertilizer spur.

Although the Truro-Yard does not usually host much if any road power, this yard currently hosts a smorgasbord of power, as these are currently "dead", waiting decoder replacements.  Andrew is in the process of changing over the decoders in his locomotives from Tsunami to LokSound.

CN Truro A-Yard, with locomotives awaiting new decoders.

CN 3541 sits next to the former yard office in Truro, NS.

The pride and joy of Andrew's Layout is his scene depicting Sproule Lumber located in Valley, NS, and served by the CBNS Railroad.  The entire scene below is either scratchbuilt or kit bashed pieces.  I was very impressed to see this in person, as there is just the right amount of detail to make this scene come to life!

Sproule Lumber located in Valley, NS.

Although we didn't run any trains, I was perfectly content to soak in all of the information that I could learn about priming and painting models with various methods.  Of course, being able to look at this layout as a whole was much appreciated too!  Thanks again to Andrew Castle for having me over and letting me see his work up close and personal, and again for being such a wealth of knowledge to me!  I cannot wait to return and hopefully operate on this well-built layout someday.

- Caleb

39th Annual Truro Model Train Show

On October 15, 2016, the 39th annual model train show was held in Truro, NS.  Since I haven't attended since my senior year in high school, I figured it was time to make a return!

I began planning the day a few weeks in advance to maximize railfanning opportunities as they came my way en route to the show.  Of course, as always, I did catch a few trains, but the sun DID NOT cooperate for many of the shots and I had to settle for mediocre overcast run-of-the-mill photos.

At any rate, I arrived at the show around 1045, almost two hours after the show and started, and knowing that there was no VIA 15, this meant that no more trains would be around until 1630 or so in the afternoon...or so I thought.

At the show, I met a lot of model railroaders that I have been friends with on Facebook for quite some time now, and it was nice to meet so many of you in person! (You know who you are if you're reading this ;) )  I actually ended up talking to way more people than taking many photos which is a first for me, but not a bad thing at all, as I gleaned a great amount of information from many experienced modellers, and even some who are at the same level as me currently, its all a continuous learning process :)

Onto the photos though, the first order of business was to capture a couple shots of Ronald Grandmaison's Restigouche Pulp & Paper module.  I had seen this particular module of Ronald's before, but not since the lighting was added, which added another whole atmosphere of realism.

Restigouche Pulp & Paper, take one.

Restigouche Pulp & Paper, take two.

After taking in the UMG's setup, I decided to meander around and "shop" a bit.  At the end of the day, I left the show with four items; an SD40, (which is currently receiving an alcohol bath), a plastic pellets covered hopper, a CGTX tanker, and an Atlas Code 83 right hand switch.

I decided to take in a few more layouts too, as the end of the day drew closer and I realized how few photos I had taken so I snapped Tim Hayman's excellently weathered GP40-2W.

Tim Hayman's CN GP40-2W.

And then here are a few shots of general operations plus a glimpse of what the show looked like.

CN 3210 idles in the siding.

Seeing double CP on the UMG's layout.

A unique looking GT locomotive poses for a photo before continuing on.

Nearing the end of the day at the NSCC.

That about wraps it up.  I headed to Stewiacke to shoot VIA 14, but due to CN A407 going into emergency just west of Truro, that delayed 14 for a few hours, and long story short, the train didn't even arrive in Truro until dusk.  With that thought far behind me, I headed for home!  Below is the photo of what I left the show with, displayed on my home module, (switch not pictured).

SD40, CGTX tanker, MLLX covered hopper.

- Caleb

A Visit to AA Hobbies in Warwick, RI

This post began as a draft back in mid-summer, and is just coming alive now.  So here goes...

As previously stated in other posts, I got married on June 10, 2016.  As most know, a honeymoon follows shortly thereafter, and my wife and I decided to not stray too far from her home state of New Hampshire, and enjoyed a lovely week across various parts of Rhode Island.  The honeymoon concluded somewhere back around Providence/Warwick area, which ironically is the area where we started our new lives together.  I was doing a late night junk food run the second night, and didn't realize it until after the fact, but I had driven right by AA Hobbies, located in Warwick.

Jumping ahead to the following Friday, as my wife and I had to stop by the hotel to pick up some stuff we absentmindedly forgot, I decided to check for hobby shops in the area, (since it was the end of our honeymoon).  It was then that I came across AA Hobbies.  Upon arriving, I realized just how familiar my surroundings were, and couldn't believe I'd driven right past it TWICE...albeit in the dark.

Nonetheless, I ended up taking a 30-45 minute look around inside.  With permission of course, I took some photos to show their massive inventory!                                                                                        

               

Athearn galore..

As can be seen, they have quite the selection!  And then I got the tour of the basement...the "overflow stock"...

Huge quantities for such a small, but thriving business!

If you ever get the opportunity to go, my fellow modellers, it is quite the place!  These photos truly do not do the store justice.  One thing is for sure, I will most definitely be visiting again, as it is only a short two hour drive from where my wife is from in southern New Hampshire.  Oh yes, the service is beyond friendly, and best of all, they really only carry HO scale :)

- Caleb

A Visit to Patrick Gagnon's Home Layout/Diorama

Well, so much for the thought of a weekly blogpost...but for now it is remaining regularly once per month, baby steps!

I contacted Patrick Gagnon, an excellent modeller, awhile back about paying him a visit and seeing some of his models along with his small, yet impressive layout in person.  He kindly obliged, and I made the trek to Saint-Leonard, NB yesterday.  Of course, as a railfan I had to check the west-facing home signal at Saint-Leonard immediately after crossing the border, which showed a very clear indication of no westbound trains for awhile.  So it was time to follow Patrick to his house, and see the layout and the models that awaited my camera!

Upon arrival at Patrick's, he and I walked downstairs into his basement and as soon as he opened the door to his layout room, I seriously didn't know where to look first.  Everywhere I turned there was either a finished, gorgeous looking product, or a project in the works.  This was the first scene that I saw as I entered the most impressive room.

Impressive workbench featuring Saint-Leonard Irving sawmill in behind.

I am being completely serious when I say that it took me a solid 10-15 minutes to just look everything over right in this spot.  I was truly impressed as I just looked everything over with drool ready to just drop right out of my mouth...okay so maybe not, but you get the idea!

Any type of pre 90's North American diesel locomotive and chances are, he has either 1) started and completed a kit/kitbash of the model, 2) is in the process of building the model, or 3) plans on getting the proper detailed parts to complete the kit at some point.  Let me just say that this guy knows how to model, and model well!  The assortment of half-completed, fully completed, no where near completed projects lay all over the workbench, each one was impressive in its own super detailed way.

After getting my eyes back in my head, it was time to clean the rails a bit and run some stuff!  As Patrick's layout is arranged as a diorama, there isn't much running to do, but for the little that is available, it has very good scenery.  The first order of business was to bring one of his GP40-2W's out and so after playing with the QSI sound functions, I snapped a couple photos.  I will share a few photos below here to show just how detailed a portion of his fleet is.  I say a portion because I could've spent a full week there photographing each individual model.  The portion where I mainly staged the trains for the photos is in a portion of what Patrick is portraying as modern day Longley on the CN Napadogan Subdivision, located in northwestern New Brunswick.

CN 9637 coupled up to another GP40-2W, staged at CN Longley with a scratchbuilt SGE signal.

With the shoot of the GP40 wide cabs out of the way, I brought out something from the yard that piqued my interest a little bit more, CN 4105, a GP9, and parked it right on the crossing for its 'photoshoot'.

CN 4105, a GP9 idles at the crossing with an impatient driver of a Midland truck on the other side.

There were a variety of more units I 'played' with, I'll share these photos below.

CN 2000 backing down from the crossing.

VIA LRC in run mode awaits a clear signal at CN Longley, with a MOW crew preparing to relay track.

CN 1124, a GMD-1, custom painted blares the horn as the lone unit approaches the busy crossing.

CN 9674 has a train in tow as the light engine movements are done for the moment, allowing a 'real train' to get rolling!

I'll take a few minutes now and discuss how Patrick's yard is set up.  He says that he originally planned to model a small BAR yard, such as Northern Maine Junction, (NMJ), located in Hermon, Maine. However, now he says it could be a representation of either NMJ or Edmundston, New Brunswick.  Regardless, I figured rather than just explaining it, I should document it, so I will have more ideas for my future yard someday, and so you all can see for yourselves! :)

NMJ or Edmundston?

You may notice that there are a collection of cabeese in back...one being a new-to-Patrick, Overland Models kit.  There really is not much else to say about the yard, other than the fact that he says he may add a couple more tracks in time to accommodate better switching.  Also, his 'siding' at Longley will be his yard lead in time.  I was beginning to get short on time at this point, as I had previous commitments, so I wrapped up the day with a couple shots of some 'rare' visitors to Canada ;)

Sister's BAR 85 & 86 sit dead after going into emergency, having just left the Saint-Leonard mill.

MMA 8592 comes to the rescue to pull the two BAR units out of the woods, and return to American soil.

And that about wrapped up the tour of Patrick Gagnon's small but impressive layout/diorama with some truly epic models!

After leaving Patrick's, I took the old highway on the way back to Grand Falls and intercepted CN 305, a manifest train, just west of Grand Falls.  Since I really was strapped for time, I observed it as I met it awhile driving and did a quick mental inventory of the power...of course I jotted it down when I got a chance :)

Hope you enjoyed reading about Patrick's layout, and if you are ever in the area, I am sure he would be open to more visitors.  Thanks again Patrick!

- Caleb