Tuesday Train 528

It's "Giants of Steam" week at the Bluebell Railway in England. A year ago I was loading up for a quick weekend sweep through to attend the three day gala. Today's Tuesday Train is from that trip, new build A1 Pacific "Tornado" storms north from Sheffield Park on Sunday morning of the gala before the rains came and wrecked my video camera later in the day.

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Friday Freights

Running trains. its what you're supposed to do on a layout amongst other things. I have not really since my big Operating Session get together in May. I am going to make an effort to run trains more often. Starting with yesterday and what I'm calling "Friday Freights". They probably will look the same a lot of weeks, and I probably won't write about them regularly, but my goal is to run at least one job, if not two each Friday after work.

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Tuesday Train 527

Tail end Tuesday. I went for a ride about last Tuesday to take the train to Milton finally. On my way home, I overshot the easiest station at Long Branch to go to Mimico and see what was about at the VIA Toronto Maintenance Centre. I'm glad I did as a late arriving VIA Train 2, The Canadian eastbound was just entering the TMC when I got to Mimico, so I rushed off the train and onto the platform to catch the Park car and the tail end entering the yard.

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Solving a British Model problem

I have a small collection of British model kits to build. More on these to come, but for one of them I have been staring at an issue for almost a year. The "Transfers" for the model are "Methfix", meaning that unlike waterslide decals on most kits and that are most common in North America, they need to be activated by a chemical agent.

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Tuesday Train 526

Tomorrow (September 30th) is Truth and Reconciliation Day in Canada. A day to contemplate our complicated relationship with and historical and continuing wrongs against Indigenous people of what is now Canada. The railways have more than their share of complicated history here. Today's Tuesday Train is Goderich and Exeter 3523 displaying an "Every Child Matters" logo in Stratford Yard on the side of the carbody in response to uncovering what happened to Indigenous Children at Residential Schools.

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Tuesday Train 525

On the GO. A film scan from 2024 of GO 560 working a Kitchener line train on the Weston Subdivision from the Wallace Avenue pedestrian footbridge. 1/125 f6.7 Ilford Delta 100

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Instant fleet building and weathering

Recently I received an order I had placed some time ago for six of the Rapido Trains 1937 AAR Box Cars. I have lots of these built from resin kits, but the Rapido Cars were going to be a way for me to instantly bulk up my fleet, especially as my primary supplier of resin kits of Canadian box cars in…

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They’re on a Mission From God

It's 106 miles to Chicago, we got a full tank of gas, half a pack of cigarettes, it’s dark… and we’re wearing sunglasses. Hit it! Jake…Elwood…The Blues Brothers! Recently at the Waterloo Railway Expo one of the 3D printing vendors had a range of fun pop culture prints. One of which, was one of my favourite movies main characters, Jake Blues (John Belushi) and Elwood Blues (Danny Ackroyd), the Blues Brothers!

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Tuesday Train 524

A westbound VIA Rail Venture set heads west at Sunnyside toward the Toronto Maintenance Centre after arriving from Montreal on a Friday afternoon.

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Tuesday Train 523

After torrential rains in Toronto on Wednesday September 2nd flooded out the Don River valley and the lower part of the Bala Subdivision, GO Trains and eventually VIA Rail's Canadian as it arrived into Toronto on Friday September 4th were being diverted to the west side of the City and coming down the Newmarket Subdivision. This is how the train normally departs going north when it leaves for Vancouver.

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Tuesday Train 522

A blast form the past. Essex Terminal Railways Number 9 blasts through a photo run past at its re-launch into service on the Waterloo Central Railway this Sunday following an overhaul. We were on the first of two excursions she hauled on Sunday. and this is a panning shot during the 2nd run past. The out of focus areas I felt at least lent themselves to a bit of selective black and white as the 103 years young steam locomotive put on a show. Video of the days runs is below.

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Waterloo Railway Expo this weekend

This weekend, August 29-30 is the first Waterloo Railway Expo hosted by the Waterloo Central Railway and the Waterloo Region Model Railroad Club. Saturday will see a Railway Prototype Modellers meet, clinics, shop tours of the Waterloo Central and speeder car rides at the St Jacob's Farmers Market. Sunday sees a steam excursion(!!!) on the Waterloo Central with Essex Terminal Railway No.9 returning to steam following overhaul, and visits to the WCMRC Layout.

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Tuesday Train 521

Train 4L49 Basford Hall Yard-London Gateway Intermodal passes through Harrow and Wealdstone northwest of London, lead by 90041-90044-66588.

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Tuesday Train 520

Looking south down the line. An Ottawa Line 2 O-Train sits at the northern end of the line at Bayview Station and the interchange with the Line 1 LRT above it before heading south to Limebank Station.

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Eight Years on from Benchwork in a Day

Time flies when you are having fun. Its been an up and down eight years, but my good friend Trevor Marshall messaged me today reminding me that eight years ago him, Ryan Mendell and Doug Currie braved the wilds of Etobicoke and built the majority of my layouts bare benchwork in a single day. I am deeply indebted to all three for their generosity in their time, skills and muscle power to make it happen.

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Tuesday Train 519

Puttering through the cornfields. It's Ontario Corn Season, and a throwback to a visit to the Waterloo Central a couple of years ago with their Heritage Hopper train passing through the cornfields north of St. Jacobs.

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Tuesday Train 518

Ontario Steam in 2026! On our way up to a cottage rental outside of Huntsville a couple of weeks ago, we visited the Huntsville and Lake of Bays Railway at the Muskoka Heritage Place in Huntsville. I had been once before in 2023 when I spent a whole day "chasing" such as it is on its very short run. It was good to smell steam and see enthralled families by the ride.

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Summer Musings

Wow, here we are at the turn of the summer, Civic Holiday Monday in most of Canada. Its not quite the midpoint of meteorological summer, but it is for the traditional summer school holiday for the children out there between the end of June and Labour Day. As I type this, I am getting into month 3 of not really working on the layout, or any hobby project.

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Tuesday Train 517

It doesn't feel like its been a year, but a year ago on Monday next week I was in Derby for "The Greatest Gathering" at Alstom's works celebrating 200 years of the modern railway. Today's image is Class 37 37407 "Blackpool Tower" at Derby Station after the event on one of the Branch Line Societies excursion trains that were running during the event.

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