A view of CPR 2850 inside my John Street Roundhouse diorama.
I promised this when I posted about my Rapido Trains Royal Hudson. This is a photo heavy post of images of the model. Not much to say about it, just sharing images of a gorgeous model!
Pictures of the Rapido Royal Hudson inside my diorama of Stall 15 at the Canadian Pacific John Street Roundhouse.
A couple of camera phone closeups. I don’t have a macro lens, and gettting in tight with the big camera is hard as it’s too close for it to focus!
Just under a year ago, there was no layout in my house. Then, with a lot of help from my friends Ryan, Doug and Trevor, we built benchwork in a day last August. Today, I had a work session booked with friends to work on tricky bits of the layout with many hands and for me to learn things from people with more experience than I have in layout construction, so that I get myself set up to be able to make more progress myself when time permits.
The first task of my day was a quick run to Home Depot to pick up a few pieces of trim lumber. I finally figured out how to get some decent lighting into the closet and the CPR Parkdale Yard staging yard. I made a valance board that is installed onto the shelf using baseboard lattice trim, and glued around the metal shelf frame using No-More Nails caulk adhesive. Then, using a supply of self adhesive LED Strip lights leftover from the set we bought for our kitchen cabinets, I installed a strip of the lights behind the valance. Now, there is ample light for working in staging, and for anyone operating there to see what they are doing. An easy couple of hours of solo work which made wiring in the closet so much easier (didn’t make the space any bigger, but made it brighter at least!).
The two pictures show the new valance board clipped onto the shelf railing while the glue cures, and the second shows the lights on and working and brightening up the staging yard.
Today, I had two friends, Dan and Trevor coming over to help. Both are experienced modellers, and Dan built all the switches for the layout, including the monstrous Bat’leth of track that fills one whole corner of the benchwork that Dan built. It needed some final adjustments before laying, and then filling in the pieces to connect the switches up Mowat Avenue from the staging yard to the first corner of the layout. It took time, but Dan’s meticulous and super skilled, and he was able to make minuscule adjustments to track and locomotives/freight cars that had them running far better than I have managed.
When Trevor arrived, we set to work on installing the layout power bus, the main wire that gets connected to the DCC control station and then to all the individual pieces of track. For the bus, we used 14 gauge speaker wire, its big enough to carry a lot of power and info, but easy to work with, and already paired. Using plastic mounting bases, that you connect zip ties into, the wire is loosely held for now beneath the benchwork but the zip ties can be pulled tight once the work is done to keep the wiring from moving once all the slack is taken out as I move along the layout and connect wiring from each of the pieces of track.
Once the bus wire was run around the room, we (and by we mostly Trevor if I’m being honest!) started to connect the track at the west staging, and figure out how we would wire the sliding traverser shelves so there was enough slack for the shelves to move, but not so much that it would hang or not work.
Trevor working on the less sexy part of layout building, the wiring, but its super important to make a layout run.
Dan built all the individual switches using Fast Tracks jigs and supplies, but before we could install them, one in particular, a large combination piece with five switches and two crossovers we called the Bat’leth because of its resemblance to the Klingon weapon on Star Trek needed some little cleanups and testing with my rolling stock before it could be glued down. Between some fine filing on the points, replacing and adjusting wheels on locomotives and freight cars, equipment now seems to run flawlessly through the switches. With that, we could move on drilling holes for the switch throw bars and the frog wires to drop through the benchwork. After sorting out all the bits of track that go between the Bat’leth and the walls, we were in a position to apply a layer of DAP Alex Clear caulk and get the track glued down into position.
Trevor works on wiring the west staging traverser, while Dan works on adjustments to the switches he built for the layout. On the right, the Bat’leth is now adjusted and glued down in its corner of the layout curing.
Proof I did some work thanks to Trevor. A picture of me working on my soldering skills, and on getting the track glued down and aligned with Dan.
With the day’s work winding down, we had some fun testing that the wiring actually worked, and that I could control a locomotive on both ends where the track is connected, and not short out or blow anything up. After today’s work, about 1/3 of the “visible” track that will have scenery is installed is glued down, and when timer permits, I can move on with installing wiring drops and laying more bits of track. As usual at the end of a good work session, we were stopped by both the time of day, and the running out of supplies!!
The First powered test on the CPR Staging, running over the layout bus (main wiring line) from my ESU Lokprogramer at the other end of the room. Means everything we wired (mostly by Trevor) was done right!
Trevor brought his O-18a, a locomotive which would have been very at home in Liberty Village. The video is a short test on the CNR Staging at the end of the day.
As Count von Count would say, I now have two working staging yards ah ah ah…
Too much? Maybe, but its a little bit of an accomplishment that I now have two fully functioning staging traversers, one in the main layout room for the west end of the layout, and one in the closet for the east!
Doing the one in the main room first was definitely easier. Working in the confined space beneath the closet shelf wasn’t fun, and won’t be again when it comes time to drill holes for wiring, but it’ll get it done and be on our way to actually being able to test and see if trains can get on and off the staging under their own power, not just being pushed by hand.
This week after a couple of really long days at work dealing with deadlines and some role transitioning, I came home and the solitude of soldering rails to the brass screws to hold them aligned and in place, and then cutting the rails so the traverser would move was a couple of hours of peaceful time with my mind to escape some work stress and just enjoy the rewards of why I work hard, being able to come home and build a layout and have the luxury to be able to play with trains at night!
CPR “Parkdale Yard” staging for the east end of my layout, in the open and closed positions. There is still enough room for me to comfortably stand between the staging and the closet wall behind me, so it will be possible to operate here.
Now the next task is to start wiring up the staging yards, and laying track to connect them. I have some friends coming over in a bit over a week for a sunday afternoon wiring and trackwork party, which should be a good opportunity to make some progress and learn some new stills. I can’t wait for the next step forward!!
Canadian National Railways 6043 rests at Assinaboine Park in Winnipeg. On April 25, 1960 this locomotive hauled the final regularly scheduled steam service in Canada. 6043 is a 4-8-2 “Mountain” type and was an oil burner, as many western locomotives were. She’s in the care of the Winnipeg Railroad Museum volunteers, though the area of the park she is in was under construction when I was there and looking a bit unkempt, likely as access was nearly impossible!
A CN ballast train passing along the High Line at Winnipeg’s Union Station. The Power is a pair of SD70-2M’s Number 8899 and 8864. More interesting, is the Herzog Ballast Cars. These cars as you can see have solar panels providing power on each car for powering the doors when opening to deposit ballast on areas where trackwork has been done. A freind tells me that these cars are accurate to within 5cm when being operated in terms of where the ballast is being placed!
As many who know me know, I am an active volunteer with the Toronto Railway Historical Association, the volunteer organization that has built and operates the Toronto Railway Museum in the former Canadian Pacific Railway John Street Roundhouse in Toronto. The museum is a dealer for Rapido Trains, the Canadian manufacturer of model trains. Shameless plug, if you want to support the museum and buy model trains, get in touch with the museum through the website and order your Rapido models from them!
The Toronto Railway Museum store is inside the passenger waiting room of Don Station, if you’re downtown Toronto visiting the museum, it’s got all kinds of train themed gifts including a limited selection of Rapido products, but we can order anything they’ve announced for you!
Last week Rapido hosted their annual dealer event at their world headquarters in Markham. This is the third time I’ve attended on behalf of the museum. Its an interesting event for me as I am friends with some of the Rapido staff, and have gotten to know most of the employees at least a little bit over the years by virtue of that. As I don’t work at the museum store full time, I only help out with looking at models to sell, I don’t have as much invested as most of the other attendees at the event whose business is running model railroad stores. Retailers from stores across Canada were in attendance, along with suppliers like ESU who provides the DCC boards and sounds for Rapido. Its a chance to network, and catch up.
Jason Shron, President of Rapido Trains addressing the assembled dealers, and showing off this years Thomas Birthday Cake
Jason Shron, the founder and president of Rapido also had the company bus out for rides. Its always fun to be out in the Rapido bus, as you get strange looks from people at bus stops and inevitably someone who wonders why you aren’t opening the doors to pick them up as you go by!!
Rapido Bus ride with Jason Shron at the wheel.
Fortunately for me, this years announcements weren’t anything I need or want, but the core of what was announced will be awesome for N-scale modellers. Canadian FP9’s, VIA Rail F40’s & rebuilt F40’s, LRC Coaches, and The Canadian stainless steel cars in N-Scale. For anyone who has never seen Rapido’s products, these will be some of the best models out there when they arrive. Their only HO Scale announcement was more Canadian RDC models.
Rapido Engineering Samples from partially completed molds. VIA Rail Rebuilt F40, LRC Coaches and Park Cars in N-Scale.
As a disclaimer, Rapido’s offices aren’t a store, they aren’t open to the public in the sense that you can’t just show up and wander into the offices where future products are being designed, or the warehouse. If you show up unannounced, you’ll be able to sit in some comfy Ex-VIA Rail coach seats in their lobby, and talk with their wonderful receptionist, but you won’t be able to buy anything or see anything secret!
Who keeps a Tardis in their warehouse??? I mean really!!
A view of CPR 2850 inside my John Street Roundhouse diorama.
Canadian National Railways 6043 rests at Assinaboine Park in Winnipeg. On April 25, 1960 this locomotive hauled the final regularly scheduled steam service in Canada. 6043 is a 4-8-2 “Mountain” type and was an oil burner, as many western locomotives were. She’s in the care of the Winnipeg Railroad Museum volunteers, though the area of the park she is in was under construction when I was there and looking a bit unkempt, likely as access was nearly impossible!
A CN ballast train passing along the High Line at Winnipeg’s Union Station. The Power is a pair of SD70-2M’s Number 8899 and 8864. More interesting, is the Herzog Ballast Cars. These cars as you can see have solar panels providing power on each car for powering the doors when opening to deposit ballast on areas where trackwork has been done. A freind tells me that these cars are accurate to within 5cm when being operated in terms of where the ballast is being placed!
The Toronto Railway Museum store is inside the passenger waiting room of Don Station, if you’re downtown Toronto visiting the museum, it’s got all kinds of train themed gifts including a limited selection of Rapido products, but we can order anything they’ve announced for you!
