Another year in the books, and another good one. Obviously, much of my progress has been on the layout, not always obvious or big steps, but slow and steady. It’s also however, been a year where I got the opportunity to operate on multiple other peoples layouts, and help construct someone else’s layout as well. All opportunities I didn’t have before making friends through the online community in Toronto.
View of the layout on December 31st showing the state at the end of 2019.
A summary of my year is below, followed by some brief thoughts on things:
Projects Completed in 2019
Projects In Progress
- Building Liberty Village Layout – Did lots on this!! See page here.
- CPR U3e 0-6-0 Switcher
- CNR O-18a 0-6-0 Switcher
- Freight Car Kits – Didn’t really start building any, but bought more kits! Building some kits is a high 2020 priority.
Skills
- Weathering – Did some, got a bit better, still a long way to go – See Here
- Airbrushing – Moved indoors with a paint booth for the first time. No more painting on the balcony or patio as in the past! – See Here
- Resin Casting – Got some lessons from a friend in making a mold and casting. Need to buy supplies and start learning to do on my own.
- Soldering – Did some, got a bit better, still a long way to go
Thing’s I’m expecting to arrive in Stores
- Rails of Sheffield Caledonian Railway No. 828 – See Here
- Bachmann LMS Patriot “The Unknown Warrior” – See Here
- Rapido Trains GO Transit F59 – See Here
Strangely, none of those have anything at all to do with or on a layout set in Liberty Village in the 1950’s.
So, with that high level summary of the “plan” (insofar as one can plan a hobby), a bit of a chat on what I did is below:
Completed Projects
Didn’t finish a lot, because this was a year of progress on layout building, but I did finish two locomotives, an unpowered VIA Rail P42 in the Canada 150 scheme and a CPR S-2for the layout. I also “Finished” the benchwork main construction. There is plenty of work to do on finishing and working on it, but all of the required benchwork is built now with the peninsula in place, a big milestone for the layout.
Finished Projects! Always a good feeling!
Projects in Progress
2019 Layout Construction Gallery
Lets be honest, the project in progress is the layout. There are so many different things being worked on, all in the interests of being able to start running trains and testing. There has been track laying, wiring, building switch machines, painting, installing lighting, building benchwork, and so much more. Other projects that are on the go are all kinda pale in comparison to the work list on the layout and continuing to advance that.
I’ve also been working on one solitary “That’s No Train” project in a plastic race car model kit. I’ll post about it sometime. It just kinda sits on the workbench and gets worked on from time to time as a alternative to tracklaying and wiring and layout building. I’m semi targeting having it done by July to take to Mosport, but that may or may not happen.
Skill Building
A collection of things being learned or improved upon in my skills toolbox from 2019.
This is something that is ongoing, and hopefully always will be. I was able to learn and apply a lot of new and improved skills this year. I’m better at using my airbrush, at soldering, at building kits and woodworking. I started down the road of learning to cast parts in resin. As I get closer to building my buildings, I’ll need to continue to learn and start to apply those skills. Part of the joy of this hobby is the journey, both on my own and with friends.
A Decade in Trains
As a closing thought, since everyone is on about it being the end of the decade, its been quite the decade for me in our hobby. A decade ago, my layout was a poorly designed shelf in my parents basement, a house I hadn’t lived in for 5 years at that point, and I was just barely in the hobby. A decade on, I’ve pushed myself, made friends in the hobby (something I had very few of in 2010), and now am building a layout in my own house. Its been a crazy 10 years. Hopefully in 10 I can be reflecting on at least a couple of years of operating and refining Liberty Village!
Georgetown in January 2010, almost everything on this layout is gone now save a few pieces of rolling stock. It’s been a crazy decade in the hobby!
So, that’s about it. I’ve tried to keep this years year in review short and sweet, not because it hasn’t been a good year, but because it’s just easier to be short and sweet to collect things and link back to stuff I’ve already written. With that, all the best to you and yours, have a wonderful New Years Eve, and happy modelling in 2020!!
The End. My last shot of a CLRV in service on the streets of Toronto. The end for an Icon in the City.
Tool organizer doing its job, organizing tools!
Happy Holidays, Merry Christmas!! The Canadian Pacific Railway’s Holiday Train makes its annual run across Canada and the US in support of local food banks. It is seen here at the Toronto stop at Lambton Yard with the CN Tower in the background.
GO in the Dark. A panning shot of an empty southbound stock movement of a GO Train coming from the Richmond Hill line back onto the Union Station corridor at Corktown Common Park.
Musings on my Model Railroading Addiction 