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It was 1960 for me.....but lots of excursion steam in Toronto when I grew up there. 

    I didn't have a chance to see CNR  # 6218 run but was on the 2nd trip of 6060 after its return to service and had the chance to ride behind her on a few more trips after that.

   As for CPR steam #1057, #136 and #1201 were just a stone's throw away from the CN roundhouse just east at CPs John Street roundhouse.

   I would hang around on weekends at the both facilities and learned as much as I could 

   #1201, I had  the great pleasure of crawling inside its boiler with a pneumatic needle gun for a few hours while it was under going restoration for operation.

   Also outside in storage were #5361 and recently departed Royal  Hudson #2839(off to the USA for fantrip service 

  Good times and great memories....

Al

 

albertstrains posted:

Hello Arthur

  I  see you have received your Lionel CPR box cars and are installing Kadees but you didnt post a pic of what they look like! lol Please post a pic when you have a chance to. 

Al

Here are some shots of the new grain cars . . .

Packaging . . .

Two

Out of the box . . .

Three

Four

And with Kadees and weathered a bit . . .

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Terry Danks posted:
albertstrains posted:

Hello Arthur

  I  see you have received your Lionel CPR box cars and are installing Kadees but you didnt post a pic of what they look like! lol Please post a pic when you have a chance to. 

Al

Sorry, Albert. I thought you meant me. Didn't know Arthur had received these cars.

 

Terry, Albert did mean you, I didn't install Kadees on my CP car, he got us mixed up with all the replies being posted. Good to see the Canadian railway interest.

 

 I have a few days  off from work and I have been working on repainting the Royal Hudson . Alot of details needed to be removed first. With that done the painting could begin. I did add some brass channel to fill in behind  the cab steps.

    Another detail I will be adding is a back wall to the cab. The big opening at the back is a big distraction to me so I will be filling it in.20170731_22092320170731_221600

 Decaling will tomorrows fun!

  Here are a few pics of the progress 

Al20170731_22100620170731_22131320170805_16231220170805_162507

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 Hello Arthur

Yes they will be all CP. I am doing one 40'  wood Reefer in passenger service livery (maroon). I am waiting for decals for my 3 outside braced box cars and need to find two more sets of decals or transfers for my gondolas.

   The CP reefers were the latest ones from MTH but came decorated for CN.

    The colour was too light of grey for my liking so I painted them up in CPR.

   They are supposed to be 8 hatch reefers as well but oh well.....

Al

  Thanks for all the comments on the abutments..looks like I will be making more for the remaining bridges.

    I picked up a bunch of Weaver telegraph poles off day 'bay and they just showed up today at my door. I was going to scratch build these but I can't make them look this good and would probably drive myself nuts trying to lol

  These are a dead ringer for the ones I remember seeing along the mainlines during my youth.

  I will be painting/detailing these as well 

  Al20170926_170149

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Hello Mark

   I have more foam to install before I start fill cracks etc with yellow expanding foam insulation(spray can).

     I will see how that looks before I start going at it with the hot wire cutter. 

    Yes the foam looks pretty lame at this stage of the game.  Most important is to ensure clearances in the tunnels and build in access as I go along.

   Al

 The "canyon" is approx. 18" railhead to bottom. I have envisioned scratchbuilding a wooden trestle but it wouldn't look right with the Mainline CP locos I will be running(my opionion lol).

  I am looking at using another Lionel # 231 truss bridge(upside down this time) to give it that heavy

mainline look at this time. If I can muster up some energy after work I will continue on my quest...

  Mark, I was checking out your layout thread and I have an idea for your track plan

 Al

albertstrains posted:

 Just finished up painting the base colours for the Roundhouse. Ran out of paint for the bricks, so I went with good Ole red primer(pretty much exact match). All windows, doors, gutters a roof are painted flat black.

   I will probably paint the mortar lines on the walls(since I've gone this far).

 AlIMG_20160827_204544IMG_20160827_220837IMG_20160827_220853

That is one cool work bench.  

albertstrains posted:

 The "canyon" is approx. 18" railhead to bottom. I have envisioned scratchbuilding a wooden trestle but it wouldn't look right with the Mainline CP locos I will be running(my opionion lol).

  I am looking at using another Lionel # 231 truss bridge(upside down this time) to give it that heavy

mainline look at this time. If I can muster up some energy after work I will continue on my quest...

  Mark, I was checking out your layout thread and I have an idea for your track plan

 Al

I agree, most all of us like spindly trestles for an application like this, but the heavier truss would be better for your mainline trains!

 I know about getting home and feeling too tired to do anything.  Both my dad and father-in-law retired lass than a year older than I am now.  As I recall, they didn't get a lot accomplished after work at my age either!  

I am all ears for any suggestions you may have!  Whoops!  You may say, 'scrap it all and do something totally different!'  Ha ha!

albertstrains posted:

  20171203_21512320171203_21522720171126_21532220171203_21500420171203_21482620171203_213914Greetings All

    Finally had time to get back to working on the layout. The "canyon" line I have had envisioned for some time. 

  Figured I better get at it. Here are some pics of the work

Al

Al- very nice layout. First time I've seen your thread in a while. That open cell styrofoam can make quite a mess.
I like your helper too!

Bob

Kali is the Project Manager/Tunnel inspector. We have disagreements on whose layout it is at times but work things out.lol

 Ive been dealing with RA the past few years and it has really taken the wind out of my sails plus a crazy job that leaves me more or less kaput to fo much else....oh well could be worse right?

    I enjoy even just spending time just doing some "imagineering" with my fuzzy friends in close company

Mark i will try email you

Thank you for all the high 5s lol

Al

 

M

albertstrains posted:

Kali is the Project Manager/Tunnel inspector. We have disagreements on whose layout it is at times but work things out.lol

 Ive been dealing with RA the past few years and it has really taken the wind out of my sails plus a crazy job that leaves me more or less kaput to fo much else....oh well could be worse right?

    I enjoy even just spending time just doing some "imagineering" with my fuzzy friends in close company

Mark i will try email you

Thank you for all the high 5s lol

Al

 

M

Al- we have a "Cali" too...small world. So far she hasn't found the layout but she camps out under the Christmas tree each year. Sorry about the RA, its gotta suck for sure.

2015-12-28 10.38.19

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All,

The truss bridge idea looks good!  So does that CP Steamer!!

Actually, I have two small frozen pensions and am now collecting.  I took an early out, then went right back working as a contractor for the last 2+ years.  Of course I am being paid from a different pot of money than before.  I think I will have to wait 3 years until I can sign up for Medicare before I can really retire.  LOL

albertstrains posted:

  I think this plan has a little more interesting operating, as trains have to go up and over. I was thinking to two trains operating on the mainline and maybe switcher for around the yard.

  Minimum is O72 with O84. Scenery....well, lets say very mountainous terrain.

 Grades should be OK( 3%?). Atlas TT and two roundhouse kits(I had to do it)

   I have some of the other plans that evolved from my original pretzel layout to this one, I case anyone would like to see them posted.

  I will see If I can post my crappy basement plan as well

Al

Als Pretzel Layout Buildings

basement

I like this layout and would like to reproduce it in a spare bedroom.  I see the grid but don't know what the scale of the lines are.  What are the dimensions of this layout as it is drawn??  Thanks.

Thanks Carl.

Hmmmm.  My room is a little smaller than that.  I wonder if it would work to shrink it down with smaller radius curves (054 and 045)...  Hopefully the grades won't get too steep.  I'll have to play around with it and see if I can make it work.  I was working on my own design but it was very flat...no crossing over of trains and I like trestles and bridges.

 Been off work the past 6 months on disability and haven’t had much steam in the boiler to get things done on the layout.

  I have managed to finish up a few pieces of rolling stock  since I have procured the appropriate decals.

  I am looking to repaint another MTH Royal Hudson and CN 6060 whenever I can get motivated.

   Here are a few pics of the 2 passenger cars and a box car I have recently finished.

Al7865E054-FC4C-46E0-8A3C-B12EE0302AE52664690D-BD82-4528-ACCC-6EE6837B295E5E921C0B-6016-41F0-AF91-D71A9146AAB64607AE0F-2C10-43B3-8C55-50646C912AA14CEAA994-C223-469D-8FB5-A6B591DE419D

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Here is a quick update with pics.  I had some trouble with the loco stripping / paint issues so I stripped it down and started again with a few changes in my prep work . Here is the current progress to date

  I am using a combination of Micro scale Black Cat and Champ decals(stripping to continue along with numbers)43AD4A83-8F25-483D-823D-2F95546FB1B1C8BF63A7-AF7B-4704-87EF-EE848D91515CBC894342-91CC-4551-A89D-B3FAE70C964D1CEB0A62-19E0-495D-95B5-9AFB7BE0789D

  I set on the shelf with my other stock MTH 6069 for comparison 

Al

 

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  Here are a few vids of CNR 6060 on freight service taken in the wee hours this morning.

  I find it challenging to take the videos on my IPhone and operate the trains at the same time with out having any major derailments lol

   Have to keep the eyes peeled as I have one major bottle neck on my layout, where all trains have to pass thru. Preferably one at a time 

  I hope you have been enjoying your trains too 

Al

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Thank you Arthur Mark and Rod for the kind comments!

  I have not done much the past few weeks train wise. Just too tired and fighting the current flu bug visiting the Calgary area and my house lol

Christmas rush has begun!

  I am still waiting for another new Rx to kick in. Not sure if this one will provide at least some relief. This has been an ongoing search for over 2 years now. Things could  be alot worse tho and I count my blessings daily 

  Anyways, I am hoping to get motivated and work on the trains. Apparently there is a list of things to do on the layout.

  I am hesitant to do more Scenery as I may have to downsize in another year and move if my health doesn’t improve.

Al

 

 Haven’t been very active with the trains until recently.

  I picked up a used 4 pack of Atlas stock cars for $20 at our local shop Trains and Such minus trucks and couplers .

   I was looking to add a few CP stock cars for my roster but the cost of used Lionel ones are out of the question at this point in time.

  I need to figure out how to print out my own decals. I also added Kadees to the cars as my goal is to convert all my rolling stock as funds permit

   I found a nice spot on the layout to incorporate a stock yard on the layout which I thought would look good. Just not sure if I should just scratch build one or purchase a used Banta Models laser cut kit for $120 at the store(don’t have any dough right now lol)

  I also removed my last reverse S curve issue on my layout and made it possible to install a 10” piece in between.

  This was necessary as my Heavyweight passenger cars are slated for Kadee conversion and maybe some locos for double heading as well 

  Here are some pics of the stock car project and a video of some trains dusting off the mainline 

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Last edited by albertstrains

Very nice layout, with many interesting structures.  Canadian railroads are somewhat under-appreciated in the United States, which is unfortunate, as both CPR and CNR had beautiful rosters of steam locomotives, interesting rolling stock and delightful branch lines (a product of lower automobile ownership relative to the US). Admire the majestic coaling tower !

D2299BC2-F35B-457D-80BB-67C5ADBF379D1EA8CD3E-E066-4C21-AE8F-2BDC480E4167 Greetings All!

  I have decided to upgrade the stock beam supports for the Atlas Roundhouse. In my opinion they are too flimsy and prone to roof collapse.

   As you cam see I have two kits together for a total of six stalls.

  I believe, Building fire code requires a fire demising wall between stalls 3-4.

  I am making a jig to fabricate the new framework using 1/4”x 1/4” wood strips purchased from Lowes.

   You can rip your own wood strips if you have access to a table saw as well(much cheaper)

   Here are some pics of my progress this far

 Al

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6103A033-9C04-48CF-90AC-3871D206715E9BAD70A5-A62B-4B7B-8918-086BD6E7325074A4CCB4-DC28-4888-A9F6-626E377D212C1CBC8EEF-7A36-4617-8A4A-FC06AA429BBCC37213FE-9C04-45FB-80E3-D68F860D4AAC633E9D81-837E-4B45-ABA8-C78369D533EC5C3B1055-52C3-424E-B0D9-E1D45D9E26F81B4E3504-FDE3-44B2-A4DD-3630EE0AD70870D46516-96E5-4B32-A82F-0F335CDAAD29Here is abit of an update since my last post

  Did some reworking of the track plan on the main loop canyon area and some basic landforms.

  Locomotive wise I have been detailing an AB set of MTH C liners along with adding a fixed pilot.

  Also managed to pick up another set of Lionel scale heavyweight passenger cars that I will decorate for the CNR to go with the 6060 I recently refinished

  Green/Black and gold graphics of course.

  Al

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35B4DA7E-7409-46DB-A2B4-C7FD1DF314B426DA7384-B7D6-4BF8-A667-C05DB9EFC434B610E719-E1C3-4C1D-B820-8F9F92DB2C983B5AC0DC-7858-4BB7-BD05-33F7D4F2F62ED6CF370F-95C1-48AA-8B59-CA8F9C61450FBF039E90-6AB7-4E16-ADE1-6F495D811CBDD3633B93-2E1D-4F6C-855B-944CC60CBF7D870E0AE4-8662-4009-82EA-F959C16F90570FA45B07-8111-46B2-9A57-A599FD85FDD4  Here is an update on some scenery finally happening on the layout.

  I have been somewhat hesitant on doing much more in case I need to move. I have been off work due to my RA, for the past 20 months and will need to go back in April on limited duties.

  No real miracle medications have worked yet from my Specialist but current reigime does somewhat and that’s what I have to go with.

  It could be much worse or as I like to say “more worser” lol

  Main focus lately, has been detailing and painting locomotives that have been on my to do list. I have only recently had the energy and pain management relief to have some fun, so I’m gettin at it while gettin is good

  I decided to daylite the tunnel that was originally at this location, however I thought it blocked the view of the layout, so out it came.

   Two bridges were required to span the gaps on the ascending and descending grades to the 2nd level.

  The bridges were built using a 1/4” x 4”x 8” styrene and modified Lionel plastic girders 

  Here are a few pics 

Al

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  • 0FA45B07-8111-46B2-9A57-A599FD85FDD4: Kali is head of Engineering

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