steve

Ops Session: CePR Switching

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A few hours after CN dropped three cars off at the interchange, the Central Prairie Railway fired up their ex CP C424 locomotive to retrieve the cars and do some switching.

Ops Session: CN Switching

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CN’s branch line crew was called for 06:30 to take three cars to the Central Prairie Railway interchange, and spot a covered hopper at the plastics factory. CN 3665 Locomotive ACFX 59974 Plastics factory NIRX 232001 McCain via CePR interchange SKNX 397392 UGG elevator via CePR interchange SKNX 397387 UGG elevator via CePR interchange CN … Read more

Layout Tour

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Here’s a little layout tour of the Central Prairie Railway to show the progress I’ve made. Basically I have laid all of the main town track for the Central Prairie, and the interchange to CN is fully functional. The next step is to complete the McCain spur, then run track around the room to the … Read more

Central Prairie Railway Update

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I’ve made some decent progress on the layout since my last update (Fits and Starts). All of the track in the CN area has been laid and wired. I ended up buying a new Dremel, since the battery on my ancient Dremel had died and I couldn’t find a replacement battery. I ran another operating … Read more

Fits and Starts

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I’ve been making progress on the Central Prairie Railway… in fits and starts. I’m trying not to beat myself up about the (lack of) progress. It’s a hobby, after all, and it shouldn’t feel like work. Every now and then, I get the urge to work on the layout and I do a bit of … Read more

Testing CN on the Central Prairie

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As many people have found out, fitting the available space in a track plan doesn’t always mean that the real track fits the available space. Switches in particular can mislead you – they take up more space than people think. For the Central Prairie Railway, I’ve resolved to sketch it out in the track plan … Read more

Car Storage

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Model train car storage

I’ve always been challenged on how to store rail cars and locomotives when they aren’t on the layout itself. I’ve acquired most of my fleet from train shows and therefore I don’t have original boxes for 80-90% of the fleet – or any boxes at all for most of them. Over the years, I accumulated … Read more

Introducing the Central Prairie Railway

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The Central Prairie Railway is a short line in the Canadian Prairie. The railway serves two local towns and interchanges with both CN and CP. The main industries served by the Central Prairie include several local grain elevators and a local fuel depot. The railway also offers car storage on a branch line that is … Read more

Time For a Change

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I decided it’s time for a change. Time for a new layout. There have been a few issues with my layout that just aren’t fixable. The two major ones are: Duck-under at the entrance to the layout room / my office Grades to second level staging yard were too steep I was really starting to … Read more

Manitoba Mega Train 2019

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Winnipeg’s premiere model train event, Manitoba Mega Train, is happening this weekend. I attended on Saturday morning and here are some photos and observations. The show filled the Red River Exhibition building. Someone told me there were 21 layouts here and I believe it. It seems a bit larger than 2018. There were layouts along … Read more