A model train geek, learning as he goes.
I know I haven’t posted in a long time, so I’m just going to do a brain dump and list some things that I’ve been picking away at. Accomplishments I added fascia to the majority of my layout! I’m pretty pleased by how it looks. Photos to come soon. I bought a bunch of “inexpensive” … Read more
My oldest son Nick came to visit for Thanksgiving. He’s attending the University of Waterloo so it was nice to have him around for a few days. We did our traditional visits to the Royal Aviation Museum of Western Canada and to Marway Militaria. Nick has a fair amount of N scale equipment (some from my … Read more
Analysis paralysis. This is me right now. I have a number of model train projects on the go, and I’m not executing on any of them. Lance Mindheim just wrote a post “Fear of the Inconsequential” where he wrote about the “fear of getting it wrong”. That’s me, all right. What do I have going on? … Read more
I went to the Manitoba Mega Train 2016 show yesterday (September 24). The show is being held at the Red River Exhibition Park. The venue is spacious, allowing lots of room for train layouts, vendors and for other activities like model ship builders, Lego, face painters and more! I was in line for the 9 … Read more
I listen to a lot of podcasts. Most have nothing to do with model railroading, but a few do. I started out with The Model Railway Show, by Jim Martin and Trevor Marshall. It’s over now but it is well worth listening to the archives. Then I tried The Scotty Mason Show but it’s not … Read more
This past weekend I visited the CP Rail Manitoba & Minnesota Subdivision layout, built and operated by John Longhurst. You may remember that I interviewed John as part of my 10 Questions series. I emailed him last week asking if I could take him up on an old offer to visit his layout, and he … Read more
So, that happened. After posting that photo on the excellent Canadian Railway Modellers Facebook group, I learned that many other people have made the same mistake when installing / changing couplers. Stuff happens. It’s easy to do, especially when the car might be upside down and you’re trying to jam in the spring, coupler, put … Read more
In this post I will discuss installing a Caboose Hobbies ground throw. These inexpensive switch stands are handy to add an operating switch to your layout. They don’t take a lot of space, and are vaguely prototypical. I wouldn’t look to them for extreme realism by any means, but they are a good start and … Read more
On a layout based on the Canadian Prairie, you need a lot of grain cars! If you are cheap have a low budget, you might be willing to run the less accurate models for a while. Let’s face it, accurate rail cars are expensive. So you have the choice – do without, while accumulating funds to … Read more
I was on Prince Edward Island recently for work. Shortly before I left Manitoba, I mentioned to Chris Mears and Taylor Main that I was headed for the island, and they invited me to join them for the Half Nuts operations group on Sunday evening. They meet regularly and operate on one of two layouts in the … Read more
