Operating on the Bayside & Tidewater

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

Guest Post: CP 1597 and 5911, Recreated

This is a guest post by Braedan Dunne. Thanks, Braedan! After looking for prototype images a few months ago, I came across a photo at traingeek.ca featuring CP GP9u 1597, which I have in HO scale converted from a Walthers Trainline GP9m. However, what was connected to CP 1597 in that photo made me all … Read more

Ballasting in Georgetown

It’s been maintenance time on the layout for the past month or so. I decided it was time to do some more scenery, so I set out to do some ballasting in Georgetown on the CN side. I spread the ballast over the main track and the siding track. Then I sprayed it with a … Read more

Ready for Service

I picked up these two Walthers all-door boxcars at a toy show in Morden, Manitoba. I just had a few steps to go through before they were ready for service. This kind of car was used for paper service and most were owned by paper companies, such as Boise Cascade and Weyerhauser as seen here. I paid $30 … Read more

CP 949 and CP 975

After the last operating session, I had two more trains to run: CP 949 (Winnipeg to Brandon via Georgetown); and CP 975 (Brandon to Minnedosa) Both are fairly limited in the switching they do in Georgetown, so they were quicker than CP 948 in particular to run.   CP 949 The instructions for CP 949 … Read more

ALNX 396400 – A Comparison

I was out railfanning this morning along the CN Redditt subdivision. I photographed an eastbound freight train and snapped a few photos of the rolling stock. One that I photographed was ALNX 396400: When I was processing them in Lightroom, I recognized the road number as being the same as a model I have! Here’s … Read more

Second Operating Session with Car Cards

After my first operating session with car cards, I made one significant change, then started running some CP trains. Here are a few videos showing the trains. Train Information Card I added a train information card to the front of the card packet. This gives the train number, origin and destination of the train, departure time, … Read more

Putting a DCC Decoder in a Proto 1000 RDC

I installed a TCS decoder in a Walthers Proto 1000 RDC today. It was pretty straightforward! The basic process is as follows: Remove the shell (and couplers) Cut traces on the board inside Solder decoder wiring harness to board Tape decoder down Replace shell Program decoder… and play! Here are the steps. Just a generic caution – … Read more