Modelling Canadian railroads/locations

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M

McFlyDMC12

Loving CP Rail
Hi guys,

I joined this forum today after discovering how awesome it is! I am originally from South Africa (now living in Canada) and as a kid I played with Lima Models' locomotives and rolling stock. My dad and I never built a layout of our own - I always went to a friend's house with my gear and we used to lower a layout from their garage ceiling to play on. Good times and memories! :)

Anyway, that was over 20 years ago and I outgrew the hobby when I hit my teens. Now that I am on the brink of becoming a father myself, my wife encourage me to get back into the hobby and for Christmas I received an Athearn Canadian Yardmaster starter set. I chose this set myself because ever since we arrived in Canada a little over two years ago, I have been fascinated by all things Canadian Pacific Railway (perhaps because I love Canada so much). I will probably get some CN Railway locomotives one day too.

But let me get to my question: one of these days I want to start building a layout of my own (Canadian unfinished basements are good for these!), but I really want to try and model a famous or perhaps even nostalgic Canadian railroad "location" (sorry, but I am not up to speed with all the model railroading lingo yet :o).

Do you guys have any thoughts on where I can get ideas for any of these? The only place I can think of so far is Jasper in the Alberta Rockies since we've been there last year and it has a very large yard. I kind of like the idea of building a layout with a large yard.

Thanks though for all the awesome ideas that you all have given me on this forum so far. I am for sure going to enjoy reading about some more of your great layouts and the innovative things you guys do.

All the best!
Charl
 
Hi and welcome to the Great White North!
Every area has its own special or nostalgic spots but the more famous would be Morant's Curve, the Spiral Tunnels, Lethbridge Trestle, Portage La Prairie Jct. etc.
I'd start by digging around and seeing what features you like best and maybe combine them into a track plan.
BTW yes unfinished basements are a gold mine!
 
Welcome aboard Charl, there are members here who model Canadian roads and will be a great source of information. For a start you might be interested in subscribing to the C.R.O. another good source of information about Canadian RR and also about CN and CP in the USA.

http://www.canadianrailwayobservations.com/2010/dec10/dec10linkpage.htm

It costs nothing, subscribing to it is so they can send you an email as each issue becomes available to read or download. The information comes from subscribers who report to the editor.

Enjoy the forum
Cheers
Willis
 


McFlyDMC12 said:
Hi guys,

I joined this forum today after discovering how awesome it is! I am originally from South Africa (now living in Canada) and as a kid I played with Lima Models' locomotives and rolling stock. My dad and I never built a layout of our own - I always went to a friend's house with my gear and we used to lower a layout from their garage ceiling to play on. Good times and memories! :)

Anyway, that was over 20 years ago and I outgrew the hobby when I hit my teens. Now that I am on the brink of becoming a father myself, my wife encourage me to get back into the hobby and for Christmas I received an Athearn Canadian Yardmaster starter set. I chose this set myself because ever since we arrived in Canada a little over two years ago, I have been fascinated by all things Canadian Pacific Railway (perhaps because I love Canada so much). I will probably get some CN Railway locomotives one day too.

But let me get to my question: one of these days I want to start building a layout of my own (Canadian unfinished basements are good for these!), but I really want to try and model a famous or perhaps even nostalgic Canadian railroad "location" (sorry, but I am not up to speed with all the model railroading lingo yet :o).

Do you guys have any thoughts on where I can get ideas for any of these? The only place I can think of so far is Jasper in the Alberta Rockies since we've been there last year and it has a very large yard. I kind of like the idea of building a layout with a large yard.

Thanks though for all the awesome ideas that you all have given me on this forum so far. I am for sure going to enjoy reading about some more of your great layouts and the innovative things you guys do.

All the best!
Charl
Click to expand...

Welcome.

There are so many unique areas you could model - the Atlantic coast with canneries, shipbuilders, ports, etc. The prairies with the towering grain elevators. Rural Canada with interesting branchlines (especially in Ontario) running deep through wooded areas, along lakes, rivers, etc. The Rockies and coastal mountains.

I'm not familiar with the Canadian yardmaster set. Is it modern? 1960s, 70s, or 80s?
 
I'm not sure what part of Canada you live in, or which area you'd like to model as there is such a wide range, however you mention Jasper, so I think you're interested in mountain railroading in western Canada.

Since you say you really like Canadian Pacific, I'd go a bit south from Jasper and research the line through Banff, Golden and Field. There's some well-known locations along here including the Spiral Tunnels, Morant's Curve and the yard at Field.

Some locations in northern Ontario will also give you similar scenery (the hills are smaller, but on a model railway you can't really model the full-size mountains anyway, so it would pretty much be the same. If you're modelling the CP, both of these areas are on portions of the transcontinental route, so you'd have lots of through traffic. However, out west you'd have a lot of export coal, sulphur, potash and grain going to the harbours near Vancouver. In Ontario, you'd have grain mostly in the winter (during the summer it'd be shipped to lakehead at Thunder Bay and loaded onto ships; when the seaway system connecting the Great Lakes shuts down in the winter you get lots of unit grain trains to Eastern Canada and USA.), some potash and no coal or sulphur.

Intermodal container traffic (Asian import, domestic and land bridge traffic) and autoracks (domestic and import) would be travelling over either area.

If you like lots of through traffic, then any of these locations will work nicely; there's also some junctions in Southern Ontario that are sort of hot spots (Bayview Junction in Hamilton, ON is one very well-known hot spot).

If you're more looking to just run a few smaller trains, I'd be looking for an appropriate branchline somewhere. Depending where you live, you may be able to research one locally.

If you can find a local model railway club, that can be a good way to learn the hobby and also get some more suggestions of what the local railways around you are.
 
Of course, another possibility is to model one of Canada's smaller regional railroads, like British Columbia Railway, Algoma Central or Ontario Northland; or modern shortlines/regionals like Huron Central, Quebec-Gatineau, Hudson Bay Railway, Goderich-Exeter Railway etc.

One good source of inspiration is books on Canadian railways; there are some books by Greg McDonnell which are mostly picture books (kinda like a coffee-table style picture book, but of trains) and several of them are on Canadian Pacific or Canadian Railways in general.

http://www.allbookstores.com/Greg-McDonnell/author
 
zoegraf said:
I'm not familiar with the Canadian yardmaster set. Is it modern? 1960s, 70s, or 80s?
Click to expand...

Hi zoegraf!

I am not exactly sure what era the Yardmaster set tries to model, but in terms of the actual train set - it's pretty new. I have attached some pictures for you to see the locomotive and the box it came in. It was specifically put together for a distributor here in Calgary where we live:

ModelRailroading
IMG_0104.jpg


IMG_0103.jpg


IMG_0101.jpg

ModelRailroading
 
Last edited by a moderator:
cv_acr said:
If you can find a local model railway club, that can be a good way to learn the hobby and also get some more suggestions of what the local railways around you are.
Click to expand...

Hi Chris!

Thanks for all the very useful tips. I am beginning to think that a local club would be a good place to start, for sure.
 


McFlyDMC12 said:
Hi zoegraf!

I am not exactly sure what era the Yardmaster set tries to model, but in terms of the actual train set - it's pretty new. I have attached some pictures for you to see the locomotive and the box it came in. It was specifically put together for a distributor here in Calgary where we live:

ModelRailroading
IMG_0104.jpg


IMG_0103.jpg


IMG_0101.jpg


ModelRailroading


ModelRailroading
Click to expand...

That's a nice looking model. Thanks for the images. Keep us posted.
Cheers.
 
Greetings Charl and yes, welcome to Canada!

I hope you don't mind but I am going to cause a slight derail here for more information on a location mentioned earlier...

Rico said:
... Portage La Prairie Jct. ...
Click to expand...

Sorry if this seems like a stupid question but I've been in MB for 12 years now and have never heard of this Jct. Albeit I have just recently returned to being a rail modeller and enthusiast after a 16 year hiadus. Anyway, where exactly is this Jct and why would it be interesting rail-wise, to model? I may have to go have a look-see on my next trip out Portage way.

D
 
At Portage La Prairie Cn And Cp tracks come within a few hundred feet of each other. There is a CP and Cn station there. The CP station is in the process of being restored and a club has there layout inside. Great place for railfanning.
 
Well that is interesting and I didn't know that as I have never been off the main routes through Portage. I will definately have to get off the beaten path next trip through that city. Thank you for the enlightenment.
 
Not only is there a diamond, but all of the East West mainline traffic on both RR's and two VIA's cross there, as well as a junction heading up North to Churchhill. Lines also split to head to either Calgary to the South West or Edmonton to the North West. All you have to do is sit your butt in the middle and catch the action.
There is also local switching going on and a MOW yard that sometimes has some interesting stuff. There are guys who make the pilgrimage every year on the longest day in the summer.
If you're going to head out that way just swing by with Rlundy90 in tow and we'll make a day out of it! (if we can pry him off his lawn mower:p)
 


I might have to. I have plans to visit the surplus in Westborne too so I could fit all that into a quite fun day trip. Are you in Portage?
 
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