The Hudson Bay Railway in HO Scale

Put this one in the category of 'oddball projects". I was asked to build and paint a Kaslo Shops Distributing 48' Manac refrigerated trailer that was commonly used in eastern Canada in the 90's and 2000's.  The trailer is well designed and was a quick assembly project.  It took longer to paint and mask the trailer than to build it. I painted the trailer white with aluminum roof and trim.  The underbody was painted light grey as that was the colour used on most prototype trailers.  I am quite happy with the paint separations and had minimal overspray to deal with as I painted the masking with a coat of white paint to seal the edges.  The tire rims were painted white and I used Vallejo Air Tire Black to hand paint the tires.      It will be hard to justify a future trailer on my layout, but I am lobbying Kaslo to do 1970s and 1980s trailers.  We'll see if I am successful in this down the road (pardon the pun).

Canadian National Railways had a massive railway network that had extensive passenger service well into the 1970's.  When steam locomotives were being replaced by diesels, unlike many other railways CN elected to use separate steam generator units (SGU) for secondary and branchline trains.  This was to allow freight units to be used on these trains instead of dedicated passenger service units.   Between 1955 and 1957 CN ordered 94 SGU from CC&F (15400-448, 1958), GMD (15450-479, 1959) and NSC (15480-494, 1960), each with a different configuration.  These cars served in CN passenger train service through to the divestment of CN's passenger services into VIA Rail Canada in 1977. These cars continued in VIA service to the end of steam heated passenger cars in 1996 when they were retired.  Over the years a few options for modeling these cars were available including resin and brass, particularly several different versions of the CC&F and NSC (and maybe the GMD?) SGU release

I regularly operate and dispatch the CP Boundary Subdivision owned by my friend Scott.  It is a large layout that is a blast to operate.  On occasion I would give Scott a hard time about all the shiny new freight cars and locomotives on the layout.  It was suggested that I help fix that issue, which I agreed to.  This latest batch included a mix of CP, CN, MILW, WP and Southern Mountain (freelance roadname).   Most of these (except CN and CP) don't show up on my own layout so this was an interesting diversion for me. The layout is set in the pre-CP script era, so circa 1961-63.  These cars were fun to do, using the build dates as a guide to how grungy and weathered the cars should be. Most of the cars were built between 1945-57, so there is quite a range of dates.  I'm pleased with how they turned out.  Only about 400 or so cars to go... 

I wasn't sure how to title this post without seeming too self congratulatory.  I took part in my first NMRA regional convention (actually I was part of the organizing committee) and entered a few of my models in the contests and AP (Achievement Program) judging program. I have only ever had my models on display at the various local meets over the years.   The  models did pretty well.  I entered six models in the AP and got five merit awards for my CN GP9 4243, CN snow plows, VIA Rail combine and the CN Fowler/Dominion work service boxcar, all of which I have blogged about previously here.  I was pleasantly surprised that I managed to get the merit awards.   On the last day of the show I had a moment to swing by the display/contest room and found out that my CN lightweight GP9 had won 1st place in the Diesel & Other category.  I was given a nicely framed certificate for this.  I promise I won't let it go to my head. June 7, 2024 update I got a package in the mail the other d

BC Hydro served a significant number of wood product producers in the Lower Mainland of BC (the area from Vancouver to Hope BC for those who are not familiar with the area's geography) between Vancouver and Chilliwack.  In the late 1970's and early 1980's BCH leased or purchased a large number of Thrall and Evans All Door Boxcars to serve these businesses.  These cars were designed to allow easy access for loading and unloading while protecting the higher value products in the car from the elements.  This was the era prior to center beam flatcars and plastic wrapped lumber and plywood.   The All Door Boxcars served the lumber and plywood industries into the 1990's (and even a bit longer in some areas) until they were replaced by center beam flatcars and plastic wrap.  The maintenance costs of these cars (door maintenance, etc.) was another reason they were retired.   I have been interested in these cars for quite some time and thought it would be worthwhile to get a few

I recently completed a 6 car set of the newly released Kaslo Shops Distributing Marine Industries 51'6" IL bulkhead flatcars in several variations.  They are nice kits and go together well.  You can do as much or as little underframe detailing as you want.  I did the full underframe detailing on a few and just installed basic underframe details on the others.    The etched ladders and other bits are very nice and are close to scale size.  The cars go together quickly and the parts have good fit.  The center post cars are a bit tricky to get the posts vertical in all directions, I would recommend using a glue that has a longer working time than CA so you can get everything lined up.   The cars are quite light and finding space to add weight will be challenging.  There is space in the centersill for adding weight, and you could also add some weight behind the side sills.  These cars may need to  have permanent loads to get them up to appropriate weight for operation.  Running t