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HBR History and Layout Background

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A little background on the prototype: The Hudson Bay Railway (HBR), owned by Omnitrax, took over Canadian National’s lines to Flin Flon (Flin Flon Subdivision), Lynn Lake, Thompson and Churchill Manitoba in 1997. These lines were built to access northern Manitoba’s mineral wealth and forest products. The Flin Flon Subdivision was completed in 1928, the line to the Port of Churchill in 1929, Lynn Lake in 1953 and Thompson in 1958. Another line to Snow Lake was built in 1960 and abandoned in the late 1980’s. Major traffic generators for the northern Manitoba lines include outbound concentrates and ingots from Flin Flon, Lynn Lake and Thompson, predominantly Copper, Zinc and Nickel. As well, inbound concentrates, mill and smelter supplies for the smelters and concentrators at these mining centers is shipped by rail; raw logs and chemicals going to, and finished wood and paper products coming from the Tolko lumber mill and pulp mill, frack sand from Channing, grain loads going to and grain
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CN ECC Gondolas - variety is the spice of life

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Between 1933 and 1943 Canadian National Railways ordered 1750 48'6" steel mill gondolas from Eastern Car Company (ECC) in Trenton Nova Scotia.  These cars were found thoughout the CN system well into the 1980's, with some staying on in work service well into the 1990's.  Since I model a smelter I need a seemingly endless number of gondolas, so I needed a few of this type on my roster.  Fortunately for CN modellers this particular car is readily available from Westerfield Models (http://westerfieldmodels.com/46722.html).  Again we modellers owe Stafford Swain a debt of gratitude for both building the masters for this model as well as for convincing Westerfield to issue kits #7101 (no stakes) and #7111 (with stakes).   Over the years I have acquired a number of these kits and it was always on my "to do" list as they are particularly well researched thanks to Stafford Swain (various CN Lines and other publications) and Ian Cranstone (CN Lines Vol 8 No 3).  I use
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Extracurricular activities - some 1960 era equipment weathering

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My friend Scott is modelling the CPR Boundary Subdivision circa 1960 in his ample basement.  I am one of the regular operators taking part in his regular operating sessions on the layout, occasionally even working as the dispatcher - so far successfully avoiding crashing trains into each other.  Scott is busy building the layout and getting everything running smoothly.   I offered to weather some of his freight cars and he gladly took me up on the offer.  I grab a few cars (with permission!) and take them home to work on.  It is a bit of a change of pace to weather equipment for the early diesel era instead of the early 1980's.   The last batch I did for Scott included a double sheathed SP boxcar, a CP steel boxcar and a CP slabside hopper.  These were done with a mixture of oil washes, pin washes, acrylic paint and Pan Pastels.  I tried to get the wood SP car to reflect a well weathered car that was not far from the end of its service life.  The steel boxcar was done to reflect a
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Lineside buildings from kits

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Schist Lake Models  has started producing a variety of laser cut buildings in HO scale.  I have purchased several of these kits and finally got underway with them.  Thus far I have built a CN hose house, CN 1924 1 door freight shed and CN portable freight shed.  I've got the CN portable station and CN portable bunkhouse underway as well.  In addition I have several CN speeder 1 door sheds, a 4 door speeder shed, a small portable station, small tool house, and a small freight shed as well yet to be built.   The kits are a combination of laser cut wood and paper with nice board and shingle detail.  Everything assembles nicely with minimal hassle.  I painted the 1 door freight shed and portable freight shed in CN's white and black scheme with blue doors.  The portable station is painted in the earlier red brown with cream trim.  I'm planning to paint the portable bunkhouse in the cream/white with green trim scheme.  I have yet to figure out what the other buildings will be.  
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HBM&S Anachronism - Wood Truss Rod Flatcar

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The Hudson Bay Mining and Smelting Railway in Flin Flon Manitoba (the town named after a science fiction novel) has been in continuous operation since about 1929.  They have used a motely assortment of used equipment from all over North America including former interurban steeple cab electrics,  a Minnesota logging Shay and GE 70 Tonners (see https://hudbayrailway.blogspot.com/2023/01/hudson-bay-mining-and-smelting-ge-70.html ).  As well they have had a wide range of second hand freight cars, many likely rescued from the scrapper.   Among these refugees were a pair of wood truss rod flat cars, #136 and #137.  Their history is unknown, but based on their design features they likely are a product of the early 1900's.  They rode on arch bar trucks and had no hand brakes.  They did have early air brake equipment, and the wheels were chocked when they were parked.   Exactly how these cars ended up in captive service at a smelter in northern Manitoba is not known, but my hypothesis is th
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