Using Employee Time Tables as a Modelling Aid

I have managed to acquire a number of CN employee time tables for northern Manitoba ranging from the early 1970's to the mid 1990's. These are snapshots of the railway operations during these times.  As is often the case there was far more traffic in the earlier time tables than the later ones.   

My chosen era is the 1981-83 time frame. Time Table #39 shown above is the closest to my era that I currently have on hand. I'm still looking for additional time tables for my prototype time frame.  The main Subdivisions that are pertinent to the layout are the Turnberry Sub that runs from Hudson Bay to The Pas, the Wekusko Sub that runs from The Pas to Wabowden, the Flin Flon Sub that runs from Flin Flon Junction to Flin Flon and the Sherridon  Sub that runs from Sherrit Junction to Lynn Lake.


This map shows the Hudson Bay Division Subdivisions in 1980.  I'm focused on the lines north of The Pas. In 1980 there was still extensive railway activity in northern Manitoba.

The Turnberry Subdivision runs from Hudson Bay (the town in Saskatchewan, not the body of water) to The Pas.  This will be represented by staging on my layout. I always thought having a town called Hudson Bay in the middle of Saskatchewan (with no direct ocean access) was a bit confusing. It was originally known as Etomami which means "a place where three rivers join" in the local First Nations language. It was renamed Hudson Bay Junction by the railway due to it's importance in the building of the railway to the north.  The name was later shortened by dropping Junction from the name. 

The Wekusko Subdivision runs from The Pas to Wabowden.  Interesting tidbit is Wabowden is named after W.A. Bowden, who was the Chief Engineer for the Department of Railways and Canals in Canada during the time of the construction of the Hudson Bay Railway. 
The Flin Flon Subdivision is the main focus of my modelling efforts, with the layout having The Pas and Flin Flon as the main yards.  The layout also has or will have Manitoba Forest Products, Atik siding, Root Lake gravel pit, Cranberry Portage and Channing as sidings and industries.  

Due to space constraints I have had to combine Flin Flon Junction and Sherritt Junction into one.  This was also to allow for a longer run on the layout for trains heading north from The Pas to Thompson, Gillam and Churchill.  Otherwise these trains would only make a brief appearance on the layout before disappearing into staging.  Now they will cover the entire upper deck and part of the lower deck before heading off to staging.

This employee timetable offers a lot of useful information on scheduled trains and operating and track information in the footnotes. All of this will be put to good use as part of the operating session planning. 

Using this information along with the CN Line Car Control book and recollections from employees who worked in The Pas and Gillam will give me a solid basis to operate the layout. I can base things on at least a modicum of reality for the time frame I am modelling.  I'm sure there will be ample modelers license used as well.


 



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