The Hudson Bay Railway in HO Scale

I was invited to do a Zoom presention to the St. Lawrence Division of the NMRA in Ottawa.  I spoke about my modelling focus on the Hudson Bay Railway.  Around 35 or so attendees managed to stay awake through my presentation.  If I ever figure out how to link my presentation to this page I'll post it for people to see. This type of presentation helps me to focus on the overall layout plan and see where I need to do further work.  Now to get to item #439 on the list...

Mark Perry shot a string of CN 222600 series mechanical reefers in Thompson Manitoba in 1982.  These are the cars I will be building for my layout Another rebuild with a short plug door; it might have been to clear the overhead ice racks.  They are no longer in use as the roof hatches on this car have been plated over Beginning in the early 1960's CN started rebuilding some of it's relatively new 8 hatch ice reefers into mechanical reefers.  The roof hatches were removed and plated over, and a variety of plug doors were installed with many getting full height plug doors replacing their original doors.  Some cars kept their original plug doors, and based on photos no cars with swing doors kept them after rebuilding. The numbering series were all over the place in the 22X000 series; www.nakina.net is your best place to try to unravel the complex numbering history of these cars.    CN used 222600 series rebuilt reefers for service to Churchill as head end car...

I'm involved with the Railway Modellers Meet of BC, a great event featuring clinics, displays, layout tours and more.  I'm a bit late on the draw this year to post this in my blog (and I'm doing promotion!), but if you are interested you can still sign up for the event, we have several more Thursday night events with Virtual clinics, layout tours and Meet the Modeller where you can see some great modelling.  We'll see you at the meet! RMMBC Registration RMMBC website

 I can't decide which blog to put this in so I'll put it in both of them... Got to the link below for more on how the first Manitoba Pool elevator (#1) was rebuilt in 1986:  Moving around grain elevators

  I have previously covered my lightweight GP9 build on this blog.  One notable (at least to me) missing item was the plow between the footboards on the CN GP9 fleet.  As the models come from Athearn and Proto 2000 they lack this feature, although Athearn has apparently remedied this on later models.   I wanted to complete my models as close to the prototype as I could so I needed these plows.  I gave thought to scratchbuilding them for each model, but making reproduceable parts would be a challenge with that approach.  What about 3D printing? I lack a printer myself, but my friend Mike M. has one.  I broached the idea to him and he was receptive to the idea.  I sent him a bunch of photos and based on those and some measurements from the model he quickly created a 3D model and got them printing on his printer.  Being conservative I asked for 30 plows for my current and future fleet... I'm quite happy with the result and my GP9 fleet is n...

 

 Three M420 lead a northbound mixed train.  I'm sure this must have happened somewhere at least once in the real world, right?

I have enough #6 switches built to relay the Flin Flon yard throat.  I was never happy with my original setup, mostly due to the need to have a siding for the station now that I have backdated to the early 1980's.  There was still a mixed train operating between Flin Flon and Snow Lake in the early 1980's so I needed somewhere for it to come and go from.  However the original track arrangement made it difficult to have a station.  I decided to relay the yard throat to remove a couple of #4 switches, as well as add a siding for the station.  I think the new arrangement looks better and will likely operate better as well.  I'll have to operate the yard for a while to see if anything else needs adjustment.   Generally the yard will be switched from the other end except for the bulk fuel dealer, propane dealer, smelter fuel tanks, station, freight shed and team track (actually that is a fair bit of stuff now that I write it...), and this is the end of...

 I've been hemming and hawing about starting to do my own 3D prints for locomotive and freight car details.  The latest generation of resin printers has really tested my will power.  Seeing what my friends Dave B. and Mike M. have been able to accomplish with their printers got me to give 3D modelling a try.  Mike has offered to let me print on his machine so down the rabbit hole I go.   Thanks to Andrew C. (friend I've only ever met via email and texts) I have plans, measurements and photos of the genset that some of the CN Pointe St. Charles cabooses were equipped with. These were common on branchline trains and were often in use in northern  Manitoba.   Based on Andrew's work I have started doodling up a 3D model of the genset and mounts.  My plan (if it prints) is to convert at least a couple of my TLT PSC caboose fleet to have gensets.  And then the possibilities are endless.  Apparently the new Elegoo Saturn will fit a 50...

 I'm slowly getting some railway themed items put together to go with the layout room.  It is another aspect that is an interest.  While I won't be installing a full sized passenger car in the basement like some people have done, a few small things are starting to show up.   I recently purchased the builders plate and number board from a CN MLW C630m, number 2032.  I also have slides of this unit in CN and its later Cape Breton and Central Nova Scotia guise. These along with the air starter instructions I picked up from a sister C630m make a nice framed item.  These now hang in the hallway leading to the layout room.   I have other number boards from various locomotives and some other plaques and builders plates that will start appearing on the wall.  I prefer railway collectibles that are flat and relatively small, as does my wife.  Of course my layout wasn't actually designed and built by Budd...