Model Railroading - My O Gauge tribute to Canada's greatest passenger train (a short video)
Happy Sunday DU'ers,
Hope everyone is keeping safe. Thought I'd post something for distraction's sake for viewers here in the DU lounge.
Due to the Covid pandemic, VIA Rail (Canada's version of Amtrak) has temporarily curtailed service on some of their long distance routes but has reported that it will resume service on the Vancouver-Winnipeg portion of the route of its flagship train, "The Canadian", as of Dec. 11.
Since it's not currently possible to watch "The Canadian" pass by from trackside until then, I've been busy instead running my own O-gauge version of the train in Canadian Pacific Railway livery - before the service was taken over by VIA Rail.
For those interested, I thought I'd share a short 6 minute video showcasing my O-gauge tribute to the Canadian Pacific Railway's legendary transcontinental passenger train - "The Canadian":
A pic of the set on my shelves:
And on the layout:
One more:
The engines are a Lionel #8365, 8469 & 8366 Canadian Pacific F3 three-unit diesel, and a Lionel #2380 Canadian Pacific GP9 roadswitcher diesel. The headend power is followed by a Lionel #9228 express boxcar, a K-Line "Empress" dining car, a K-line "Skyline 505" dome car, K-Line "Blair Manor" & "Craig Manor" sleeping cars and Park-series dome-sleeper-lounge-observation car "Tremblant Park" on the tail end.
For more pictures & videos of my train collection and layout, see my website at: https://northamericabyrail.info/model-railroading/
Hope you enjoy!
Cheers, Pete
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And I greatly enjoyed the video too. You must have spent 100's of hours assembling all the components of the trains as well as the little town and all the surrounding buildings!
A labor of love, I'm sure. Thank you so much for bringing this glimpse of another time to all of us.
It's my pleasure to share my efforts with such a wonderful audience. The layout construction started back in 2008.
Lost track of the weekends I spent tinkering with & adding to it. In 2017 we moved to a new house and the entire layout was dismantled - lock, stock & barrel - then reassembled in our new home.
Still would like to add a backdrop to it, I had one in the old house but it was destroyed when I stripped & repainted the walls to show the house for sale.
Thanks again for checking out my post!
Thanks for checking out my post!
Always a pleasure to share a post with the wonderful folks here on DU. Thanks for checking out my vid & pics!
LOL! I can kind of relate, we live basically right on the edge of the service area of our provider. Our mobile phones usually will work ok in the living room towards the front of our house but not in the kitchen towards the back 
Thanks for checking out my post! The folks here on DU are such a terrific audience.
What an interesting journey that must have been, and in those luxurious old sleeping cars no less.
Dad made a tunnel like in your video. It was chicken wire and paper mache. It was pretty good.
My favorite was the Pennsylvania Electric
I love the old Lionel Pennsylvania Railroad GG1. Saw the full sized one preserved on display at the Railroad Museum of Pennsylvania.
It's great to have family memories like that. The paper mache method is a great way to make mountains and tunnels. Mine is made of spray foam, with chunks of cedar mulch thrown in while the foam was still wet. Once painted it makes a reasonable imitation of a rock surface. Lastly I added ground foam scenery and trees.
To be honest, when we took the train to Vancouver in 2017 your aunt just might have been able to catch it - our train was delayed by the forest fires in BC and we ended up arriving in Vancouver 23 hours late. The train was supposed to arrive Vancouver at 930 am, we arrived at 830 am... on the following morning!
Our cabin on the train was nice though and we wisely did not book any connecting travel for the same day the train was due to arrive
Always a pleasure to have such a great audience!
The rpm's of the engine change with the speed plus I can control the horn & bell
... and that includes the one I'm married to! (Nice display! It looks like an expensive hobby!) 
...some of us never grow up! It can be expensive but I've come across some good deals. For me it helps that this has been a lifetime hobby- trying to limit myself to one new engine or a handful of cars per year helps make it more affordable, though that's not always possible
A few years back I did a road trip across the northern United States to Seattle, WA. Started at Port Huron, MI after crossing the Blue Water bridge.
I agree 100% about modelling places you've been or that bring back memories, rather than a scale model of one particular location or region. That's been my philosophy also and what makes it fun. For example, the log cabin at the front of the layout represents Lake Louise, where my wife & I have vacationed - just one example.
Time can be a challenge, I've been adding to my layout sporadically - a weekend here, an evening there.
Thanks again for checking out my post.
I'll try to see if it comes up on netflix.
FYI I found the movie very enjoyable.
I'll keep an eye out next time I'm surfing through the netflix menus
It's great to have those family memories. I grew up in Toronto & my dad would take me on the pedestrian footbridge that spanned the tracks into Union Station to watch the trains. This was before VIA Rail became a "Crown" corporation and you could still see the liveries of the original railroads that ran their trains into Union Station, it was a kaleidoscope of colors. Here's a pic of the location from another photographer: http://www.railpictures.ca/?attachment_id=13802
Though some might get frustrated by all the level crossings, your hometown sounds like a railfan's paradise!
Thanks also for checking out my site!
Last edited Mon Oct 26, 2020, 07:14 PM - Edit history (1)
your photos remind me of when amtrak first took over And for checking out my post. Best Regards!
Thanks for posting. Great looking layout and rolling stock! Well Done!
Always a pleasure with the wonderful folks here on DU, makes for a great audience!
Best Regards,
Pete
Best Regards,
Pete
LOL! I cringe every time I see the Addams Family crash those beautiful vintage Lionel trains!
That said I've had my share of mishaps - switch not lined correctly, train backing into another train kind of thing...
Thanks for checking out my post
This is my favorite shot from all the photos I took while on the train
It was a delightful ride but I've always been fond of train travel.
I like that view back at the "Park" car from the mid-train skyline dome car that you were obviously in. Plus the autumn scenery. Sounds like you & your husband had a wonderful trip.
My favorite train ride for sure- I've ridden the Canadian several times, including the summer of 2017 when the "Canada 150" traffic swelled the train consist to a whopping 30 cars: https://northamericabyrail.info/a-trip-on-via-rails-canadian-2017-toronto-on-jasper-ab-banff-ab-vancouver-bc/
Thanks again for checking out my post!
Nice job, looks good.
Needs a bridge and some dynamite to channel Gomez Adams. I had HO cars and trains as a kid. I'd park a car at a crossing and when the train came by I'd ram it.
I'd have to go back and check to see if the shelf is actually bent - the 35mm lens I was using tends to cause keystoning of the image.
Channeling your inner Gomez Addams, I see
youtube channel. 
And thanks for checking out my post! Always a pleasure to meet a fellow model railroader. Tinplate (namely O gauge) is by far my favorite scale but all are interesting.
Thanks for checking out my video!
Glad it brought back memories! At one time a Lionel train around the Christmas tree was as much a part of the American Dream as a house with a white picket fence & a car in the driveway.
Thanks for checking out my post
That was also one of my childhood aspirations.
At least now I can be a "hoghead" in 1/48 scale
That's neat that you had one of those vintage Lionel steamers, they used pellets initially - then switched to smoke fluid in later years.
I got my first Lionel when I was 8.
Like you said, getting involved in the hobby is a great way to get your mind off things for a while - I find an operating session or an afternoon of tinkering with the layout to be refreshing & relaxing.
Many of the buildings are Plasticville kits, which came of age in the 1950's & 60's - around the same time as the 'golden age' of Lionel trains - so complement the layout nicely I think. Being kits they aren't too difficult to make, fortunately.
If you're looking for a way to post pics online, the easiest way might be to sign up for an account on Imgur ( https://imgur.com/ ). IIRC you just pick a username & password, provide an email address and they send you a verification code to your phone which you then type to confirm your account on your computer.
You can then post pics by clicking on the 'new post' tab on the Imgur website and click & drag the images from your desktop to the website's window. Once uploaded, you can right click on the image and select "copy image address". Then you can paste the link to the pic into your DU post.
Good to hear from you and thanks again for checking out my post!
That's neat! My niece had those European-made wooden trains with the wooden tracks...
That's interesting to hear about your interest in painting & sculpture. One think about this train hobby is it allows one to get practice in so many fields: like sculpting (mountains and hills), painting (the structures, scenery and backdrop), carpentry (building the benchwork), and electrical (wiring the track, switches, signals and accessories).
That being said- my layout doesn't have a backdrop (something I'd like to add) and could probably use a few more trees. I'd also like a few more hills, mountains, rivers and other terrain features but there isn't a lot of space left on my layout because I tried to cram in a lot of track & trains
Thanks again for checking out my post!
And you're welcome.
I like both the the quality and size of the models. Everything about them seems just right.
Thanks for checking out my post!
And for checking out my post! Glad I was able to offer a diversion.
Best Regards,
Pete
Good to hear from you again!
Sorry for the late response, I've been busy running a few errands yesterday and following this nail-biter of an election from north of the border, and even though it doesn't affect me directly as a Canadian - fingers still crossed for Joe!
Thank you for your very kind compliments, indeed the layout is a labor of love. The 'grass' is Woodland Scenics ground foam that's made to simulate grass, which I sprinkled onto the layout benchwork after painting the surface an earthy color while the paint was still wet. And the railroad ballast is kitty litter - which our beloved cat generously donated (and of which there was still plenty left for her litter box).
Thanks again for checking out my post!
Best Regards, Pete
I've seen 3D models for sale online of things that used to come in plastic model kit form (cars, airplanes, military vehicles ect).
Thanks for kicking my post by the way!
- which in turn are named after the First Nations people that you refer to that live on both sides of the border .
As for myself, I'm a Canadian who is primarily of what would likely be considered Caucasian descent. I'm sorry if my handle caused anyone to believe that I was a member of the First Nations, that was not my intention at all - I chose it being the railfan that I am.
That being said, I sympathize with the cause & struggle of First Nations people everywhere. Water is life
Regards, Pete
We'll be sure too look out for you and give a wave next time we ride it.
From my web page https://northamericabyrail.info/usa-west/the-california-zephyr/
