Refurbishing Strombecker and Plastic Model Trains

This Father's Day, while I watchfully waited and hoped that our kids (and grandkids) would stop in, I decided to take on a one-day Father's Day project. Years ago, my Dad had a Hall of Transportation in which he displayed various mementoes of things that go, both the prototype and model variety. A basement wooden wall shelf held various plastic and wooden models from bygone eras. It was one way of seeing how far modelling, and the trains themselves, had come. These models were tucked away safely in a box when cleaning out the family homestead, and had languished in my basement instead. Until now.

The DeWitt Clinton (orange & yellow) and the William Galloway (green & black) were the two wooden trains first up in my project. Made by Strombecker, they came with very complete constructions. First order of business was to remove years (?decades) of lint, dust and sawdust from the laundry room they were kept in and untouched for probably ten years. Until now.

Look at that vintage road grime! Mishandled over the years, there had been some running repairs including old mucilage glue used on the head-end (above). I wanted to leave that part of the models' history intact! But the operator's station? It had taken a few hits and was in pieces. Until now.

Throughout this project, I was thinking about what my Dad was thinking about when he was building these. What was going on in his world? What was on his mind? Those thoughts kept circulating. I ruminated. Here is an online auction site photo of the parts that go into this kit:

Here's the exploded diagram for assembly, from an era when people still built things. Now they want models with museum-quality, unit-specific numbers and awesome underbody detail!

More instructions:

Clearly this was intended for young people, with appropriate era-specific motivational visualization techniques included plus potential positioning placement:

My Dad had saved a November, 1989 Railroad Model Craftsman magazine Collector Consist column about the trains he'd built. They're pictured at the bottom of the page. This photocopy had reposed in a file folder for years. Until now.

For each of the trains in this project, the order of operations was:

• dusting! with a stiff paintbrush, wet q-tip and wet kleenex as needed.
• repairing missing parts with white glue and some Testors plastic putty
• repainting chips with colour-mixed matching paint or a black Sharpie! (Watch for an upcoming post on using a black Sharpie on a model railway!)

For the William Galloway, I repainted the main rod, reassembled the 'operator's station' and replaced a missing wire railing, and glued in the loose wooden barrels.

The DeWitt Clinton got the smokestack stabilized, driving wheel tires repainted, and lots of touching up of the flaking yellow and orange paint!

Second section from the laundry room - a selection of plastic model trains! Here's the hostler's view:

These were structurally sound decades later for the most part. Mainly dusting and replacement of a very few parts. First up the 'Early American General'. Or just The General. Original kit-box fronts were available for some of these. I repainted the tender wood and nameplate.

The Rocket! A neat little one I had the opportunity to see in operation at Expo 86. Well, a reproduction thereof. Full-size.

The Rocket shown with the British Standard Corridor Composite Coach. That name is almost as long as the car! A window replaced and while trying to shake it out the hole, one end came off and the weight fell out. Bonus weight for another project! The end was replaced.

The Duchess of Gloucester. Whichever green paint my Dad used, it held up really well. One elephant ear was a bit loose, otherwise just a few minor detail touchups on this beauty:

Globe A-B-A Union Pacific F-7's and accompanying instructions. Looks like my Dad had some pale blue paint to use, and the red stripes between it and the yellow were cut from paper. Some of those red strips had peeled off but I decided to leave them as-is. Working outside on the patio, this was a very relaxing project on a day when we did indeed have visits from all kids and grandkids!

You can call it a B-unit, you can call it a Booster unit. You can call it 'Barbara'. But this is what it looks like.

Running extra...

Paging...Lee G. Your Canada Day Trackside Treasure prize pack is ready for mailing - please send mailing address via comment which I'll later delete, or by email to mile179kingstonATyahooDOTca - thanks!

Pandemic patio modelling. Dollarama dollar-store designing. It's scratchbuilding on a pension! A wind-up motorboat and Hot Wheels VW truck were transformed. All for the princely sum of 2 bucks. The motor from the boat also contained some interesting gears for another project! More here on the build.

Boat under construction. Now in drydock. All I used from the motorboat was the hull. Everything else is scrap-box styrene bits and details!

S. Anglin coal delivery truck. Paint job and new wheels and lettering made a big change!

CN Saskatchewan-New Brunswick Potash Unit Trains

CN's Denison Sub in New Brunswick branched off CN's Sussex Subdivision at Moosehorn, Mi. 57.2, traversing 11.7 miles to CN Clover Hill, where the Cassidy Lake potash mine was located. Clover Hill potash mine in operation, 1990 (top photo) shared by Jeremy McPherson. Thanks, Jeremy! The Clover Hill operation did not have a switcher. Either a cable winch or coupler-equipped tractor was used to ove cars uphill, gravity downhill!

New Brunswick is the only province, other than its better-known potash producing sister province Saskatchewan, to have commercially viable potash reserves. Though discovered over one hundred years ago, the deposits as deep as 3,200 feet were not exploited until the Penobsquis mine opened near Sussex in 1981. The Potash Company of America (PCA) mine connects with CNs Sussex Sub at McCully, Mi. 38.5. There were five loading and holding tracks at the mine and smelting facility at the end of a three-mile spur.

A second potash mine was under construction for the Denison Potacan Co. in 1983, opening at Clover Hill, near Norton, in 1985. The mine experienced ongoing flooding and closed in 1997. In that year, the Penobsquis and Clover Hill mines were combined to form the New Brunswick Division of the Potash Corporation of Saskatchewan (PCS). Then, between March, 1998 and September, 2005 potash was received from Saskatchewan for processing, due to the site's processing equipment being among the most modern in North America. After processing, the potash was reloaded and shipped to the port of Saint John for export. These Melville, SK - Moncton trains were designated CN No 738 eastbound and 737 westbound. Loaded trains were almost 100 cars, and weighed over 13,000 tons. An unusual car on these trains was articulated potash car CN 399000.

Moosehorn was the site of a 5400 ft. siding on the CN Sussex Sub Mi. 57.2, and the tracks at the plant were designated LE01 to LE07. The main centre track is the arrival/departure, with three northerly dead-end tracks (LE01-LE03) for loading and three southerly tracks (LE05-LE07) for empties. Due to the topography of the Denison Sub, up to four six-axle locomotives were used to haul the heavy potash cars at 15 m.p.h. in cuts of 25 cars up the 11-mile welded-rail spur to the mine. Two hundred covered hoppers were assigned to these potash trains. 

Two units could handle the train from Melville, with a third unit usually added at Capreol and a fourth at Joffre, QC, based on 2005 reports, to handle heavy trains on grades. Dynamic brake-equipped CN 5260, 5261, and 5296-5298 were kept in the Montreal-New Brunswick area to assist with these trains.  Wendell Lemon's excellent article on this operation is in the July-August 2017 issue of the Bytown Railway Society Branchline, complete with maps and details! Wendell also wrote an earlier article about the Denison Sub.

The last train from Saskatchewan was handled in September 21, 2005 and the Cassidy Lake operation closed in October during a shutdown, resulting in 21 workers being unemployed. This was due to expansion at Rocanville, SK to allow processing there. The CN Denison Sub was out of service in October, 2005 and the switch points at Moosehorn were spiked. The line to is now heavily overgrown and washed out in places. Buildings on the site were demolished by explosion in two tries. PotashWorks magazine stock photo:

I was able to track a representative potash car, CNLX 8468, a cylindrical covered hopper with black lettering, in 1998 and 1999. A summary of its trips after I observed it on June 26, on CN No 738 pulled by 2563-2418-9649-9591 with 99 potash loads:

• June 26/98 Eastbound at Kingston, destined Clover Hill track LE07.
• July 5-19 on CN No 738 from Sylvite, SK to Clover Hill.
• Aug 15-23 on CN No 738 from Sylvite, SK track RS24 to Clover Hill.
• Sep 15-Oct 2 on CN No 750 from Sylvite, SK to Itasca, WI on UP.
• Dec 28/98-Jan 1/99 Kalium, SK to Evans City, AL on NS.
• Mar 30/99-Apr 1 PCS Cory, SK to Thunder Bay, ON.
• May 2-11 Allan Mines, SK to track WS73 to Itasca, WI on MNNR.

I observed a 97-car potash train of with CN and CNLX cars behind CN 5691-5400-9501 on April 15/00. Other CN No 738's I observed were on October 8 and 22, 2000 - delays to the latter resulting in CNLX 7305 being set out bad order in Kingston.

In 2016, CN began operating huge potash trains symboled CN No 730 or B730. These trains operated with mid-train and tail-end Distributed Power Units, with up to 40 trains planned for 2016. Tonnage was increased to 18,000 tons and the number of cars, albeit shorter ones, increased by a third to over 150 cars or more - some reports of up to 200 cars. 

The consist is rarely returned whole - it's often parcelled out as cuts of empties on the tail end of Moncton-Toronto CN No 305. My observations when it was something new. One ran today, so it's no longer an event - I was not trackside! 

• Feb 27/16 with CN 2921-2809 and tail-end 3005, 151 cars. Sample cars: CNPX 3255, CITX 151054, PTEX 22012, CEFX 302136.
• Mar 6/16 (second one of the season) with CN 3001-2893 and tail-end 2903. Sample cars: CEFX 302703, PTEX 21625, CNPX 7030 an 150259, CITX 151828.
• May 26/16 CN 2827-3034 152 cars and tail-end 2848 (two photos - above)
• August 26/17 CN 3105-2900 with mid-train 2879 and tail-end 2826.

After some years of inactivity, train No 730 operated again on March 15, 2025!

Running extra...

Tim Hayman has done it again! Tim has created a (formerly!) blue & yellow VIA coach wearing colours to match the LRC fleet. Tim's rationale:

This car was converted to HEP (end details matching LRC/HEP2), received updated diaphragms, toilet retention tanks, and inside received a full galley at the vestibule end (with blanked windows over that area), expanded luggage storage, LRC style bathrooms (with blanked windows), and a wheelchair tie-down area. More like the HEP1s, these retained their window shades rather than getting darker tinting and curtains, and kept their original seats with new upholstery. I also modified the early Rapido car construction by attaching the sides to the roof/ends for greater stability and replacing couplers with Kadee boxes/couplers.

When it came to decoration, I wanted something that would feel believable for the timeframe. For this purpose, I've assumed that these cars received their rebuild in the 1998-2000 window, when VIA had just started using the new VIA Rail Canada logo but still hadn't introduced the Renaissance scheme. So this was made to match the LRC decoration but with the new logos and wordmarks, and small flags because there wasn't room for a big one! I've also numbered it 3507, in the 3500-series, to be adjacent to the LRCs in their 3300/3400-series.

Canada Day 2020

This will be a Canada Day unlike any other in living memory. There is a lot out there we do not want to celebrate. Like a global pandemic that will affect the usual Canada Day parades and pie-eating contests. But I'd rather focus on pandemic positivity. What is happening that has 'been a good thing'?

In the railfan world, we have five Canadian Pacific units commemorating each of our Armed Forces and the anniversary of D-Day. CP also has former Central Maine & Quebec (now their) units running across its system in silver and blue generating interest and innumerable digital photos. Hoist a moose head to them and their logo, railfans!

VIA hasn't been running very much, especially Western long-haul, so we were treated to Canadian equipment being deadheaded across the system, and especially here over CN's Kingston Sub!

A lot of model railroaders have been home working on their layouts, me included. Heck, even Jason Shron is working on his layout, just not on its blog.

When I piloted the Model & Railfan Local 2020 initiative early in this annus horribilis, I never dreamed there would be a lockdown that would facilitate same. It seemed like a nice, quaint idea worth promoting. But now?

Whether you're modelling your local area, railfanning same or doing neither, take this opportunity to find something positive in our national situation. We've been through lots worse in our history! These are some of the best things we can do to honour our country:

• Resist outright stupidity. 
• Rebel against peer pressure. 
• Revel in independent thinking. 
• Make safety a priority in your family and your community.
• Defend, don't just defund.

(Top photo - Moraine Lake)

 Pop-up Canada Day contest time!

Identify three 'Canadian train terms' in this word cloud (above). Send your correct ID's by email to mile179kingstonATyahooDOTca and you'll win a nationally-coveted Trackside Treasure prize pack. (Remember, they're train terms - just because a train goes to Edmonton doesn't make Edmonton a train term!)

Thanks for all the entries. Contest is now closed.

Here is the word cloud before I added  the 'Canadian train terms'.

And after:

My apologies to diversity, mickey and 1867 for being replaced. 

Correctly guessing the answers I added were:

Brian Sulley, Mike Ferrell, Lee G., Eric May, Steve Hoshel, and Mark Wittrup

Honourable mentions to:

Steve Boyko and J.P. and Eric May for alternate answers.

Maple Leaf was already in the word cloud, and it is the name of the Amtrak train to New York City.

CAD is also in the word cloud, but I think they intended it to mean Canadian Dollars.

Happy Canada Day!

-Eric

Springtime at the Station, June 2020

Springtime, barely. On June 18-19, 2020 I found myself trackside just ahead of the summer solstice. It was time to spring into action to embody my Railfan & Model Local 2020 initiative while summer simmered on the back sun burner. One limitation of railfanning locally is that there may be a temptation to shoot those same ol' shots - returning to that already-plowed photographic field of familiar angles and copied compositions. Trying to avoid that temptation, VIA trains are slowly filling up with social distancing. At 1050, VIA No 52/62 arrived and I focused not on the head-end, but on the tattered tail-end, where I found VIA 902. The entire consist: 6421-3456-3344(Renaissance)-3301R-3359Future-3316F-911Love the way-913L-3460-3303R-3356F-3363-3350F-902.

Sure, the mid-train 'breeding pair' of VIA 911-913 temporarily returned me from my Renaissance scheme reverie after seeing 902, one of only four still unwrapped, when what to my wondering eyes should appear but VIA No 63 emerging at 1157 from the just-completed spans of the John Counter Boulevard (JCB in Limestone City hip-speak) overpass with similarly-garbed VIA 901-3302R-3327R-3335-3320R-3348R-3452-914L and a surprise!

I had decided to safely cross the tracks - unusually energetic positioning for this long-time platform poseur - to take advantage of the pre-noon light. With VIA toting stainless steel equipment on the tail-end of Corridor trains, it is perhaps not surprising that some other creative consisting took place on this train. While dreaming of a mayo-laden club sandwich, I would use the phrase 'club car sandwich' to describe the positioning of 3475 on the tail-end, sandwiching 914L in the middle! "Let's get out of town before anyone notices!"

These foreground signs have warned Kingston riders to Eloignez-vous for generations, while the signpost signage is significantly less stentorian. There are a few grey areas, and before long, a bearded vagabond walked along to enjoy the shady station shrubberies in the heat of the day.

After a lunch break of taco dip with some family crafters, it was back for some dessert at 1352 in the form of 'la voie' wrapped VIA 6402 and the rest of VIA No 53: 6402L-3311R-3325-3368 (roller-painted blue)-3313-3461-912L at the west end of the north platform:

Returning to the scene of the shrine on June 19, I lolly-gagged during a lollingly long lull from 0745-0945. An eastbound hi-rail is a virtual four-wheeled rolling advertisement for Tim Hortons, a Timbit temptation in nearby Cataraqui village. Fast food and trains! Oh, and cereal pieces should never be added to the exterior of a Timbit. A nice view of the JCB overpass, upon which surfacing preparation is taking place. As part of the re-design process, JCB alignment changes, and two access roads to the VIA station are replaced by one 'ring road' roundabout access point with pending pedestrian access from transit stop to the station there.

An eastbound freight lights up the signals as I once again sample the south track scenery while waiting. The Canadian National Museum of Miscellaneous Missing Freight Car Parts has a travelling exhibit here:

Fibre-optic cable was laid here decades ago. Watch for an upcoming post. This sign is stuck to one of the platform hockey-stick lightpoles. Brought to you by the letters S&C, both of which work in both official languages:

Morning is usually a good time for freight action at Kingston - Usually. Witness foreground Viper's Bugloss flowering fortuitously in front of this fabulous freight, again favouring the morning light on the south side of the south track.

It's CN No 368 with 3175 leading and HTTX 93150 carrying a CAT 349F excavator adjacent to a lone, lumbering ABOX combination door boxcar:

Blue single-doored high-cube LRS boxcars like LRS 100065 are getting photographed all over North America. Ungraffiti'd and less than a month old, five more senior but equally pristine CN cylindricals led DPU 3211:

The problem with lulls - they often lead to ill-timed meets, such as this one when CN No 149 appeared behind 368 with CN 2819-2991-3049 at 0948. Intermodal, interrupted:

Today's VIA No 52/62 at 1111: 6421-3456-3344R-3301R-3359F-3316F-911L-912L-3461-3313-3368roller-3325-3311R-3334-6402L. Looks familiar from yesterday's No 53. Such consist-conjuring is the stuff of which books are written. During the pandemic, all consists have been standard-length and double-ended and since trains have more stops, they often run a little late:

Another intermodal westbound at 1125: CN 3240-3169. Then it was time for some pie to-go with Little Caesar. Perhaps that should be 'to-ga'! Et tu, Bacon?

At this location in future, a proposed VIA Rail service road will give access to the west end of the south platform from Princess Street, now that VIA may be losing access to the platform with the JCB realignent at the east end. Perhaps the JCB level crossing will be kept as a private road for access, although it will likely be unsignalled and there would be an issues like crossing safety. This access road would form part of the Rideau Trail route. From the City of Kingston's environmental assessment report:

Running extra...

Lights...Camera...Explanation? Fellow Kingston railfan Paul Hunter snapped VIA 6408 bringing up the paddle on VIA train 669 on June 22. Paul noted two alien red lights inside the cab - erstwhile markers? Aliens? Photo below. Paul also noted LED-appearing step lights up the cab of VIA 6421.

On a humid day in Brockville, Tim Hayman snapped this photo of newly-released VIA 'cabbage' (cab car + baggage) 6501:

Just to be clear, it's some of Tim's fine HO scale modelling. Tim explains,"Like its Amtrak cousins, this locomotive has been demotored, the interior turned into a baggage space and the fuel tank filled in as ballast, and the cab controls left functional to allow for the train to be controlled in reverse. When it came to decoration, I didn't want to use the standard Renaissance scheme (in part because it's a PITA to decal on an F40!!). Since it's fictional, why not have fun with it and create something new-but-believable? So this scheme is inspired by more recent VIA branding, using a version of the LRC club car scheme, but also taking inspiration from the more contemporary use of the VIA logo in various branding. Newer materials have seen a resurgence in the prominent use of the core VIA logo, including frequent use of it in a sideways orientation, so I thought it would be fun to bring that in. I quite like the end result, an enjoyable entry in my side collection of what-ifs."