A quick and cheap mockup proves a concept while allowing me to test a slick piece of electronic kit. I have always liked trains in streets. Growing up in Toronto, I regularly encountered street cars. Then when we moved to the Niagara Peninsula, I discovered the Canadian National Railway used tracks once owned by its subsidiary, the electrified Niagara St. Catharines & Toronto Railway, to serve a number of customers in St. Catharines – including some the railway accessed by running up the middle of city streets. Given that the NS&T is my primary modelling interest, some street running w ..read more

They’re breeding… When I was a teenager in Ontario’s Niagara Peninsula, I saw a lot of Canadian National Railways switchers and if I could have only one locomotive model, I suspect SW1200s would be it. Fortunately, back in 2004 Overland Models imported a batch of terrific examples of these versatile diesels in HO scale. When Overland announced these, I ordered two 7300-series SW1200RM models and a SWEEP. (I wrote about these in mid-March, after upgrading their decoders.) These were upgraded with components from EMD 645 prime movers. The 7300 series featured black cab sides and straight stacks ..read more

A bit of road dust, a crew, and some other easy upgrades bring this model to life. Back in 2007, a UK company called Skytrex introduced a ready-to-run model of an unusual prototype: a 19th century, 0-4-0 steam tram for the Wisbech & Upwell Tramway. I bought one – because, well, I like unusual models. It then sat in its box for many years because I had no real use for it. Earlier this year, when I decided I would attend the Great British Train Show 2024 at the end of April, I thought it would be fun to take something along – and realized this model is the smallest British locomotive I own s ..read more

Tuning up five locomotives is a pretty good day in the shop I’ve been focusing a lot recently on items already in my collection. As a result, I spent a full day in the workshop this week, upgrading the DCC decoders in several HO scale Canadian National Railways diesels. It was time well spent. Here’s what I did… CNR 2113 (HR-616): HR-616 2113 Bombardier built 20 of these in 1982 for the CNR (road numbers 2100-2119). They introduced the CN-designed “draper taper” cowl car body. Sadly, Canadian National was the only customer for this model and they had a short lifespan, with all retired from the ..read more

Back when I had a Maine On2 layout, this locomotive (Sandy River & Rangeley Lakes 21, nee-Eustis 7) was my go-to motive power. I should give it a chance to run again. Many years ago, before diving into the 1:64 modelling pool, I built a freelanced model railway based on the two-foot gauge lines in Maine. I wrote a lot about my Maine On2 layout in the pages of Railroad Model Craftsman magazine – and then, about 10 years after embarking on that adventure, I tore down the layout and packed it all up to focus on my Port Rowan adventure. But I didn’t get rid of my equipment. I liked the stuff a ..read more

GWR 528 on the test track in my workshop One of Canada’s best events dedicated to UK railway modelling is fast approaching and I’m excited that I’ll be there. The Great British Train Show 2024 takes place the last weekend in April at its traditional home in Brampton. I’m fully logistificated, with plane tickets booked and a place to stay arranged. I just have to decide what trains, if any, I’m bringing with me*. The last time I attended a GBTS was in 2018, when I helped my friend Brian Dickey exhibit Roweham, his 7mm Great Western Railway branch line terminal layout. I had so much fun at that ..read more

I don’t normally promote product announcements – there are so many and these days, they’re usually renderings to gauge expressions of interest. So I rarely even get excited by them, to be honest. But Rapido Trains hit me right in the childhood on Christmas morning with this one. To mark the 70th anniversary of Canada’s first subway, Rapido is planning to release HO scale models of the first equipment ordered by the Toronto Transit Commission. These G Series cars were built by the Gloucester Railway Carriage and Wagon Company in the UK between 1953 and 1959, and ran in service on the Yonge Lin ..read more

I’ve been looking for motivation lately, and I decided to build a new test track for the workshop. I won’t go into details about this project except to say that my previous test track was not sufficient – what with being a three-foot-long set of rails pinned to a plank and set upon the bar in the crew lounge portion of the basement. It wasn’t long enough, the lighting was poor – and it took up space on the bar! Here are a couple of short videos of models running on the new test track, which is more than 10 feet long and lit with an LED strip. I’m still finishing the wiring and have some other ..read more

The Lee Marsh Model Company continues to tease its forthcoming models of the Great Western Railway 850 Class… A “short” train. Hot on the heels of an earlier video to demonstrate the DCC sound installation, the company has released this clip of the production sample hauling an impressive rake of wagons on the beautiful 7mm scale Bucks Hill model railway. I’m just going to watch this a few more times ..read more

Some redetailing turned an Australian kit into a decent model of a New England doodlebug. Back in the early 2000s when I modelled the Boston & Maine Claremont Branch, I really wanted a model of the railroad’s gas electrics. The problem was, at the time the only mass market option available was a Bachmann model and it didn’t look like the classic EMC designs that I saw in my B&M books. Then, in the pages of the B&M historical society’s magazine, I discovered that Steam Era Models had produced a kit for a similar model. I say similar because Steam Era Models is an Australian company ..read more