Bring in the next victim

Despite my success with Percy, I still don’t feel ready to tackle 622 and 10 again. So, I procured a Bachmann Spectrum “modern” 4-4-0. I’d always wondered what made this a “modern” engine, and it wasn’t until I was checking if it fit on Pembroke’s turntable that I noticed. Almost all eight-wheelers kept their fireboxes […]

Daily except Sunday

There were no trains on the Pembroke branch on Sundays. According to the schedule, even the first class to Ottawa ran daily except on Sundays, and freight trains were outlawed by the Lord’s Day Act, of course. So, on Sundays the branch slumbered. Starting on August 1st, 1905 and running one or two trains almost […]

All trains will register…

With a visiting nephew occupying the train room, I had an enforced break from modelling. That didn’t mean progress would stop, however. Being an easterner, he went to bed early, leaving me at loose ends in the evenings. Idle hands are the devil’s playground, my Mum used to say. In this instance, I was possessed […]

Impending operations

Now that I have Percy operational, and most of the turnout controls are in, I am starting to turn my thoughts once again to operations. The layout doesn’t operate well enough to share it with others yet, so Marc Simpson is in no danger of losing the bet. However, it won’t get any better if […]