Would you tour this layout?

One of the ways that I lose hobby time is by helping to organize the Railway Modellers’ Meet of British Columbia. This is the local NMRA divisional meet, and consists of all the same things as a regional or national meet, but on a smaller scale, and dare I say a higher quality. This year, […]

The courage to start on 622’s tender

Okay, so I didn’t spend the eighties and nineties blithely hacking apart diesel shells to turn GP35s into GP38s. It seemed, from reading Model Railroader back in those days, that this was the way to enjoy the hobby. Model Railroading is Fun when you approach it with a razor saw! Well, I never had the […]

Bachmann’s tender trucks look good for 622

When I stopped in at Central Hobbies a couple of weeks ago to check out the Bachmann 4-4-0 tender, I failed to notice if the trucks would be a match as well. Of course, the Bachmann catalogue is useless for discerning detail. As with so many of the model railroad online and print catalogues, the […]

Even on Linux, I blame Microsoft…

I’ve been waiting for parts for the wheels for 622 for a couple of weeks now. They are coming from Apogee Vapeur in Switzerland, and I suspect they have been held up in customs, while they decide if they’re dangerous or not. Hopefully I don’t get hit with some huge brokerage charge when they finally […]

Weights and wires for 622

There are two things that I didn’t design well when I built #10 (okay, there are more than two, but I’m going to write about two tonight) — weights and wires. Weight, even on the first iteration, was largely composed of scraps of lead that I squeezed into nooks and crannies wherever I could. On […]

The wonder of a local hobby store or It looks like Bachmann’s tender shell will work for 622

Today I stopped in to Central Hobbies to see if they had any of the parts I need for 622. It’s all esoteric stuff, and so I was happy to walk away with the gear box at least. It must be said that Central Hobbies is one of the better hobby stores I’ve ever encountered. […]

OnShape vs SketchUp! – a model railroader’s view

Well, I’m a few weeks into my OnShape journey now, and I must say I’m impressed. After my experience with FreeCad and Blendr, I was almost ready huck my Linux machine out the window when Vince pointed me toward OnShape. I’m thankful he did. For several years I was a staunch advocate for SketchUp! but […]

Coming Shifts in the Hobby

After visiting the south shore of Nova Scotia, and a dip into New Brunswick to celebrate Grammie’s 100th birthday, we found ourself on PEI. We stayed with our friend Marshall Ouellet, who was Laura’s Katimavik parent before I’d ever considered moving to Vancouver. He also happens to be a model railroader. The only other person […]

Halifax Southwestern Railway Museum

Last week, we rented a cottage near Bridgewater Nova Scotia. The weather was largely perfect, and we had a beautiful quiet lake almost to ourselves. Every day, we went out to explore the south shore. In Lunenburg, we discovered the Halifax Southwestern Railway Museum. Now, I don’t enter into most railway museums with very high hopes. Restoring […]

Tender sketch for 622

There’s not been much modelling going on for a couple of weeks as summer catches up with us. You know, warm evenings, barbeques, etc. The good life. I did, however, manage to scrape out an hour to roughly sketch the tender. I’m considering buying the tank from a Bachmann tender, but this sketch is scaled […]