Colour of the steam age

My cousin Tracey is a fascinating individual. Endlessly curious, inventive and energetic, she is a trove of ideas and discoveries. Knowing that I am interested in the turn of the century, she once mentioned that she had discovered a book of colour photographs taken of Russia before the First World War. Sadly, she couldn’t recall anything […]

Game Face

My friend, Scott Calvert emailed some photos that he took of last month’s operating session on his Boundary Sub. I was struck by the studied concentration on Chuck, Bill and Colin’s faces as they switch the yard at Nelson above. I especially love this one of Brian Pate, assuming his classic pose while running the […]

Pembroke South Stacked

Pembroke starts to peter out as we move further south. By the time we get to Lee Manufacturing at the south extremity of the layout, houses have disappeared, to be replaced by potato fields and pastures. Aside from the factory and a cattle pen, the only structures belong to the roundhouse. The Mary Street bridge, […]

Ghost Buildings Come to Pembroke

Last night I put the last of the roofs on what model railroaders call building mockups. I think architects would call these white foam core boxes “massing models.” As with an architect, they enable me to study the shapes from various angles. I may colour them with soft pastels at some point, but right now […]

Wither Proto:87?

A couple of weeks ago, Chris Mears pointed out a couple of Proto:87 threads and stories about Proto:87. Of course that really perked my ears up, but unfortunately, between work and other things I really haven’t had time to respond. One of the threads that Chris pointed out was on rmweb, and related to the […]

The book on #10

In light of recent posts about #10, it’s a bit ironic that the book has finally become available through Model Railroad Hobbyist. It’s been in the works for something like 18 months now. Despite my decision that I really need to go back and rebuild the chassis, there is still plenty to learn from this […]

North Section of Pembroke Stacked

How hard can it be? I’ve seen countless people stack layers of extruded polystyrene to rough in the contours of their layouts. Yeah, yeah, I figured out that the inside corners of the steps dictate the slope, not the edges that will get smoothed off. It looks easy! Well, to quote Michelangelo, “I am still […]

Is this the material we’ve been waiting for?

Image is by Shapeways. Used without permission; I hope it’s okay! I’m a firm believer that 3D printing is going to change everything, but especially this hobby. Since my first article on the topic in RMC in March 2012, I’ve been occasionally experimenting with the service offered by Shapeways. I find it to be nothing […]

More thoughts on loco frames

The next locomotives will be built from something like a kit. The frames will be etched in two layers, and that means there are opportunities to make extensions between the frames as well as outside them. Between the frames, I will place temporary spacers to keep all aligned while the mechanism is under development. These […]

Cutting my losses on #10

Happy Easter! What is the AAR-approved method for tying giant Easter eggs down anyway? You’ll note in the cover photo that I still haven’t put #10’s tender back together. After the recent Battle of Pembroke Hill, I drove this little train into town. To say it was a success would be overstating matters significantly. Despite […]