upcoming - backyard railroaders
TRANSCRIPT
1
Upcoming
events
May 5
COGRA SWAP
MEET
May 27
Open House at
John LeForestier
June 2
Open House at
Winona Garden
Railway
June 24
Open House at
The Barber’s
July 15
Open House at
David Lloyd’s
August 19
Open House at
The Fraser’s
September 8
Open Houses in
Kingston & Pic-
ton Rose’s &
Pinkerton’s
September 18
Open House at
the Grave’s
Issue # 5 MAY 2012
BRUCE NORD
2
DON’T BE CONCERNED !!!!!!!!! BRUCE IS FINE. It’s just that at the last meet we celebrated a BIG BIRTHDAY for Bruce (he was 39
again). WE had almost the whole gang there that day and with all the cakes!!!!! - we all
had a great time. As you can see in the picture top right the cakes were almost gone.
The pictures on the front page show Bruce as a regular involved member of Backyard
Railroaders and also as a world traveler who when he can, loves to see railroads where-
ever he travels. A few of his experiences have appeared in our newsletters.
I hope he enjoyed his birthday party as much as we did, and hope he has another 39th
Birthday next year. Congratulations Bruce.
Meet John LeForestier our
newest member. He came as a
guest of Ian and Joan and had
so much fun at Bruce’s party
he joined.
He also invited us to his open
house to be held on May 27th.
Directions will be e-mailed to
everyone shortly. Welcome
aboard John.
NOTE: With Mother’s Day on the 13th and Victoria Day weekend the next week, our next
meet will be the Open House at John’s.
Other special events coming up are “Ottawa 2012 Invasion of Friends July 19-21” for
more info contact Ian.
National Garden Railway Convention Aug 15-20 St Charles (Chicago) Ill
-A membership list will be e-mailed shortly.
-We are also checking on current prices for Golf Shirts & T-shirts
3
Recipe of the Month
From York Central Rail-
ways Dining Car
Asparagus & Mushroom
Risotto Ingredients: - 1/4 cup Mazola VegPlus (canola
& vegetable oil blended)
- 1 cup diced onion
- 2 cloves fresh garlic, minced
- 1/2 cup dry white wine
- 2 cups Arborio rice
- 6 cups chicken broth
- 3 tablespoons Mazola VegPlus
- 500g fresh asparagus, trimmed
and cut into 1 1/4 inch pieces
- 250g shitake or small Portobello
mushrooms, sliced
- 3/4 cup parmesan cheese, shaved
or shredded
- Salt and pepper, to taste
DIRECTIONS:
Heat 1/4 cup oil in a large sauce pan
over medium heat. Add onion and gar-
lic; cook for 3 to 4 minutes. Increase
heat to high, add white wine. Cook until
almost dry; about 3 to 4 minutes. Add
rice. Stir until coated with oil. Cook for
2 minutes.
Add 1 cup of chicken broth, stirring
until most of the liquid is absorbed by
the rice. Gradually stir in broth 1 cup
at a time; until liquid is absorbed be-
fore adding the next cup.
Heat 3 tablespoons oil in a large non-
stick skillet. Add asparagus and sauté
for 1 minute. Stir in mushrooms. Cook
for about 3 minutes. Remove from heat.
Set aside. Risotto is ready after the last
cup of broth has been stirred in and
rice has thickened.
Remove from heat and stir in aspara-
gus, mushrooms, parmesan cheese, sea-
son with salt and pepper; top with addi-
tional parmesan and serve.
&
enjoy
THE ONTARIO WEST COAST GARDEN RAILWAY CLUB has
started a web-site at www.owcgrs.co.nr . We are adding them to our
website as a link.
tHiS MoNtHs aTteMpt
aT
Humor A brunette was jumping across a
railroad track saying
“21...21...21” a blond sees her
and says, “that looks like fun!”
So she decides to join in, she
starts jumping back and forth
singing “21...21...21”. A train
comes along and the brunette
jumps off the track just as the
blonde was getting splattered by
the train… The brunette jumps
back on the track and starts say-
ing “22...22...22..
-o-o-o-o-o-o-o-o-o-o-o-o-o-o-o-o-
The traveler was indignant at the
slow speed of the train. He ap-
pealed to the conductor; “Can’t
you go any faster than this?”
“Yes,” was the serene reply, “but
I have to stay aboard.”
-o-o-o-o-o-o-o-o-o-o-o-o-o-o-o-o-
A famous person was traveling
on a train, and was subject to the
usual ticket inspection.
Well, he didn’t have a ticket; and
made no reservation in telling the
burly inspector that his face was
his ticket!
“That’s OK,” replied the inspec-
tor, rolling back his sleeve…
“I’ve been given instructions to
punch all tickets!”
-o-o-o-o-o-o-o-o-o-o-o-o-o-o-o-o-
A Surd was going by train from
Delhi to Bombay. He kept getting
off at every station to buy a ticket
to the next station.
When the train reached Bombay,
the Surd’s co-passengers asked
him why he kept on buying tick-
ets instead of buying a ticket for
the entire journey?
The Surd replied that his doctor
had advised him against taking
long journeys!
-o-o-o-o-o-o-o-o-o-o-o-o-o-o-o-o-
So I said to this train driver “I
want to go to Paris”> He said
“Eurostar?” I said “I’ve been on
TV but I’m no Dean Martin”.
-o-o-o-o-o-o-o-o-o-o-o-o-o-o-o-o-
A bus station is where a bus
stops. A train station is where a
train stops. On my desk I have a
work station…...
4
INDUSTRIAL RAILWAYS Industrial railways come in three general categories:
1. Non-common carrier (or, private) railways such as those operated by logging companies. These were not well known
beyond their local area due to their private nature. Some did haul local freight and passengers (mostly employees) to
serve remote areas. Better-known ones included the Thurso & Nation Valley in Quebec, once owned by Singer (sewing
Machine) Manufacturing; Smoky Falls Railway (1926-1974) operated by the large Spruce Falls Power and Paper
Company serving the Kimberly-Clark of Canada newsprint mill in Kapuskasing, Ontario (Julie’s home town thus our
Spruce Falls mill): Abitibi Power and Paper’s 40 mile long logging line operated 1922-1953, out of Iroquois Falls, On-
tario; and Canadian Forest Products (CANFOR) Englewood Logging Division in the Nimpkish Valley of northern
Vancouver Island. This latter operation is the last remaining logging railway in Canada. British Columbia once had
the largest number of logging operations using rail. Others served mining operations such as the Asbestos & Danville
once owned by Canadian Johns-Manville, serving a vast asbestos mine and mill in Quebec. International Nickel Com-
pany of Canada (INCO) in Copper Cliff once operated about 100 miles of railway with about two dozen locomotives
(mostly electric) to serve its nickel mines and smelter in the Sudbury area. Yet another unique non-common carrier is
the still in operation, Greater Winnipeg Water District Railway.
2. Internal Transportation in large industrial complexes such as steel mills and ore smelters. The Steel Company of Can-
ada (STELCO) in Hamilton had an extensive operation to serve the massive steel mill complex. It once totaled over
100 miles of trackage requiring about two dozen locomotives. Dominion Foundries & Steel (DOFASCO), also in Ham-
ilton had a substantial operation as well. Algoma Steel in Sault St. Marie likewise had a large internal transportation
operation. All three still exist, all though in decreased dimensions. A sub-category is the more common plant switcher
serving a large or medium sized industry requiring its own schedule of switching freight cars in its own sidings. These
small operations serve one plant and don’t even cross a public road. More commonly they use a hand-me-down loco-
motive or even simply a car mover. The latter often referred to by the brand name Trackmobile (made by Whiting
Equipment) but there are many other makers.
3. Construction contractors include those building normal railway lines, more common in the 19th and early 20th Centu-
ries; and those established for a large project such as massive hydro-electric generating facilities. Hydro Electric Pow-
er Commission of Ontario (HEPC) had a number of these railways (some in remote areas remained behind to provide
access to them), including the Queenston canal and generation plant near Niagara Falls. The massive Beauharnois
Power dam in (Beauharnois, Light, Heat & Power) Quebec was another large construction railway.
So as you can see there are a lot of examples of different types of railways one could model. All this would entail is rolling
stock specific to the industry chosen, and buildings again related to that specific industry.
Photo on the left is of Spruce Falls Power & Paper’s # 106 GE 70 ton M.U. The photo on the right
shows the construction of Adam Beck No.1 Generating Station by HEPC. A combination of steam
and electric locomotives were used for this project with some being sold off to other industries after
completion of the project.
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INCO—Early form of local rail transportation typical of that used on non-common carrier mining &
logging railways. Here a seven passenger 6 cyl. “Winton Touring Car” with unique passenger trailer
STELCO YARD IN HAMILTON
DOFASCO 0-4-0 t.e. 17,400 Schenectady 1893
#6 an 0-6-0T 54 ton
Spruce Falls #108 doing what Alco’s do best
6
KIRKFIELD CRUSHED STONE
Kirkfield Crushed Stone located east of Orillia was the last
steam industrial operation in Ontario. The quarry opera-
tion was narrow gauge (3 foot) with two trains in constant
use. Standard gauge trackage was at the crusher and con-
nected with the CNR Coboconk Subdivision. In 1961 the
spare narrow gauge steam locomotive was long out of ser-
vice as the standard gauge saddletanker. It closed at the
end of season in 1961. The Whitcomb 0-4-0 unit went to
parent company Dufferin Construction’s Dufferin Street
plant in Toronto where one of the narrow gauge steam en-
gines was displayed for some time on the front lawn of
their offices. All of the steam locomotives were saved, alt-
hough none have been operated.
The top photo shows a narrow gauge engine shoving cars
towards incline for unloading.
The center photo shows narrow gauge four wheel dump
cars being loaded by what appears to be a steam shovel.
The bottom photo shows the standard gauge “Whitcomb”
moving standard gauge cars in their yard by the crusher.
Three photos below are from the left—the engine coal and
water depot,
The center shows the quarry cars being pulled up the
ramp by cable to be dumped into the crusher.
The photo on the right shows a steam loco crane on the
left and a steam powered crawler on the right.
7
GROUND COVERS
FROM HELL If you have gardeners in your family, or
are starting your railroad in an estab-
lished garden, you may have or may
unwillingly acquire ground covers that
are not suitable for your garden rail-
roads. You can’t afford to be polite
when someone clucks over an unbroken
bank of mulch and gives you a nice start
of some groundcover that is “perfectly
useful” in traditional gardening or land-
scaping, but which may become intru-
sive on your railroad. I have had several
plants leapfrog other groundcovers I
liked better, as well as roadbed,
“parking lots,” and in some cases small
buildings, to establish starts several
places I didn’t want them, without both-
ering to fill in where I really wanted.
These included ajuga, periwinkle
(myrtle), ivy, vining euonimous, blue
star creeper, and pachysandra. Some
people have not had a problem with one
or another of these plants and found
them to be quite polite and useful on
their railroad. So, once again, your
mileage will vary. The point is that if
you try a new groundcover you aren’t
familiar with, consider using it first in
some corner where it can’t easily spread
to other parts of your garden, in case it
turns out to be a bad match for your
needs. Frankly, most relatively hardy
ground covers are far more intrusive on
a garden railroad (where you’re trying
to water, etc., responsibly) than they are
elsewhere. So a plant that has been sta-
ble and polite for a decade of neglect
around your front porch steps may
grow like kudzu around your pond.
In addition, it’s common for vining
plants like ivy and pachysandra not to
establish well until something else is
holding the soil in place for them. So
you can have a bank of pachysandra
limping along for a year or five until
something you like better takes root,
THEN the pachysandra takes off, thank
you very much. And such plants develop
such incredible root systems that you
can’t pull them out without destroying
almost everything else in the vicinity. So
when Grandma offers you some Baltic
Ivy just to “temporarily” fill in a gap in
your greenery, learn to “Just say no>“
CONCLUSION
There are no hard-and-fast rules. Just
don’t expect everything you try to work
out just right, especially the first year or
two you break soil or try a new variety.
Take your time, try things out a little at
a time to see what works for you, and
avoid shortcuts you may regret later.
Above all, remember that you’re the
person who eventually has to be satis-
fied with how all these things come to-
gether.
Best of luck. (Paul D. Race)
A NOTE ABOUT
COLOUR Having a Y chromosome, when I
first started sprinkling ground-
covers around my railroad, I
planted them according to the
size I expected them to get and
the effect I was going for in dif-
ferent areas: field, scrub brush,
forest, etc. So I had deep green
Creeping Thyme interspersed
with pale blue-green Blue Spruce
Sedum. My wife pointed out how
much better the woolly Thyme
matched the colour of the Blue
Spruce Sedum, and the trouble
was she was right. So I did a little
moving things around, and it
probably looks much better to
people who aren’t colour-blind.
So in case you’re into that sort of
thing, I’ll mention that ground-
covers can be divided according
to colour as well as species and
growing habits. The following list
will include plants I haven’t pro-
filed here, in case you want to try
them as well. Note: This list has
nothing to do with the colour of
the flowers on these plants. In
most cases, the flowers don’t last
long; consider them a bonus
(Golden Crown Sedum) or a nui-
sance (Blue Spruce Sedum) as
you prefer, and plan on dead-
heading the larger Sedums a cou-
ple of weeks after they start to
bloom. In addition, the exact hue
of the plants and their flowers
will be affected by chemistry,
amount of daylight, and amount
of rain, so, like everything else ,
your mileage will vary.
- BRIGHT GREEN: Elfin
Thyme, Dwarf Procumbens Juni-
per, Acre Sedum, Corsican Mint
- DEEP GREEN: Creeping
Thyme, most “common” thymes,
Golden Crown Sedum, Baby
Tears (warm climates only)
- JADE GREEN: Stubby Fin-
gers Sedum (tips turn red in au-
tumn or dry spells)
- PALE BLUE-GREEN:
Woolly Thyme, Blue Spruce Se-
dum, English Lavender
- DEEP BLUE_GREEN: Blue
Rug Juniper, Japanese Garden
Juniper, Blue Star Juniper (more
useful as an accent plant)
Hope this helps.
(Paul D. Race)