Structures for Monk Subdivision - Langlois Station - Part 1

On March 22, after taking a break from work that would last two months, I went to Armagh, QC. The goal was to gather dimensional data on a few old NTR structures preserved in a regional park, namely the Langlois Siding station and Armagh speeder shed.

Langlois station has been tastefully restored a few years ago

With temperature over 0, a bright sun in the sky and very little snow on the ground, it was the perfect day for a road trip and to survey without getting your fingers numb from the cold.

Distressing styrene adds texture for weathering

I thought I would 3D print the station a few months later, but I started to cut novelty siding and two days later, the station was finished, except for paint and shingles. It was one of these so-called "portable" designs, so the structure is very small to fit on a railway flat car.

Doors were build plank by plank following prototype

Later in life, the baggage room was enlarged due to high customer demand around Langlois which served a feed mill, a saw mill and was surrounded by a few workers' houses. The big particularity of this build is that I distressed all the styrene components to add wood grain using a razor saw.

The station ready for paint

I wouldn't do that on well kept structures, but old pictures show this station received minimal care during its last few decades of service and the wood was badly altered even in the 1950s. Another advantage of that technique is making the paint effects, washes and drybrushing much easier to apply.

Compared to a normal station, it looks tiny!

I joined a comparison picture of my kitbashed Atlas station just to show how small this one is.

Silence, work and more...

I’ve been quite quiet over the last few months. Health issues and exhaustion at work pushed me to take a break. Surprisingly, it translated into an extremely efficient period for my modelling work. I built several structures for Monk, experimenting new techniques, but also weathering several freight cars and even restarted my scenery work on the QSSR module. We also have greatly progressed with  All in all, a fantastic output, but for some reasons, I was not motivated to write about it. It was not a question of not sharing, which I will do in due time, but to immerse myself into a positive activity without any obligation. It was also an occasion to experiment with points of view and photography. As expected, my attention shifts constantly from Monk to QSSR but both are the same subject at the end of the day.

I’m also documenting my work with the goal of eventually publishing some article in the hobby press. The QSSR is also an occasion to re-explore the infamous Montreal Maine and Atlantic Railway which is always a fantastic source of inspiration. When we think of granger lines, we generally think about the Prairies and the Midwest, but truth to be told the MMA lines in Southern Quebec were exactly the same, including the fantastic diversity of covered hoppers serving the dozens of feed mills and elevators of the area.

So in expectation of future publications, let’s look at some of the work done recently.

The feed mill concrete foundation and other details

Railfanning the old school way

The GE 45-tonner struggles to pull 3 loaded cars...

Hoppers as palimpsest showing their true color

Utter clutter!