September and A New Modelling Season

It's well known modellers go back to their basement when summer decline and Hedley Junction is no exception to this rule. Last Friday meeting was short but productive and about 9 feet of double track were ballasted in Villeneuve. I don't yet have pictures with me, but the dried result of the new ballast mix and tie oil coloring really paid off. Would I go back to the dark brown chocolate ties? No, except if doing well-maintained mainline.

Meanwhile, Jérôme and I evaluated the possibility to add another siding in Clermont. The prototype, as explained earlier, would require two sidings which would require custom turnouts and a lot of space. One thing is sure, Jérôme once again confirmed Clermont siding capacity was to low for our regular operation. He is able to work is way around, but he stressed out it isn't optimal at all and make operating train there a very convoluted experience. I'm not into switching nightmare thus it could be improved in a foreseeable future.

As for Wieland, we decided to keep the status quo though the idea to have a real location where locomotives can start from and go to when beginning and ending an operation session has a lot of merit. I definitely believe this idea will need much more refinement to be a credible proposition.

We also started to gather plastic parts from various kits (windows, doors, brick walls, etc.) with the intended goal of building the Donohue office building. This project has been delayed for years and it's time to bring it to life.

Among other revived long overdue projects are four CN Procor Pressure Cement cars I repainted earlier this year. I'm in the last stages of weathering and hope to have them in revenue service soon.

Finally, the collection cleaning up is slowly but certainly gaining momentum with a lot of material to soon be sold off. I certainly could sell every pieces on Ebay and make more money, but it's a lot of logistic and time I  don't have. As George Dutka said, you've got to brace yourself about selling your stuff on the cheap when going taking such a drastic decision. Oh well, live and learn they say!