Monk Subdivision - A Fresh Restart

Work has resumed on the Monk Subdivision while I put the Quebec and Gosford idea on the back boiler until trains can run on that old project of mine. I like my old time Canadian stuff and you can rest assured that the exploration started with Stanstead a few years ago will continue, but the show must go on and here we go again with Monk.

Removing the second staging level and the grade really put back the project into the achievable realm which is a good thing. Monk was never intended to be a basement filling empire and I'm glad I've corrected course before it was too late. So, over the weekend, I started to both test my ideas and rebuild the layout.

The final and simplified staging plan

Why test my ideas? Because track geometry is what will make that layout work. If it doesn't run smoothly, it all goes down the drain. To make the plan work as intended, I have a tricky crossover to create a returning loop. While it doesn't suffer from nasty S-curves, this arrangement is made of Peco, Atlas and Walthers track components, each with their own rail profiles that are nominally compatible in code 83. Atlas track is clunky and Walthers is that much better. Their curved turnout have extremely sharp diverging routes, something that is endemic of all products descended from Shinohara. In won't start to rant about commercial tracks, but suffice to know that Shinohara track geometry may be based on prototype about diverging route, but that doesn't work very well with model trains. Long prototypical passenger cars hate it, particularly when riding on 3-axle trucks. Thus, the importance of experimenting a little bit.

Working out the geometry... and cars

The first tests were done with Rapido first release Supercontinental coaches. These cars are faulty right out of the box and can be considered the most capricious piece of rolling stock I own. As expected, the car derailed on the crossing then ran poorly over the Walthers curved turnout. I then tried with a Walthers stainless Budd car which has similar proportions and trucks. Unsurprisingly, it ran very smoothly over the track. A quick inspection shown that Rapido wheels were grossly out of gauge, some piping was blocking the wheels from swiveling and the shell was poorly snapped over the chassis. Back to the benchwork, I discovered the pipe had been glued with its locator pin not inserted in the mounting hole. Two wheelsets had to be regauged and finally, poorly trimmed sprues on the interior prevented the shell to snap on the chassis. Once everything was put together as it should be, the car ran as well as the newer releases. It wasn't a matter of poor design, but extremely poor implementation and execution. At least, I'm glad the remedy was rather straightforward. It's just sad to witness how bad quality control was when that business started. 

The second round of test was done with WalthersProto and Atlas heavyweight coaches and sleepers. They both ran over the trackwork nicely, but I could feel some slight binding in the truck when navigating the turnout points when running over the diverging route. The issue was the wheel backs touching the flanges of the fishbelly underframe. It was a matter of cutting a small portion of that flange on each side to make the trucks swivel more freely.

All in all, I consider this experiment a success and I feel like I can go forward with the new staging plan. I already know that my locomotives will run over the curved turnout flawlessly. For this reason, this morning I dismantled the old staging, removed the fiber board to make a few changes to the benchwork and cut a new hole in the wall to provide the second access to the yard.

I've also almost completed the Monk locomotive roster. On Saturday, I visited the Vermont & Essex Railway model club located in Montreal. This is probably the most famous club layout in Quebec, being both based closely on a prototype and being almost complete.

The Vermont & Essex kitchen and dining lounge

It depicts the Central Vermont/Canadian National mainline from Windsor Station in Montreal to Bellow Falls, VT running through places such as St. Albans. The layout space is also wonderfully finished, with an elegant kitchen area reminescent of old time dining cars and a neat lounge. Well worth a visit and we had the chance to meet Clément Pot in real life, a young modeller who often post on Quebec Railway modelling Facebook groups. It's always nice to meet people and exchange with them.

Windsor station is the centerpiece of V&E

What I didn't expect was to find two True Line CNR ice reefers in 1950s paint schemes and a Proto 2000 GP38-2 locomotive in CN colors which was the last engine needed to complete the Monk roster. I've heard rumours that Rapido will probably do its own version, but that Proto unit runs silk smooth, has great details and a decoder. It would have been stupid not to jump on that occasion.

In the next weeks leading to Christmas, I will be installing a drop ceiling in the main layout room while trying to complete the new staging by then. I may be dreaming, but laying tracks in the main room during the holidays and maybe running an inauguration train would be quite the feat if you ask me!

Quebec & Gosford Sidetracking

Those who know Chris Mears and discuss with him frequently have come to fear him as he can elicit fascinating conversations that literally derail your train of thoughts toward the deepest fiber of your soul. Such a thing occurred to me recently when our discussion took a tangent toward the 1870s-1890s and the elegant 4-4-0s of the era. Add the nice Bachmann retooled 4-4-0 in the game and various old time equipment kitbashes and you have a recipe for disaster. Or should I say, a joyful recipe for fanning all over the fundamentals of railroading. But honestly, nothing is new about this discussion since it has been going on over and over since I was thinking about doing Temiscouata, then Stanstead which I always wanted to expand but with is too big for my layout room.

 

Bachmann retooled 4-4-0 (credit: Bachmann)

I can’t recall what sparked the exchange of thoughts, but for some reason, I ended up digging into the venerable Quebec & Gosford Railway which was the first railway built in Quebec City between 1869 and 1870 and operated from 1870 to 1872. Ill-fated because it adopted the wooden rail system developed by the American engineer Hulbert to save cost and was plagued by 4% grades, it was almost a financial success and would later be redeveloped and entirely rebuilt when the company was reorganized under the new name of Quebec & Lake St. John Railway. Unsurprisingly enough, Horace Jansen Beemer would be the man that would save the day and accomplish this undertaking.

 

Original Quebec & Gosford plans (credit: BAnQ)

The only picture of Q&G under construction circa 1871 (credit: Collection Marc Carette)

While only a very few pictures and drawings exist of the Quebec & Gosford, some contemporary descriptions and company documents give a good idea of what it was. Hadn’t it been plagued by the evitable engineering mistakes, the line would have been quite successful as demonstrated by the impressive earnings the company was able to generate during the few months of the year it operated.

 

The engine house at Rivière-à-Pierre on Q&LStJ (credit: BAnQ)

Q&LStJ, the spiritual descendant of Q&GR is much more documented and nice photographs of the era documenting its construction gives an excellent idea of what was happening in the backwoods of French Canada in the 1870s. One thing is sure, small shacks, settlers’ homes, railway structures and sawmills were quickly dotting an otherwise pristine forested land. And in that archetypical Canadian landscape, we know that the first Quebec & Gosford locomotives, bought new from Rhode Island Locomotive Works were working hard with their colorful paint, their brass appliances and gilded ornamentation. That contrast, between state-of-the-art machinery and the frontier is always appealing, hence why so many modellers are entrenched in that era that surprisingly never gets the coverage it warrants.

The second bridge over Jacques-Cartier river in 1879 (credit: BAnQ)

All these thoughts make sense when you understand what I tried to achieve with the demonstration Stanstead layout that served the purpose to prove that early pre-nationalization Canadian railways were worth modelling and fascinating. Each time I go to the basement, I see the module and its beautiful landscape and can’t help to gaze upon it, sometimes running even a modern locomotive on it.

A typical settlement along the line (credit: BAnQ)

I’ve always wondered if this layout could be expanded, and this is certainly the case. However, I have hardly the space in the house to currently do that. Nevertheless, I recently set a shelf over Monk Subdivision staging room to set a Kato Unitrak testing and programming track. As Chris mentioned, it was in some sense, the start of a layout. When I tried to run a pair of Bachmann Brill trolleys, I dug out my Montreal & Southern Counties track plan tailored for that room and looked at ways to improve upon it. From that point, I was doomed.

Q&LStJ No.5 was similar to Jacques Cartier (credit: BAnQ)

For some reasons, I revived my old Rivarossi Genoa 4-4-0 and seeing it runnings around the room was awesome… Some kind of revelation about the nature of what that shelf could become. I loved it and decided to start sketching based on descriptions of the first railways around Quebec City. At some point, the descriptions of our first locomotive, the “Jacques Cartier” and its sisters “Quebec” and “Gosford” came back. The original terminal in downtown Quebec City (St. Sauveur borough) was spartan with laconic descriptions of a house serving as a station, a reservoir, an engine house and other temporary structures and I suspect it was the same about Gosford, albeit much more simpler if newspaper accounts of the era are to be trusted.

Anyway, I find that era both fascinating and providing a plethora of small and achievable challenges. Building Stanstead was the epitome of "Model Railroading is Fun" and as mentioned, I always wanted to expand it to provide some running length to the trains. Time to move forward by making my railroading small and achievable again, and that includes Monk. I always perform better on more focussed projects that stand out and it was always my desire to continue my journey documenting what modelling pre-nationalization railways in Canada is all about. Doing frontier stuff that happened 150 years ago in what are now Quebec City northern suburbs is both thrilling and fascinating.

Monk Subdivision Track Plan Revision

I haven't written that much lately, or should I say, I didn't publish a lot of articles event if a string of first drafts are waiting in Blogger to be finalized. But they probably won't be published anyway because this hobby is about passion and when you write about a passion, it is often raw emotions captured on the spot and it's hard to come back a month or two later to alter them. Among them is a neat article about visiting hobby shops in Japan and the Kato Hobby Center last September and I think it's worth to be published. Another one is dating back to last fall when I railfanned Monk Subdivision again to shot photobackdrops.

Often, just having to edit and upload pictures on Blogger, which is very old technology by current standards, it enough to cut my desire to publish... we get lazy isn't it!

That said, I have continued modelling recently, in all directions to be honest. One thing is about completing the DCC sound installation in Monk CN fleet from the 1960s to the 1970s. Among them is a pair of Atlas C424 which will pull The Cabot passenger train and which my friend David Mira-Landry installed LokSound in them. It was great to spend an evening with him and seeing his workflow and tricks to get it done efficiently.

Atlas C424s going through decoder installation and detailing

Also, I had a lot of deep conversations about modelling and trains in general with good old Chris Mears. I wish these could be published as they are. Sometimes, I feel he is that reassuring voice that both listen and suggest. With him, no rocks are left unturned and this is a blessing. We have explored recently our deeply ingrained love of old time 4-4-0 from the 1860s-1870s but also thought about Monk once again. Jérôme and Louis-Marie also gave sound advices of keeping it simple and they are probably right. "Making it run" is probably the recurring theme and I agree. So let's dive into the future of Monk Subdivision.

Let's be blunt, I didn't work on it at all since I completed the staging first level and that gave me time to rethink the layout. Recently, to be able to run and tune my locomotives and cars, I added a Kato Unitrack loop in the staging room. It's at eye level and runs currently on DC only for older locomotives or those without decoder. I've ran a few trains since it has been put up there and that has helped me to better grasp what I'm doing in the basement. It was supposed to be fun and all about scenery, yet it degenerated into an intricate mechanical and technological issue that seems to never be resolved. What can be done?

A Kato Unitrack loop provide an excellent test bed

First, I took most of my high quality modern passenger cars (Rapido, Walthers, etc.) and tried to run them on the staging curved turnouts. It was a nightmare. Half of them don't negotiate the 28" radius curve properly. Sure, the Walthers turnouts are unforgiving, but it's ludicrously impossible to run a passenger train on the staging. Even on the flextrack, it barely works. The culprit is a mix of poorly design underframes, trucks and details. The Rapido Supercontinental cars (first release) are junk, even the couplers are operating poorly due to the diaphragm. Hard to believe someone designed that, tested the preproduction samples and went forward with it. Also, the wheels don't run freely and often the brake shoes on the sideframe are really braking. They aren't free rolling and this is a big issue. Fortunately, the newer releases are much, much better. As for Walthers, it's a mixed bag and fishbellies under the heavyweight cars makes them barely able to negotiate a 28" radius. So, I made a test, put 8 Rapido cars on the test loop (28.75 inches radius) and tried to pull it with an Intermountain F7. Didn't move and stalled. Added a Bachmann GP9 to the consist and it started to roll, but with serious drag and getting slow on curves. Basically, forget about running the Cabot (16 cars) under these circumstance, forget about a complicated yard throat and forget getting over a grade. This is a disaster in waiting.

So let's rethink the concept and go back to the basics. The two level staging is making thing very complicated in terms of trackwork, wiring and control. Some loves that stuff, but I don't and trains should stay accessible. So only one level. The new staging is basically a similar shape, but it feeds both end of the visible layout. I may plan to add extra capacity and a crossover later so I can turn passenger trains. Otherwise, keep it simple.

Grades are an issue because I had to get rid of the feed mill scene in Langlois which I really liked and added that touch of working a local train in the countryside. The recent QSSR module proved that I really liked shuffling cars at a small industry and I want it on Monk. Grades are also an issue because I have to make sure they are perfect and they were a real problem when dealing with the curved Abenaki bridge (which could most likely be modelled straight to save myself some problems).

Having the town scene 6" above the benchwork created a problem because the trains were much too close to the IKEA wall cabinet and it left very little backdrop. Having everything on a single level means that vertical clearance is the same and optimal everywhere.

At the moment of writing, I'm back to the original concept of Langlois and Armagh, with Lake Therrien and Abenakis bridge. It's as simple as that. In terms of work, I just have to lower the spline and shuffle some tracks in the staging room. No major benchwork surgery is required because I planned with sufficient reserve. I knew that things would change.

Revised track plan

The lesson behind that story is that running trains do help to make decision. That Kato Unitrack loop took me out of fantasy land and back to reality. Switching trains on the module also had a big impact. My slow progress was partially motivated by the fact I was constantly questioning the validity of my choices. The thing is that you can't validate them if you don't commit to build. Once again, Mike Confalone strikes: build, run then make changes. Not the first time I write about that.

So what is the future of Monk? First, we had some issue with the house drainage in the basement and a new one must be installed and the path is right in the train room. It doesn't impact the benchwork, but it means I need to clean the area, which in hindsight is a good thing.

Then, the mainline spline will be lowered and levelled. Finally, I will rebuild the staging according to the new geometry, but after taking some time to test it with various rolling stock. My goal? Run a train by Christmas.

I see more old time modelling in my future...

Meanwhile, the Kato Unitrack loop has raised interesting possibilities which I will explore in a later post. Let's just say there is a second life to that old time exploration I did with Stanstead.

QSSR Mark VI - What I have Learned

I've been modelling a lot lately... the bug bites again has we say and having a small module right by my modelling workbench makes it perfect to keep the inspiration going on. Be it telegraph poles, farm implements, asphalt shingles roof or building and weathering countless grain hoppers, each of these projects are small and fulfilling.

I've also learned a lot about myself and my relation with layouts. As much as the QSSR was just a fancy idea to make something generic as possible, the more I interact with it, the more it turns into something familiar. First, it was that old feed mill from my home town which has been a staple of my layouts since 2000. Then, it was the track plan... the rolling stock and the motive power.

Yet, today, it struck me that the scene was eerily similar to that famous Richard Manicom photo of Langlois station on Monk Subdivision shot in 1963. How couldn't I had made that connection before just baffles me, but it is there, in plain sight. This is Monk subdivision, or should I saw, a slice of it. Even the small and unassuming station isn't that far from reality. I'm am certainly at that particular point in my modelling life where everything is converging fast into something very simple and coherent.

Yesterday, another realization came upon me when I took a few early 1950s green CNR passenger cars and coupled them to a locomotive. I ran them slowly on the module, back and forth and just looking at the train running back felt great... It kind of convinced me that my initial vision for Monk as a staging platform was probably right on the spot for my need.

An interesting lesson out of that is the module gives a sense of purpose and accomplishment, a vitrine for my modelling work. It also serves well my needs for switching which are real but not to the point of design a layout around them in a complicated manner. I'm laid back with my approach to switching, just a few cars and a track or two. The module is, in some way, a device to separate the close and personal switching chores from running main line trains. This is more than enough for me! It also helps to experiment a lot with what I wish to implement on the large layout in terms of scenery and rolling stock.