Removable Loads for Woodchip Cars

Nothing look less convincing than supposedly loaded cars actually empty. I was asked yesterday to remedy to this unsightly situation. I didn't reinvent the wheel, just applyied a tried and true method.

I started with blocks of blue styrofoam cut to lenght and width with a table saw (be always careful when handly styrofoam and electric saws).

I fitted the styrofoam block into the car and draw a line with a pencil following the car's top. This line will serve as a handy reference to sculpt the top load.

Next, I roughed up the general shape of the load with a utility knife and smoothed the profil wiith a rasp. I was careful enough to make sure the car load top would have a fine texture, not a coarse one. As quick test shown me the load fitted perfectly the car height.

For easy of removal, I added a small brass wire loop glued with PVA on top of the load. Using a small hook, removing the load will be a piece of cake.

Instead on painting the load then gluing woodchip, I decided to combine both step to save on time. I used a light brown interior latex paint I generally use for basic sceneric work. It fits perfectly woodchip color. I was cereful to not plug the brass loop with paint.

When paint was still wet, I sprinkled generously real sawdust from the table saw. To ensure a realistic look, Louis-Marie sifted the sawdust with a screen. It resulted in fine and relatively long sawdust particles that mimick perfectly woodchips. I too often saw coarse sawdust sprinkled on cars and it just looks like sprinkled sawdust and not woodchips.

Here's the 6 loads completed and drying. Building the loads took about 1 hour, but that includes the time wasted in coming up with a correct prototype. Making these loads is a matter of a few minutes and there's no excuse to not make them.

As you can suspect, the new loads were an immediate succes with other club members and soon found their way on the layout. Honestly, they tremendously improved the appearance of the woodchip cars fleets and we now can easily spot them without wondering which one is loaded and which one is empty.

By the way, a lot of things happened yesterday at the layout including a new way to operate the trains, a new and more prototypical configuration for Clermont little yard, redifining the peninsula fascia contour and installing Ciment St-Laurent weighing station. Stay tuned!

A Tentative Timetable

Yesterday, I condensed the old CN track plan, station table and old CFC footnotes together to make a concise and useful document for operating crew. This is only a mock up, but I feel this could be the backbone of our paperwork. Later, I'd like to add a  timetable to complete the information available.

Meanwhile, a comment made by Roger Sekera on my previous provided me with a new way to handle switchlist and car traffic. Roger brought to my attention what Mat Thompson did to control switching moves at some of his largest plants, particularly a large Swift meat packing. Mat write down instructions to railway crew as if he was the plant manager. Thus, he can pe very precise about the work to do while making paperwork a little bit more relaxed while keeping things prototypical. The instructions are placed in a "mail box" which crews pick up and read before doing the work.

To be honest, I've heard similar stories from various railroader. But I must admit I like the way Mat integrate the role of plant manager into the operating scheme. I find it brilliant, simple and efficient to implement. It also has the advantage to put a real face on your industries. They are no longer tracks to switch, but a customer to serve.

During the recent operating sessions on the layout, Jérôme intuitively ask me about Donohue's wereabout before doing the switching chores. He generally inquires about which cars are ready to leave and which ones need respotting. While I think waybills are a nice way to handle traffic, at some point, they are a little bit overkill for our layout. Our time at the layout club is scarce and I can't afford to take hours staging the industries and their paperwork. At best, I can make a switchlist and give specific instructions on the spot as a de facto plant manager.

It's funny, because I always thought I was just a railfan watching others operate, but I'm starting to believe I play a role in operation that is just too often overlooke: plant manager. Do I like it? Yes, a lot. On the track plan I've just published, you can see the layout is rather simplistic for a 18' x 30' HO "empire". 

This simplicity allows for a lot of hidden versatility because setting up an operating session is a matter of a few minutes and can be done between building sprees! With that mindset, I think I’ll probably implement Mat Thompson’s mail boxes on the layout, particularly in Donohue and Dominion Textile. Even though I’m a proponent of realistic operations, the recent documentations found about Murray Bay Subdivision draw a picture of a railway working at its own pace. Will I ever implement the waybill system I started to write down? Maybe, but probably not yet.

By the way, I've just received the Boulder Creek electronic weighing station. I was surprised by the amount of build-in options. The price was quite steep with the failing Canadian dollar, but seems it will be worth the expense. We should install it this evening.

Operation VS Timetable

Timetable are extremely useful to understand how a railway line works. It gives you indications about stations, trackage, speed, schedule, type of motive power and special instructions to crews.

These special instructions are extremely useful to piece together how the line was operated. You remember I said recently I was a little bit puzzled by Ciment St-Laurent and its interaction with the rest of the layout. Durin  the open house, Jean-Pierre Veilleux told us the special cement train was mainly a thing from the 60s and early 70s, when Hydro-Quebec and Quebec government were in the middle of a construction spree. That traffic dwindled later and was handled by regular freight trains servign the Murray Bay Sub.

Interestingly, the 1994 CFC (Chemin de fer Charlevoix / Charlevoix Railway) Timetable gives us a few hints about operation at the cement plant. Also, it is good to know CFC used the same CN train numbers (522/523). In fact, to some extent, CFC didn't change the formula when they took over the subdivision. Thus, we can base our assumptions on their timetable with a high degree of confidence to try to figure out how CN operated the line back in the mid 80s.

Jean-François Dumont was kind enough to send me a copy of his personal archives. Here's a translated version of the special instructions:

1. At Limoilou, pick up the train on "Fl 01 to Fl 08" or "Cl 71 to Cl 73". [TN: these are tracks located in Limoilou Yard]
2. At Villeneuve, spot cars on track T 2.
3. Léo Cauchon, set out and pick up cars "eastbound. T 11.
4. At Beaupré, set out cars on track T27.
5. At Clermont, set out cars on track U 93 and surplus cars on tracks U 94, U 79 and U 81. Pick up cars on track U 95 and surplus cars on U94.
6. Don't leave Clermont before 11:00 AM if cars are not ready.
7. At Wieland, report work done on the 522 to CSC, inquire of the work to be done on the 523 and provide rotation for 523.
8. On return trip to Beaupré's "Donohue", pick up cars on track T 27 and wait until 2 P.M. if cars are not ready.
9. At Villeneuve, the company can make us wait up to 3 P.M.

Generally speaking, this is almost how we operate the layout, with the notable exception of Ciment St-Laurent.

It is in fact very interesting to see trains 522/523 handled that traffic on a regular basis. It means we could add Villeneuve as a regular stop on our actual operations. It would means slightly longer trains which isn't a bad thing in itself. Also, that means traffic at the plant would no longer be unit trains, but rather small cuts of varied cars. It would make switching there more interesting and in fact, it means the local switcher would have to complete its task before train 523 is back in Villeneuve.

I think including the cement plant as a regular customer on 522/523 round trip is the most effective way to bring life in this part of the layout. It doesn't mean we won't run extra trains from time to time as required, but that there will be more variety in switching moves, as occured on the real prototype.

Murray Bay Subdivision Track Plans & Customers

A few days after the open house, a visitor sent us old Murray Bay Subdivision documents: a 1984 timetable, a 1988 track plan with customers and a 1994 timetable from Chemin de fer Charlevoix.

The track plan is particularly interesting because it shows every customers on the line and even list the number of car spots when this information is useful. I wish I could have seen this track plan before planning the layout. I took the liberty to retrace the track plans in Illustrator making sure to preserve the crappy late-80s graphic style. I was also able to merge the content on 2 pages instead of 8 sheets. Later, I'd like to make our layout track plan in similar fashion.

Among the information I've learned, I was quite surprised to see the two local farmer's cooperatives were still rail-served as late as 1988. Also, Beaupré Distillery was still in business though its days were counted.

An interesting switching district is Wieland between La Malbaie and Clermont. Two oil dealers still received their commodity by rail and a local propane dealer was also rail-served. There was also a team track used as an intermodal terminal and a storage track.

As you know, I'm still working on making Clermont more believeable. I've often hinted Wieland would be a suitable model for this area and I'm ready to explore this avenue.

One thing I would truly have loved to included on the layout would have been Léo Cauchon sawmill. This small industry was located in my hometown and was my first ever encounter with switching when I was about 4 years old. I admit it would be fun to have it, but it would be a mess in term of space and scenery.

Anyway, except the small traffic generated by small time customers, I feel our layout operating plan is quite representative of the real prototype. While getting access to first hand documentation would have been a neat thing during design, we must admit we still were able to piece together a coherent layout using our childhood memories, completely outdated timetables and heresays.

Building a Track Scales - Part 3

The track scales is now complete and ready to be installed on the layout. It was a straightforward and fun project. To be honest, I rarely model modern structures, but they are as fun to build than old wooden structures.

I heavily weathered the structure according to the prototype. A cement plant is a dirty place and building should be accordingly.

I rarely detail structure interiors, but this time I painted the walls, added some desk and instruments. Also, the building is almost an aquarium, so I added blinds made of drafting paper. I really help to bring some life into the building by giving it some depts. I also distract the eye to see how empty is truly is.

 

I'm actually wondering if I won't add a sitting figure one day.