Upcoming - Backyard Railroaders

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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

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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

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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.”


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!”


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!


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”.


A bus station is where a bus

stops. A train station is where a

train stops. On my desk I have a

work station…...

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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

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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.

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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)

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