Progress thru 2017

As 2018 approaches, I thought it might be a good idea to review the current status, progress made and overall goals of the layout.  The Kawartha Lakes Railway is a freelanced model railroad, which means no prototype ever existed.   However, I have tried to include elements of the Ontario Northland Railway (ONR) as well as the Canadian Pacific Railway (CP Rail) into the design.  The route follows the imaginary trackage north from Peterborough to Pembroke, followed with connection to North Bay and the ONR.  Some areas are modeled to closely follow the prototype and other parts are purely creative, however, all of the modeling attempts to reproduce the landscape, general scenery and industries of Ontario.   

Era
The time period modeled is the mid-1980’s. Mostly 1985 for no particularly significant reason.

Style
The layout is a linear, point to point road, although at some point a bridge may be added which will connect the small staging yard to Pemberton.

Design Considerations/Goals

• My general interest in Canadian roads, especially the ONR.  I spent my summers in the Lakefield/Peterborough and wanted to re-create the look and feel of that area.
• Run the number and types of trains that typically can be found on the ONR.  This essentially means that most trains are mixed freight or passenger, and unit trains such as autoracks or intermodals do not exist.
• The layout should consist of distinct scenes, and not try to jam as much operations or buildings into a space as possible. 
• My general interest in Canadian roads, especially the ONR.  I spent my summers in the Lakefield/Peterborough area and loved to watch trains come into Havelock, switch the Quaker Oats plant in Peterborough or run along the Otonobee River towards Lakefield.
• The fact that Canadian equipment is somewhat unique.
• A desire to model a paper mill, as well as several forest products industries.
• Wanting to model the nepheline syenite mine at Blue Mountain, north of Havelock.
• Desire to model the grain operations at the Quaker Oats facility in Peterborough.
• Including a paint plant somewhere on the layout, since I work in the chemicals industry for one of the largest paint and coatings manufacturers.  When I visit a paint plant serviced by rail, I spend free time observing rail cars and operations as much as possible.
• Have most of the railway be centered around on line switching
• Try to model some prototype scenes.  Use scenery to give the illusion of changes in topography while not actually changing grade levels.   

Progress to Date

• Trackwork is completed and fully operational.  Still have some occasional issues with manual switches in the paper mill, but otherwise operations are usually derailment free (unless the operator isn't paying attention and forgets to align switches). 
• The Spruce Creek Pulp and Paper mill took up a lot of time in 2017, and as you can see from previous postings, the complex is built.  This includes all of the buildings that I had originally intended to model.  With the exception of the two Walthers paper mill kit buildings, most of the buildings and structures are scratch-built.  Still need to work on details for the scene, such as roadway surfaces, piping, people, signage, vehicles, etc.). I'd also like to start adding lights to the complex.
• The Uniman nephytheline syenite mine is the last major scene which needs to be completed.  Only a small number of buildings have been constructed, although I have roughed in the large ore processing plant building using foamboard.  The mine has been constructed.  So this looks like a big project to handle in 2018.
• Buildings are in place for several of the forest products industries, although I have only scratched the surface with regards to scenery.  This has become a 2018 goal. 
• Grain unloading can be done at the Quaker Oats facility; again, finishing scenery is minimal and hopefully becomes something to be completed in 2018. 
• The Sherwin-WIlliams paint plant is mostly complete, and a few details have started to be added.  I plan to re-paint and add discharge piping to all of the tank farms this coming year.
• I still need to build my passenger station.  While I have the kit, it remains un-opened.
• The town of Pembroke is fairly complete, and during this past year I began to electrify it and add lighting to buildings as well as signs. Hopefully a few weekends of work will allow the town to become fully illuminated.
• I started to build a total of five woodchip gondolas in 2017.  Two of them are now fully constructed and sit at the sawmill awaiting loads, while the remaining three are structurally built, however, I need to add several details and wheel sets.  None of them have been painted, and I need to start designing the decals that will be applied.
• Several Canadian rolling stock kits, along with a CPR van and SD40-2F unit, are within the pile of items to be built. 
• Rapido continues to roll out some fantastic models and I already have my order in for an SW-1200RS, which will be dedicated to service at the paper mill.  The Canadian cylindrical hoppers are said to be shipping soon. And Rapido just announced that the FP-7 project will be happening in 2018.  Guess this means I need to look at my box of engines and sell off some used power.  Anybody in the market for a PA-1A/B unit?

Summary

So there you have it. Quite a lot of tasks for the future, however, this is a hobby and work proceeds at a reasonable pace.  The vast majority of projects seem to center around scenery, since most of the heavy lifting has been completed.  However, a possible move may occur in 2018 if the right piece of real estate can be found, so who knows what the end of 2018 will look like. Stay tuned as I continue to document the progress of the Kawartha Lakes Railway. 

Smaller Businesses along the KLR

When I started to design the KLR, the two primary considerations were size of the layout and what industries were key that I wanted to capture.  Keeping with the northern Ontario theme, the primary consideration was having enough business centered around the forest products industries that were common to the area.  And by area, I meant quite a large area, since the modeled area was essentially starting at the northern portion of southern Ontario and extending northward.  For those who have not visited Ontario, it is quite a large province, geographically speaking , comprising slightly over 10 percent of Canada's land mass.  And while the population is generally centered around the southern portion of the province, I wanted to capture the look and feel of the province along the Ottawa River Valley and northward.

Courtesy of www.trailcanada.com

My objective for the KLR was to create an impression of  an active short line that runs between 4 to 6 trains per day, excluding passenger operations.  Occasional run through traffic coming from the ONR provides additional train operations.  While the focus of my railroad changed as I was building it from a run-through operation to more of a switching operation, certain elements were kept the same.  I have a number of businesses along the KLR that can accept 1-3 carloads.  These include (in no particular order):

Quaker Oats Company of Canada Limited - The Quaker Oats plant in Peterborough produces cases of cereal and cake mixes at their facility.  Raw materials, including various grains, oils, are transported to the facility by rail.  It is quite common to see the yard filled with colorful grain hoppers of different sizes.  Finished goods are transported by boxcar or truck.

United Canadian Malt is Canada's largest manufacturer of a wide variety of liquid and dry, diastatic and non-diastatic extracts of malted barley, wheat, oats and rice.  This plant was modeled after the plant located in Peterborough, Ontario.  The plant was served by a spur to accommodate boxcars and hoppers.

Pembroke is the home of several forest products businesses, including Commonwealth Plywood, MacMillan Bathurst Inc (corrugated containers), and Temple Inland (Medium Density Fibreboard).  While not all of these industries are modeled due to space limitations, the KLR does service the Commonwealth Plywood facility.

A Beaver Lumber yard and hardware center is also present in the town of Pembroke.  I think that the old style Thrall all-door box cars were a really interesting design of rolling stock, so I took some modeling license and incorporated a business which could readily use this type of car to transport finished goods. 

Canada Bread Company Limited, is a leading manufacturer and marketer of value-added and nutritious fresh bakery products, including white, whole wheat and whole grain bread, rolls, bagels, and artisan breads..

One of the buildings left over from an initial layout was the Walther’s Cornerstone Sunrise Feed Mill.  I spent many of my summers on the Kawartha Lakes, near Lakefield, Ontario.  One of my favorite places to check out each year was the feed mill as you entered town.  While long gone, this was one of the first buildings that I ever purchased, with hopes that some day I would model the operation.  However, I could never seem to find the space for the structures.  However, this was a lit that I couldn’t bear to get rid of, so it became the Little’s Feed Mill, named after some friends of the family.   It sees maybe 1-2 cars per month.

Algonquin Forest Products is another forest products business along the KLR.  Algonquin obtains low-grade lumber and converts that raw material into premium quality finger joint lumber.

Muskoka Timber Mills offers a complete service - from cutting the tree to milling to produce top quality Canadian timber and lumber. Timber is available in any size, with lengths up to 32'.  While the Bracebridge location is actually bordered by rail (ONR) but doesn’t get rail shipments, I elected to add a rail siding to further enhance the business of shipping Ontario lumber.

ONRH&TS Convention

I belong to a great group that shares an interest in the Ontario Northland Railway, both present and historical operations, engines, and rolling stock. Once a year a multi day convention is held somewhere along the ONR's domain, to get everyone together for some railfanning, sharing stories and good old railroad fellowship. This year, for the second time in our groups history (2007 was the first OH meeting), the Ohio contingent of members have invited everyone north of the Peace Bridge to come and visit our local rail activities in northeast Ohio. We will be having our convention this year in Vermilion, Ohio. The convention includes a trip to the Age of Steam roundhouse, some local interest tours and layout tours. The dates are Thursday July 23-Sunday July 26^th.

It's roughly two months to the convention and as usual for most conventions or open houses, I have more things on the my list to complete than time actually allows. Fortunately, except for my new yard that is being built as I write this, all of my trackage was complete and in good running shape from last years NMRA National Convention held in Cleveland. However, as I look at the calendar, it's time to crank it up a notch and get busy with some scenery items and other details that I didn't quite get done over the winter. Of course, this all conflicts with a son's graduation from University, cutting the lawn, getting the boat ready for the water, etc. So I'm trying to make an effort to spend at least a couple of hours each night after the day’s chores and activities are done to spend time on the layout. Over the next few weeks, I intend to capture this on these pages so that attendees can get a feel for the layout before they arrive in Ohio.

The primary purpose is to have the railway serve several small to medium sized industries located in the rural locales of Ontario.  While not all had railroad access, I have tried to select industries which have a need for rail ops due to the type of raw materials which may be supplied or the finished goods which are produced. Most industries receive 1-2 railcars daily, although businesses such as the mine receive a train daily.  The KLR's traffic base includes forestry products (such as paper, pulpboard, dimensional lumber and pulpwood) along with mining and several other industries.  The rail line serves a number of growing customers including Sherwin Williams Canada, Quaker Oats, United Canadian Malting, Indusmin Canada, Beaver Lumber and Commonwealth Plywood to name a few.

The two largest industries on the layout include the Spruce Falls Pulp and Paper mill complex, which was modeled after the Tembec mills in Temiscaming, Quebec and Kapuskasing, Ontario.  The Unimin mine in Nephton, Ontario, which produces syenite (a mineral in the feldspar family used in glass making and ceramics), serves as another primary industry.  The Muskoka Timber Mills facility rounds out the largest areas of the layout.

Up to the time of the convention, my goal is to post some discussions about each of the industries found on the KLR so that convention attendees can get a feel for the layout, as well as what has changed since I had an open house for the 2007 convention.