Intercolonial Railway - New Glasgow and Pictou Landing Branch

March 31, 2010 - Thanks to some great help from Eric Halpin and Simon Langan, I have been able to get some ballasting and scenic work done at Granton and Abercrombie. I've painted most of the track and ties on the Pictou Landing Branch and it will be next for ballasting. I found the ballast I used in Granton to be to "sand like," but Simon has some ideas to get the shiny pieces out. I've switched to the more expensive Woodland Scenics Medium Gray Ballast for the rest of the layout. I'm making my own mix for some of the sections that has a little bit of fine and some of the two colour ballast.

See the March 31, 2010 Update Page for pictures of some of the progress.

March 12, 2010 - I've been working on painting ties and track in Granton and Abercrombie. The painting is all done in those areas and I have started ballasting. I'm using Pollyscale Roof Brown for the mainline track and Pollyscale DRG&W Building Brown for sidings. Ties are being painted with Pollyscale Grimy Black. There's nothing too much to take pictures of, but when there is, I will post some.

February 20, 2010 - It's been ages since I have worked on the railroad. I'm finally back at it thanks to some unexpected time off. I've added some buildings and been perfecting the track work. This past week has been mostly cleaning and quality control. I ballasted a short section to see how the track colour looked. It's a little too rusty, so I am going to change the colour. I am happy with the grimy black colour of the ties. I also added another track at the Michelin plant as well as some tanks. This track at the plant is actually a wye, but here it will simply represent that and will add a switching challenge. I'm going to paint the track and finish the ballasting at the Michelin plant this week.

See the February 22, 2010 Update Page for pictures of some of the progress.

September 14, 2008 - The phase 3 trackwork is all in and is a little different from the plan. It is designed so that a loop at either end of the staging could one day be put in. At the moment, I have kept the current loop in and will use it only to show off trains to guests. This coming week I hope to get all the wiring done. Phase 3 will be a separate block powered by a Lenz booster.

For operations, the layout will now be point to point. Possible future phases include the addition of loops at the end of staging and turning around Stellarton yard to get rid of the duck under. I have not decided whether or not I will do either. I would like to get to work on scenery, painting track and ballasting before any further expansions are undertaken.

See September 14 Update Page for pictures of the track work.

July 20, 2008 - The phase 3 benchwork is up, the plumber has re-arranged the piping to have most of it hidden below the benchwork, the styrofoam is on an painted and the fascia is up and painted as well. Pictures are posted on the July 20 Update Page. Thanks to Matt Kydd, and Robert Peck for also helping with this phase.

July 1, 2008 - I made some changes to the plans and have now decided that it is going to be too complicated to do North Sydney and the ferry in the space I have. The space that was to be North Sydney will now be outside of Truro and will be D.C. Trueman Lumber (formerly Riversdale Lumber).

I have started putting up the bench work to phase 3 and hope to complete it by the weekend. Thanks to my brother in law, Peter Frise and my wife, Lisa, for helping me put together the bench work.

My plan is to have the tracks end at two levels of staging, one for Truro, one for Sydney. The loop around the hot water tank will happen and a phase 3 1/2.

I have started to paint some track in preparation for ballasting on the other sections. Some more structures have gone up and lots more to come.

Pictures will posted when the bench work is up.

April 12, 2008 - The carpet is in, the walls are painted. I am working on a track plan at the moment including a possible Phase 4 which will take out the duck under. I will involve turning around the Stellarton yard portion, which should be reasonably easy because of the modular nature of the steel benchwork. Here is a track plan which shows Phase 3 and the completed Phase 2. The phase three will actually look quite different from this plan having a loop at both ends rather than connecting the two ends. Also, the North Sydney yard will be moved further out to allow for better operating. Truro Yard may me on another level. I will post a revised plan when it is completed. A plan with Phase 4 will be coming quite a bit later because there are some issues to work out on it.

February 25, 2008 - The electrical panel is framed in and the expansion area has been painted in the sky blue colour of the rest of the layout. Carpet will likely go in today. I'll need to get a friend to help with the drop ceiling some time in the next few weeks.

February 19, 2008 - I have been working away at preparing the space for Phase 3. My neighbour, Luc, helped me to frame in the electrical panel and build doors for it. I have purchased carpet and underpad for this phase and my plumber has moved around some of the plumbing to make the expansion work. My friend, Steve Adamson, who has helped me with my track planning will be coming by in a few weeks to help me develop a plan for this phase and put it into XTrack Cad to make sure it will work.

I will be using an idea from an early 1970's Model Railroader Magazine project Layout (The Kinnickinnic Railway and Dock Co.) for my Newfoundland Ferry at North Sydney that will have a hidden track to hold 20-30 cars with a static ferry that will allow cars to be sent off to Newfoundland and return. I have a track plan from another MR layout (The Arven Bay Terminal RR) that should work for North Sydney

I spent Sunday afternoon and Family Day moving my work bench to my office and finishing off the box around the electrical panel. I need to paint the area, carpet and then finish the drop ceiling and lighting. Hopefully with a workable track plan, I can actually put up bench work later in March. Here FINALLY are some pictures.

November 26, 2007 - Have not had too much time to work on the layout. I need to wire and put tortoises on a few of the turnouts then phase and one and two and ready to be ballasted. Phase 3 is in the preparation stages. I will be building a cabinet around the electrical panel and do some minor plumbing changes in order to prepare the space for phase three. That should be completed by the end of the week. Following that the wall needs to be patched, primed and painted. The ceiling and lighting will then be put in, carpeting put down. Hopefully by that time I will have a track plan completed to prepare for benchwork to go up up sometime in the new year.

October 14, 2007 - Have been so busy at the church that I have done little more than operate the railroad for some R&R. Yesterday we moved the concrete dealer to New Glasgow. It is now Inter Supply Ltd. Ready Mix Concrete. They had a private siding in 1978. I don't believe they are around any more. The old Casey Concrete track has now become Superior Propane as the propane dealer was in Trenton. Also added an engine servicing track in the Stellarton yard. I have a few electrical issues to work out in the Shinohara turnouts and then I think I will be ready to start ballasting. Hopefully a work party will happen in November to begin Phase 3.

August 24, 2007 - Have been operating for just over a week. Seems to be working well. Thanks to a suggestion of Robert's, staging will be at the end of Phase 3 with two tracks going to staging, one for the Hopewell / Sydney subdivision ending at staging in Sydney and the other the Hopewell subdivision ending at staging in Truro. This will allow for a much longer continuous loop as well as substantially more main line running. Current staging will become Antigonish and the track will be turned to continue out to the staging at the end of Phase 3. I will add a ferry terminal for North Sydney on this line. The other track going to Truro will have D.C. Trueman Lumber as an industry representing Riversdale Lumber.

August 14, 2007 - Wiring is completed and working. Will try operating it for a few days to see how it all works. Pictures soon.

August 13, 2007 - Track and expressnet are in at Pictou Landing. Wiring should be completed in the next few days and then I will try operating the layout with the car cards and way bills I have created. Cleaned out much of the main train room to allow for a 28 ft. extension to Truro. Railway is still negotiating for the newly cleared land. Pictures of Pictou Landing will be coming soon.

July 19, 2007 - Completed the bench work and foam top for the Pictou Landing Branch, put up the masonite and painted it. Pictou Landing historian, Fergy McKay, provided me with some great photos of Pictou Landing. We have tried to recreate it. Here are some pictures of the Pictou Landing Branch and the promised pictures from a couple weeks ago. No cork or track has been laid, although Robert Peck helped develop a plan for that. Should be in sometime in the next couple of weeks.

July 2, 2007 - Decided to purchase a way bill making system from Albion Software called Ship It! Car Cards. I have input all the information in the trial version and am waiting for the full version via E-mail. Implemented one of the ideas from the NMRA visit so that I can manually move the turnouts in staging from Stellarton yard. Works great. Pictures coming soon. Added an 8 foot track along the back wall that will eventually lead to Phase 3 (Hopewell sub to Truro). In the meantime it gives me some hidden storage tracks and extra staging. This month I plan on trying out some operations to see if the current track work is sufficient or needs changing. I also plan on working on some of the buildings.

May 26, 2007 - Track is through the walls. The Merrickville Model Railroad Club helped me switch offices with my wife so that we could run trains through. I have Abercrombie (Scott Paper) track in and wired with a Throttle connection. We are also through the wall on the way to Pictou Landing, but I need to completely re-work Pictou Landing and decide on what is going to be switched there. The NMRA, St. Lawrence Division visited today. They are a great bunch of people and I have learned lots from there this past year. They were very encouraging and had some great suggestions today. Here are some pictures of some of the changes.

May 8, 2007 - Track is in to Granton now as is the sidings to Tibbett's Paints in Trenton and Sobey's in Stellarton. The NMRA St. Lawrence Division is visiting on May 26, so I am rushing to get some things done. Trenton Works now has a second building and Sobey's warehouse has a building. Tibbett's Paints is taped together and will be assembled soon. Have acquired quite a few freight cars in the past few months and set up a card system based on the model taught to me by Michel Boucher and his Delaware and Hudson Adirondack Branch Layout. I will post pictures of some of these changes soon. I have re-written the web page for Michel Boucher's layout.

Feb 18, 2007 - A few more pictures are posted here. I realized I never took any pictures of the gate. It is no longer operational because I have not cut the track going over it and wired it. It's on the list to get done. My Christmas present of a Atlas C424 is finally on the layout after a longish wait for a Soundtraxx Alco DCC chip.

Feb 9, 2007 - I got my new Lenz system from TLA Custom Hobbies in Wilton, ON. It has been working flawlessly. Some problems I was having with a QSI chip are non-existent with this system. Next step is to finish the industry tracks in Stellarton (Sobey's), and in New Glasgow (Maritime Foundry, Tibbett's Paints). After that Granton (Michelin) needs to be laid. After that the bridges need to be finished and then I begin fine tuning the track work before ballasting. Sold my Digitrax system.

January 14, 2007 - Another long time between updates. Trenton track is in as is the track that will go through the wall to Pictou Landing. Added two more tracks in Stellarton as well as another entrance to the yard and an engine servicing track (that will double as the programming track) The wye is installed going to Granton with Tony's Train Exchange PS Rev for an autoreverser. The Digitrax Zephyr died on me again (it was originally broken out of the box - this time the programming track stopped working) and is in the shop for it's final warranty repair. My new Lenz system (which is much more powerful) will be arriving in another week and should be more reliable. Pictures of all of these changes are posted.

October 1, 2006 - Sorry I have taken so long to update this. Lots has happened. The mainline has been operational since mid-August and the Stellarton yard has been completed as has the staging yards in Truro/Antingonish. Some pictures are on the October Update Page. Feeders have been wired into all the yard tracks to allow movement and protect from short circuits. Robert Peck has spent lots of time helping me and showing me how to do tasks. Next step is Trenton and then Granton. Discovered that Peco Code 83 turnouts only work with Peco Code 83 rail joiners (both metal and insulated). All of the track and turnouts have been secured using Atlas track nails until all the issued have been worked out. Eventually the track and turnouts will be secured with an adhesive and track nails removed and filled in.

August 5, 2006 - All of the cork on the main line and yards (Stellarton Truro/Antigonish) has been laid, the gate has been built. The branches need to be laid out and track laid and wired. After a trip to the prototype in Nova Scotia in July made some minor changes. The main will be double tracked from Stellarton to New Glasgow and the second track will become the Scotia Subdivision (now known as the Trenton spur). Decided on the name Intercolonial Railway - New Glasgow and Pictou Landing Branch. Pictures coming soon.

June 17, 2006 - track was penciled out on benchwork and Woodland Scenics 2% grade was added as well as the cork in the staging yards and Stellarton. See pictures here. Thanks to some great members of the Merrickville Model Railroad Club, Robert Peck, Thomas Gray and Ian Hunter we got a lot done today. Next stage is getting the gate built, and the rest of the track penciled out and then track laid.

In the summer of 2006 I was able to spend a day with Pictou Landing historian, Fergy McKay. He is working on a great book about Pictou Landing and loaned some chapters of it's railway history. Some his pictures will help with the design of Pictou Landing.

INTERCOLONIAL RAILWAY: New Glasgow and Pictou Landing Branch

Layout Progress

The most recent updates are at the top of the page

INTERCOLONIAL RAILWAY:
New Glasgow and Pictou Landing Branch