WRMRC Fall Open House – Saturday 14 October 2023

The Waterloo Region Model Railway Club cordially invites you to our Fall Open House on Saturday October 14th, 2023.

Here is your chance to see everything we have been working on over the past year.

Header_TK4

The layout be open from 10:00 AM to 5:00 PM. Feel free to invite any friends or family members interested in model railways, and plan on a fun day of train watching and socializing.

For maps and more information visit our WRMRC website, or our Facebook page.

X5025E_LaSalleBlvd

Extra 5025 East rolls under the LaSalle Blvd bridge on the CP Sudbury Division Layout.

Admission:

  • Adults: $5.00
  • Seniors and Students: $3.00
  • Children (12 and under) are FREE, but must be supervised by an adult

 

Begin/End CTC Romford

Our big push for the Doubleheaders Tour this past March was to finally fill in the scene at Romford ON, the junction where the Parry Sound Sub from Toronto joins in to the Cartier Sub. This finally enclosed and hid the helix we had built in this corner of the layout that carried the tracks from the Parry Sound Sub staging yard to the upper level deck where Romford is situated. But really the scenery was just roughed in at the time, and many more details were required to finish the area. Our upcoming Fall Open House has provided us with a cause to continue the scenic efforts from here further down towards Coniston ON (diamond crossing with the CN Bala Sub), and to populate Romford with more details.

Romford cabride CP train 12 - 06 October 1971

Approaching Romford junction in the cab of the Toronto Section of the ‘Canadian’ at Sudbury, ON on 06 October 1971 (Roger Puta photo – Marty Bernard collection)

Being a mainline junction, Romford was a controlled interlocking. In the 1970s Centralized Traffic Control (CTC) governed train movements over the Cartier Sub from this point (mileage 72.4) eastward to North Bay ON (mileage 0). Westward for the six miles between here and Sudbury, the Cartier Sub was double-tracked with Automatic Block System (ABS) signals protecting movements in one direction only (right-hand running). The Parry Sound Sub travelling south was single-track ABS territory. Because the CTC section began, or ended (depending on which way you were going) at this interlocking, dispatchers would refer to this spot as ‘Begin/End CTC Romford’.

Beyond the obvious signals, real life interlockings are filled with all sorts of trackside details such as large signal bungalows, relay cabinets, battery vaults, electric switch motors, and if you’re railroading in Canada; switch heaters, and associated fuel tanks. With this in mind, we felt further enhancement of this scene should be done before our next open house.

RomfordCTC001

Looking east from signal 724 – Romford. From this point east to North Bay, the CP Cartier Sub was CTC territory.

RomfordCTC002

Signal 724 and its companion dwarf signal, along with a GRS model 5H dual-control switch motor, an oil-fired switch heater (it gets very cold here in winter), and signal relay cabinet. The old-school switch stand here guards a storage track, which is obviously controlled manually by crews.

We are still waiting for the actual station to be completed, along with a custom-built cantilever signal bridge that is required to elevate signal 1217 over the Parry Sound Sub (both are in development). But in the mean time with telephone poles added, more vegetation and ground cover, and all these interlocking details, we are at a level where Romford can almost be called complete.

RomfordCTC003

Guarded by signal 723 (westward signals are odd-numbered, and eastward even) this area of the junction is full of assorted CTC details. The Parry Sound Sub to Toronto is the line curving to the south here. A cantilever signal bridge that governs this line will be added in the future.

RomfordCTC004

Signal 723 with associated relay cabinet and a battery vault. The manual switch stand here controls the Romford set-off track.

RomfordCTC005

Not just CTC details, we’ve also finished off the swamps surrounding the Parry Sound Sub’s approach into Romford. Oh, incidentally, don’t drink the water here.

We’re starting to get excited about the open house, and wanted to share these photos of our progress. There are many other additions and improvements we’ve made since the Doubleheaders Tours this past spring, let alone last year’s open house. All of this will be here for you to explore this Saturday October 14th. Hope to see you there.

 

WRMRC at Breslau Train Show – Sunday 24 Sept 2023

The Waterloo Region Model Railway Club will have a display at the Breslau Model Train Show this coming Sunday, Sept 24th, 2023.

Some of you may remember this as the former Paris Train Show. It may have a new location, but it is still the same great show presented by the Western Ontario Division – Niagara Frontier Region NMRA. There will be more than 75 tables of manufacturers and retailers available, and at least five operating layouts on display. Also there will be NMRA craftsmen showing how they build their models, free public clinics, and door prizes. More information can be found here: https://www.wod-nmra.ca/upcoming-events/

IMG_20211128_115747

Our display will feature club photos, a video presentation, and club members working on various modelling projects. As always, we will also have a side table with surplus models and equipment for sale. If you are attending the show please stop by and pay us a visit.

Hope to see you there.

C&BT Shops Boxcars

During my latest kitbashing job, it occurred to me that probably few modellers today have ever heard of C&BT Shops boxcar kits. Back when they first came out in the late 1980s, these were a big deal. After years of nothing but generic ‘Blue-Box’ boxcars from Athearn and MDC, HO-scale modellers were being supplied with affordable, yet good quality models with separate detail parts. We now had kits to build specific prototype models, like the PS-1 from McKean, or the 1950s-era AAR boxcar from Front Range.

The C&BT Shops kit added to the variety by offering the 1944-AAR designed boxcar, an importance predecessor model to the car Front Range produced. This was an even bigger deal for Canadian modellers because the ends of a 1944-AAR boxcar, what hobbyists coined the 4-4 pattern Dreadnaught end, where found on thousands of Canadian-built boxcars well past their usage dates in the USA. These ends were utilized from the late 1940s right until the early 1960s, and helped us Canuck modellers by making it easier to re-create accurate boxcars with minimal effort. Back in the WRMRC’s early years, these were a critical model for us.

C&BT Shops Kit

C&BT Shops kit for the 1944-AAR Boxcar with 6ft-door. They also offered a 1949-AAR car, and both kits were available in 6′, 7′, 8′, and double-door versions. Though the main body, doors and underframe are all good quality, the detail parts provided were rather crude and brittle.

There was however a big drawback with the C&BT kit. Though the moulding of the boxcar model itself was very good (they stand up to many models still in production today), the detail parts provided were coarse and of poorer quality. Also the plastic used was brittle, so you’d easily break these parts just cutting them from their sprues. This probably was what ultimately doomed C&BT from becoming a bigger player in the hobby, like Intermountain or Proto 2000 became, even though those manufacturers arrived on the scene later.

Over the decades, I’ve come to learn the history behind C&BT’s troubles. The story was their original tool & die maker had passed away just after finishing the main model, and another person of leaser experience was rushed in to complete the detail parts. Then once on the market, rather than upgrading the parts sprue, they decided to go the Accurail route (who just started up in the early 1990s) by re-engineering the moulds with cast-on details. The company lasted a number of years like this well into the 2000s, but with their momentum gone, they eventually exited the market.

CBT_Kit_002

This started off as a later C&BT car with moulded-on detail, and pre-painted in the CPR ‘stepped-Gothic’ scheme. Look close you can still see the original lettering under the primer. All moulded labbers and grabirons were removed, new resin NSC-3 ends added, and miscellaneous details applied. Grabirons will be added later as they will get in the way of Multimark application.

The impetus for this project was a gift of surplus equipment given to the CP Sudbury Division. The donation consisted of several CPR boxcar models from different manufacturers, and included this C&BT blast-from-the-past. It was a later-issued kit with moulded details, and pre-painted in the Canadian Pacific ‘stepped-Gothic’ paint scheme. Additionally the paint was a very bright oxide red, much more like CN oxide than CP tuscan, and also the lettering was too thick. It was however an accurate model for a CPR boxcar featuring; a diagonal panel roof, 4/4 pattern Dreadnaught ends, and appropriately numbered in the CP 258xxx-series. I initially considered salvaging the original paint, but the detail-nut in me could not tolerate the moulded-on details.

CBT_Kit_003

‘B’ end details shown here before a primer coat was applied. Ladders and grabirons are Intermountain parts. Brakewheel is Kadee, in an old Front Range (I think) housing. The brake platform was fabricated with re-bent staples and a piece of photo-etched roofwalk material.

The ladders and grabirons were removed and sanded down from the car-sides easily enough, but cutting into the ladders on the car ends was a challenge. I found the plastic much tougher that the polystyrene which Accurail uses, who’s kit’s I’ve hacked and modified many times over the years. So I chose to cut the ends off entirely, as I reasoned that replacement had to be easier than all the hacking, gouging and sanding my original approach would take. That and I’ve collected many different boxcar ends from various old kits over the years. Then as I looked though the collection, I noticed how many stored Sylvan NSC-3 ends were in there (now offered by Yarmouth Model Works). Rather than kitbashing a run-of-the-mill 40ft boxcar that Intermountain and Atlas already offer ready-to-run, why not make it an uncommon car? And heck, if I’m going this far, it deserves a new paint job. My quickie kitbash job soon turned into the dictionary definition of mission creep.

Now that this project had gotten well into the weeds and had become a serious kitbash, I had to choose a prototype to work from. The decision to add an NSC-3 end onto a car equipped with a 6ft Youngstown door and a diagonal panel roof narrowed it down to just one specific order of Canadian Pacific 40ft boxcars; series CP 140950-141699 delivered in 1954 from National Steel Car. Using Chris vanderHeide’s invaluable Canadian Freight Car Gallery website, I found a great photo of CP 141184 within this specific series.

CP_141184

Built in 1954 by National Steel Car, CP 141184 was photographed by Andy J. Broscoe at Bowness, Alberta on 29 August, 1980. Photo courtesy of canadianfreightcargallery.ca

These 1954 built cars were among the last 40 foot boxcars with 6 foot doors received by the CPR, as North American industries began to adopt palatalization and forklifts for logistics and shipping. The following year railways would adopt the 8 foot door as the new standard, and Canadian Pacific was no exception to this.

The CPR received four different orders of 40ft boxcars through 1954, two a piece from Canadian Car & Foundry of Montreal, and two from NSC in Hamilton ON. After receiving literally thousands of near look alike 40-foot boxcars from three different builders within the 250/260xxx series from the late ’40s to early ’50s, these last four orders were each unique. To start, CP was running out of space in the 260xxx’s, and placed these in a new 140xxx-series of road numbers. Next, each one of these orders featured variations in end, roof and door designs; so even the same builder’s two deliveries that year each had visual differences between them. This is another case why prototype modellers should use photographs and reference materials before embarking on any super-detailing projects. This also provides a segway to mention that we have a multi-part series on CP 40ft steel boxcars in the works, so stay tuned.

Since I wished to paint this boxcar in the Action Red 1970s CP Rail scheme, all details were added except the grabirons found on the lower, left-hand sides of the model. The simple reason is they would interfere with the future application of the Mulitmark, and thus are easier to apply after all painting and decal work is complete.

CBT_Kit_004

C&BT car at the spraybooth with a fresh coat of Vallejo Air 71085 ‘Ferrari Red’. Click on this image and you can see traces of the old CPR lettering. Normally I remove old graphics before repainting a model, but a barely detectable older scheme showing on a CP Rail boxcar was a real thing.

I am a long-time convert to airbrushing with water-based acrylic paints, and I’m often asked what product I’ve switched to with Polyscale being gone. For a few years I continued to use Testors products, as their ‘Chevy Engine Red’ aqueous acrylic was a close match. But with them leaving the market for good, like most everyone else I’ve switched to Vallejo. After my first few sprays, my initial reaction was Testors who? Vallejo manufactures a superior product. Full stop. The problem of course is they offer no railway specific colours, though that is slowly changing.

For CPR freight equipment tuscan oxide, I find 71039 Hull Red is a good match. Please don’t let the internet fool you, the colour is lighter and more reddish than that image appears, at least from the one displayed on my screen anyhow. For Action Red, I don’t think you will at all be displeased when you spray with 71085 Ferrari Red. To my eyes, it is an almost exact match to the old Accupaint Action Red, which I’ve always considered was the closest thing to the real deal. The daylight LED lighting at our club may affect photography, but the image below is straight from my phone. To my eyes, that’s the orange-red appearance typical of good old CP Rail Action Red.

CBT_Kit_005

CP 141184 after all decals and grabirons were applied. There is a colour mismatch after brush painting the grabirons to match the Multimark, but that will all disappear after final weathering.

For decals, the CP Rail herald, road numbers, ACI lable and COTS plate are all Microscale products. The black dimensional data lettering is a personal set I printed using inkjet decal paper. The Multimark, diamond-shaped reflector stickers, and end lettering were from a old used Herald King boxcar set. Yes, I pieced together the tiny road numbers decal by decal on the ends. No, it wasn’t fun.

CBT_Kit_006final

Lightly weathered CP 141184 in revenue service on the CP Sudbury Division.

For weathering, I applied some Pan Pastels ‘raw umber’ along the rivet seams, doors, and roof panels. This would be a 1970s repaint, so it should be lightly weathered for the club’s modelling era. Some dark soot weathering powder was used around the ladder rungs and grabirons, to simulate the grimy gloves and boots of the employees climbing around the equipment. Then a very light coat of Mission Models Rail Tie Brown was sprayed along the bottoms of the model, to simulate dust and dirt kicked up from the tracks. The whole thing was then sealed with a flat coat to protect the decals and weathering.

When you look at this final photo of the finished car, you see it compares well to many current production models on the market. Not bad for a 1980’s tooled product. So if you’re at a train show or flea market and spot a grey and maroon C&BT box, maybe stop and take a look inside. If you’re lucky and find an early production model, don’t let the detail parts discourage you. Chances are it’s selling for cheap, and all the replacement details you need are available from Tichy Trains and others. If you still decide against it, as least you know the story behind the C&BT Shops boxcar.

 

Intermodal Traffic via The Soo

Over twenty years ago when our club began holding its first operating sessions, we had to employ a lot of stand-in equipment to fill up our freights. Accurate HO-scale ready-to-run Canadian prototype models were only just starting to come into existence in the early 2000s. At the time our members understood most of the equipment we required would have to be assembled either from kitbashed US-based models, complicated resin kits, or built completely from scratch. We are very grateful (and relieved) that this didn’t turn out to be the case, as Rapido, Bowser, Atlas, North American Railcar, True Line Trains (RIP), etc, have produced so many wonderful Canadian prototype models over the years to help us emulate the operations of the 1970s-era CP Sudbury Division in miniature.

Despite the state of our early rolling stock fleet there was one operation we were able to model fairly accurately right from the beginning, and that was the intermodal traffic which used to be ferried via the Sault Ste Marie gateway. Canadian Pacific along with their US affiliate the SOO Line (Minneapolis, St Paul and Sault Ste Marie Railroad) had for many decades operated a pair of freights between Côte Saint-Luc QC (Montreal) and Schiller Park IL (Chicago) numbered 911 (westbound) and 912 (eastbound). These symbol freights were routed via the CPR’s transcon route between Montreal and Sudbury, and traversed across the north shore of Lake Huron between there and the USA at Sault Ste Marie. The border crossing was done via the CP/SOO international bridge, and the SOO Line’s network across the Michigan upper peninsula and Wisconsin was used to reach the Chicago area.

Route_911_912

The route of joint CP / SOO trains #911 & 912 shown in the dashed blue line (click to enlarge). Despite the circuitous routing, CP was able to lure New England customers away from Penn Central’s direct ex-NYC ‘Water Level Route’ between Albany NY and Chicago.

Throughout the 1970s, CP Rail was transporting a healthy level of New England – Chicago bridge traffic via their Sudbury-Soo gateway, regardless of its extended length and customs legalities. Despite Penn Central possessing the most direct route between Albany NY and Chicago (the former New York Central ‘Water Level Route’), the fallout from their bankruptcy coupled with the overall degradation of the Northeast US rail network resulted in conditions which allowed CP to offer competitive transit times for New England shippers. Additionally, Canadian Pacific had devoted a lot of capital throughout the 1950s and ’60s in intermodal operations, and that investment had cultivated a respectable level of container-on-flat-car (COFC) traffic rolling between Chicago and the Port of Montreal via trains 911/912.

CP Transfer at SOO MI 05Sept80 Mike Cleary

CP S-4 7099 arrives on a transfer run at Sault Ste Marie, Michigan with a COFC cut for SOO Line train #911 on 05 September 1980. (Mike Cleary photo)

Not only did this 911/912 intermodel service offer an interesting facet to our operating sessions, but as an added bonus this Chicago-Montreal COFC traffic was easy to model as it was carried on US-built Trailer-Train flatcars. It was also serendipitous that Accurail had introduced their Bethlehem 89ft piggyback flat kits just as we were planning our first op sessions. Naturally, we assembled a large pool quickly, and over the years that fleet has been augmented by various newer Atlas, Athearn-Genesis and Walthers intermodal flatcar releases as well.

COFC block off train 911 at Soo 18Jun83

A very healthy COFC block off train 911 at Sault Ste Marie, Ontario on18 June 1983. (Ted Ellis collection)

In direct contrast to these Trailer-Train flats on trains 911/912, all the transcontinental priority freights (901, 902, 949, 951, 952, etc) we need to model all operated with nothing but Canadian-built CP intermodal flat cars, for which no accurate models have even been produced. However, there is some great news here, as Rapido Trains will be producing Canadian piggyback flats as we’ve written about in a previous blog-post. We hope this is just the beginning.

TTAX 990569 flat at Sault Ste Marie on 9 6 80

Pullman-Standard built TTAX 990569 89ft container flat at Sault Ste Marie, Ontario on 06 September 1980. (Ted Ellis collection)

What might have been?

Despite the advent of Conrail and its significant improvement of the northeast US rail network, CP Rail was developing plans in the early 1980s to make trains #911/912 true run-through freights with pooled SOO/CP power and expedited schedules. However this was always held back by the money required to rehabilitate the international bridge and increase its weight limits. Rather than making that investment, instead the CPR negotiated trackage rights with CSX over their C&O / ex-Pere Marquette line across southern Michigan to Detroit. That resulted in the introduction of hot new CP/SOO intermodal trains #500/501 in 1985, operating on a much more direct Chicago-Detroit-Toronto-Montreal routing.

Travelling via the CP’s Galt Subdivision across southernwestern Ontario, the local railfans of the Cambridge / Kitchener-Waterloo area were pretty excited (myself included) seeing SOO/CP run-through power on hot container trains. By the 1990s this had grown to three pairs of joint CP/SOO freights operating daily. But it came at a cost, namely with the withering in importance of trains #911/912 over the Sudbury Division. Eventually the CPR spun off their Sudbury-Soo route (the Webbwood Sub) to the Huron Central shortline. Even more surprising, they sold off most of their Michigan/Wisconsin SOO Line network to the newly reconstituted Wisconsin Central Railroad. Ironically, it was the WC who fixed the bridge so that a 6-axle unit could finally cross it. But it was too late by then.

912_COFC_Nairn

A large cut of COFC intermodal traffic makes up the tail-end of train #912 as it rolls through Nairn siding enroute to the Port of Montreal. Model photo from the CP Sudbury Division layout.

However it is always the 1970s back in the time-warp that is our club’s CP Sudbury Division layout, and trains 911 & 912 roll over our territory daily. As a consequence whenever we hold an operating session and I happen to spot a cut of US-northeast and Chicago-area freight cars rolling by, followed by that oh-so familiar string of Trailer-Train COFC flats punctuated by a bright Action Yellow van; I can’t help but wonder what might have been had CP stuck with their original plan.

 

Rapido TOFC Flatcars and Trailers

An order deadline is coming up soon for some very important models required by Canadian rail-modellers in general, and for us working on the CP Sudbury Division layout specifically. These are for Rapido Trains’ latest announcement of CP and CN specific piggyback flatcars, along with 26ft and 45ft Canadian-built Can-Car and Trailmobile trailers to haul on these flats. Basically, if you are modelling any mainline of either of Canada’s two principle railways between the late 1960s to the early 2000s, you need these models. Or for that matter if you’re a US mainline modeller in that era, you may want to pick up one or two of these piggyback flatcars as well.

Rapido's Marine Industries CP 63ft piggyback flat plus 45ft Trailmobile trailer, weathered by Bob Fallowfield.

Rapido Trains pre-production samples of the Marine Industries CP 63ft piggyback flat plus 45ft Trailmobile trailer, weathered by Bob Fallowfield.

It seems not a lot has changed in modeller’s perceptions of flatcars since we published these lines in a previous blogpost regarding the Wheels Of Time CP Napanee Flat:

Flatcars are probably the most under-appreciated pieces of rolling stock in the world of railway modelling. Due to their being, well, ‘flat’, they appear very simple and lack the visual impact of a boxcar or covered hopper. But they are actually among the most specialized cars around, possibly second only to tank cars. This under-appreciation is likely why we still need more flatcar variety in model production.

Jason Shron has found this out firsthand, as he’s had to relaunch these flats due to much lower than expected sales commitments prior to the initial order deadline. In a recent Rapido newsletter, he reported that hobby shop owners told him many customers had expressed concerns about the prices.

Rapido_Flat_002

Rapido’s Jason Shron isn’t lying when he says there’s an insane level of detail on these TOFC flatcars. Just click on this photo and look at it.

Sadly, but not surprisingly to us, many hobbyists hold this unfounded perception that because flatcars are smaller than boxcars they should somehow cost less. This thinking is complete and utter rubbish.

The cost of producing these trailer-on-flat-car (TOFC) piggyback flats are actually higher than a standard boxcar. Due to the high level of detail on a smaller footprint, there are higher tooling cost involved, and thus a higher unit cost when compared to a typical boxcar. Adding to this, Rapido’s flatcar body is largely diecast metal with etched-metal grilles. This is much more difficult to work with than plastic.

Rapido_Flat_004

You appreciate the level of detail even more with an overhead view.

In our opinion, we are actually getting a break on the pricing since Rapido is trying to hold the cost of these TOFC flatcars in relation to their other recently released freight car models.

Rapido_Flat_003

Not just piggyback flats, Rapido’s Canadian dry-van trailers are great models too. This is their 45ft Trailmobile van with side-door in CP Rail colours, weathered by Bob Fallowfield.

So Rapido has attempted to reach out to Canadian modellers on the complexity of these flatcars and trailers, and we at the WRMRC are doing our part. As the Sudbury Division was (and remains) an integral mid-section of the Canadian Pacific transcon route across Canada, we need quite a lot of these TOFC flats. Large blocks of TOFC flatcars would be seen on our priority freights, along with some potentially being hauled on a few manifest trains too.

5517 5602 14mar81 TEllis

Exhibit ‘A’ in our need for the Rapido TOFC flat. A hot eastbound freight receives train-orders by the Sudbury Division HQ building on 14 March 1981. Behind the stock cars and lone container flat, we see what is surely a long string of CP TOFC flats. (Mike Cleary photo)

The extended deadline for ordering these models is July 17, 2023. You can order these through your favourite hobby shop, or direct from Rapido.

Link for the CP and CN piggyback flatcars is here: https://rapidotrains.com/ho-scale/freight-car/canadian-piggyback-flatcar.html

Can-Car and Trailmobile trailers are here: https://rapidotrains.com/vehicle/can-car-trailmobile-trailers.html

To answer any US modellers who wonder if these Canadian TOFC flatcars ever operated south of the border, that’s a most definite yes. CP Rail cars were naturally operating on the joint CP-SOO intermodal Chicago-Toronto run-throughs that travelled across Michigan, Indiana and Illinois. I also distinctly remember seeing these CP 505xxx-series cars on Conrail ‘TV’ trains back in the day, mixed in sporadically within the large collections and various models of TTX piggyback flats. Additionally Rapido has posted a photo of them operating in California, so they definitely got around.

CP 505747 at Hinsdale IL 20May89 M.J.Budo photo

Photo evidence of a CP 505xxx-series piggyback flat operating in the USA. CP 505747 at Hinsdale IL on 20May89. (M.J.Budo photo)

Before closing, we’d like to thank fellow CP Rail aficionado Bob Fallowfield for sharing these Rapido pre-production models with us. This is all a part of our mutual need to see these flats and trailers become a reality. We managed to take a few model shots on our recently sceniced Romford junction section of the layout too.

Tail-end of train 965 exiting Parry Sound Sub

CP 505625 brings up the tail-end of train 965 exiting the Parry Sound Sub at Romford ON on the CP Sudbury Division layout.

To close, here is a promotional video of the Canadian piggyback flatcar and trailer re-launch, in the usual humorous tradition of Rapido Trains.

Don’t feel too bad for Bob here either, he has a history with pilferage of railway property.

Fallowfield_Theft

Not so fast with those brass cabooses Bob!

The Action Red Era (Part 2) – Locomotive Paint Scheme Variations

Introduction: Genesis of the Action Red Era (Part 1)

The following is a list of CP Rail paint schemes applied to motive power over the course of the Action Red era, with a few photos to help illustrate these variations. A list of references are also included which not only assisted in this research, but come highly recommended as excellent reference materials for all CP Rail modellers.

CP Rail – Action Red Era Variations 1968-1993:


A5L – (Action red / 5” front & rear stripes / Large Multimark)

The original ‘Candy Stripe’ road unit scheme – Sept 1968 to Oct 1975

Entire unit above frame painted Action Red. Frame, and under-frame components painted black. On the front of road switcher and road freight units, the nose, cab and battery box fronts all had 5”-wide alternating red & white stripes, with 5”-wide alternating black and white stripes on back end of unit. Large (full hood height) black & white Multimarks are painted on the rear of any locomotive. Thus the Multimark was direction-dependant, and applied on the long-hoods of locomotives set up for short-hood forward operation, also conversely applied on the short-hoods if set up for long-hood forward operation.

Earliest painted hood diesels (~1968-1971) had the CP Rail logo positioned as far up, and forwards towards the cab as the tall hood access doors allowed. Between 1972 to 1975 the CP Rail was slightly lowered to avoid painting it into the hood access latches. Units lacking rear numberboards had a white number-panel painted on the rear of the unit, with black road numbers applied. Low short-hood units have a black anti-glare panel applied on top of the nose.

Cab units saw red/white striping wrapped around the nose, adjusted for the peculiarities of the curve differences between GM and MLW nose styles. No CLC-built (Fairbanks-Morse) cab units were ever painted Action Red. Multimark heights were lowered to avoid radiator grills. CP Rail placement differed between General Motors and Montreal Locomotive Works cab units, as the portholes and large louvers on GM F-units forced the logos to be placed along the bottom panels. The design of MLW FA- and FB- units allowed for CP Rail logos to be positioned as high and far forward as access doors and radiator grills allowed. Both manufacturer’s B-units had Multimarks painted on the back, but striping on both the front and back were black and white. Logo placement was likewise lowered on GM B-units versus MLW.


A5Mc – (Action red / 5” front & rear stripes / Mid-sized Multimark on cab)

The original ‘Candy Stripe’ switcher scheme – Fall 1968 to Oct 1975

This scheme was applied to all end-cab switchers, along with all SW1200RS and RS-23 road switchers until October 1975. Entire unit above frame painted Action Red. Frame, and under-frame components painted black. Alternating 5″-wide red/white nose stripes, with 5”-wide alternating black/white stripes on entire back end of cab wall. Smaller Multimark (to avoid windows) placed at very rear of cab. Road numbers applied to long hood near cab, with some number height variances which occurred from ‘68 to ‘75. It is best to look at prototype photos if the modeller is painting a particular switcher.


A5M – (Action red / 5” front & rear stripes / Mid-sized Multimark)

The ‘Ogden Multi’ scheme – Late 1974 to Summer 1975

Locomotives in this scheme don’t really stand out when viewed from the front, especially since the smaller height Multimark was eventually adopted by CP in the ‘wide’ 8″-stripe period (the A8M scheme) after February 1979, and hundreds of GM hood units were painted so. However if you spot a photo with any ‘Candy Stripe’ painted loco displaying a small Multimark, you found something special. And if you see an ‘Ogden Multi’ A5M painted unit viewed from the back, you’ll know instantly.

As mentioned, when viewed from the front the A5M scheme appears the same as any late-applied A5L paint job (with CP Rail logos slightly lowered to avoid hood latches) with the exception of a smaller Multimark. When viewed from the back, the scheme is blatantly obvious as the black/white striping was only applied between the area of the lowered Multimarks. The panel above the height of the Multimark, and the small area below (lined up with the hood access doors) were both painted Action Red. This rear application was a stark difference from the standard ‘Candy Stripe’ scheme.

This variation was only applied by CP’s Ogden Shops in Calgary, and only to GM hood units; where admittedly their radiator screens made painting full-height Multimarks somewhat challenging. The A5M scheme was rare as it was only applied to 48 locomotives over this time frame, and it was not an officially approved scheme. The story was when upper management in Montreal eventually found out, they told Ogden to follow official paint specifications.


A8Lf – (Action red / 8” front & rear stripes / Large Multimark with framestripe)

First ‘Wide Stripe’ road unit scheme – Oct 75 to Dec 76

Entire unit painted Action Red. Frame, and under-frame components painted black. This scheme introduced the larger 8″ alternating nose and rear ‘wide stripes’, and only on the front nose (no longer on cab face or battery box fronts). A large Multimark was still applied on the rear of all road units. Also a new white reflective frame stripe was added to the scheme for improved nighttime visibility. Units lacking rear numberboards had black number panels applied with white numbers (reverse of original scheme). CP SD40-2 #5700 was the prototype unit painted (in October 1975) into the A8Lf scheme, followed shortly after by SD40-2’s #5718-5777 delivered direct from GMDD. A number of other older models were also repainted between Oct-75 and Dec-76.


A8L – (Action red / 8” front & rear stripes / Large Multimark)

Second ‘Wide Stripe’ road unit scheme – Jan 77 to Feb 79

Essentially the same as the introductory ‘wide stripe’ A8Lf scheme, but without the frame stripe. This was replaced with white reflective circles now applied along the frame across the length of the locomotive. All new General Motors SD40-2 deliveries from January 1977 though to February 1979 came in this scheme, which includes units #5837-64, 5778-99, and 5900-14. A good number of older units were also repainted in the A8L scheme throughout this period, with many missing the reflective circles along the frame.


A8M – (Action red / 8” front & rear stripes / Mid-sized Multimark)

Third ‘Wide Stripe’ road unit scheme – Feb 79 to Aug 87

Succumbing to the logic of the Ogden shop forces from four years earlier, CP Rail officially began applying smaller Multimarks on all GM hood units system-wide with the introduction of the A8M scheme. However MLW hood units, which didn’t have radiator screens to deal with, continued to receive the full-height A8L Multimark scheme. All new GMDD locomotive deliveries from February 1979 (beginning with SD40-2 #5915) through to August 1987, wore this scheme. This eventually became the longest lasting of all CP Rail paint scheme variations, and was applied to the largest number of units.


A8Mc – (Action red / 8” front & rear stripes / Mid-sized Multimark on cab)

First ‘Wide Stripe’ switcher scheme – Oct 75 to Mid 78

Entire unit painted Action Red. Frame, and under-frame components painted black. 8″ alternating red/white nose stripes and 8” alternating black/white stripes on back of cab wall. Multimark on cab, with road numbers on long hood near cab. This scheme was applied to end-cab switchers, also SW1200RS and RS-23 road switchers.


A8Mh – (Action red / 8” front & rear stripes / Mid-sized Multimark on hood)

Second ‘Wide Stripe’ switcher scheme – Mid 78 to Aug 87

This switcher scheme variation continued the 8″ alternating red/white nose stripes & black/white cab wall stripes, but now the Multimark was placed on the hood immediately in front of the cab. Consequently the road numbers were placed on the cab sides. Likewise the A8Mh scheme was applied to end-cab switchers, also SW1200RS and RS-23 road switchers.


A8NM – (Action red / 8” front & rear stripes / No Multimark)

The ‘No Image’ Multimark-less scheme – Sept 87 to Mar 93

Sadly the Multimark was officially dropped as the CPR’s corporate logo in 1987, thus it was no longer applied past this point. Additionally the 8″ alternating red/white stripes were now placed on both the nose and rear of the unit. Locomotives lacking rear numberboards now had Action Red number-panels with white numbers applied.

At the introduction of this scheme at least 3 units were mistakenly painted with black/white end striping, with the first one so painted being SW1200RS #8162. SD40 #5513 was one of the first to appear in the proper scheme in late 1987. The only new locomotives delivered in this scheme were GMDD SD40-2F’s #9000-9024.

References:


  • 1) Garden, J.F., “Nicholas Morant’s Canadian Pacific”, Footprint Publishing, 1992.
  • 2) Lewis, Donald C., “Rail Canada Vol.3, Diesel Paint Schemes of the CPR”, LPD Publishing, 2nd 1998.
  • 3) Zuters, Gary, “CP Rail 1993 Review”, Hyrail Productions 1994.
  • 4) Dean, Murray and Hanna, David, “Canadian Pacific Diesel Locomotives”, Railfair Publishing, 1981.
  • 5) Russell, Larry G., “CP Rail Diesel Locomotive Roster”, Extra 2200 South magazine: issues 81 – 83 (first two parts are most important), 1984-85.

 

WRMRC at the Kitchener Train Show – Sunday 19 March 2023

The Waterloo Region Model Railway Club will have a display at the Kitchener Model Train Show being held Sunday, March 19th, 2023.

The show will be at the Bingemans Conference Centre (Marshall Hall) located at 425 Bingemans Centre Drive, Kitchener ON from 9:30am to 3pm. More information can be found on the collectorshows.ca website, and on their Facebook page. The show features many vendors, displays, several operating layouts, and railway memorabilia.

train show covid

Our display features both club and prototype photos of the area modelled, a video of club operations, and displays of various modelling projects. There is also a side table with second-hand or surplus models and equipment for sale. If you are attending the show please stop by and pay us a visit.

Hope to see you there.

Doubleheaders Layout Tour – Saturday, 25 March 2023

The Doubleheaders Layout Tour is back!

100_2860On Saturday, 25 March 2023, our club’s CP Sudbury Division layout will be open to the public in participation with the annual Kitchener-Waterloo-Cambridge-Guelph and area tour, organized by the Doubleheaders Model Railway Club. This is a self-guided tour of a large number of club and private home layouts in the area.


Though there were a couple of virtual Doubleheaders tours held during the pandemic, this will be the first actual, in-person layout tour since 2019.

If you are new to the Doubleheaders tour there are over 30 different layouts you can visit, varying from large club setups to small N-scale pikes, and you can see everything from tinplate trains to scratch-built prototype models. However the layouts are spread over a large area, which makes it difficult to see them all in a day. So you should prepare for a full day of layout touring, and also maybe consider making this an annual, or at least semi-annual event to frequent over the years.

OpenHouse01

For more details and ticket information please visit the Doubleheaders Model Railway Club web site.

Please note: Though some layouts on the tour are open later, the WRMRC will only be open from 9 am to 5 pm.

581322_335263406527955_1395384451_n

The camaraderie among modellers and sharing of information are always the best parts of our hobby. We hope to see you on March 25th.

 

Genesis of the Action Red Era (Part 1)

This article was originally published in the Canadian Pacific Historical Association’s *CP Tracks* magazine (Vol 10 – No 4). It has been reproduced here to chronicle what was a massive corporate image change for the CPR, and as a guide for hobbyists who wish to model in the Action Red era.

If there were one word that could best describe the year 1968, it would have to be radical. This of course was the year which saw the assassinations of Martin Luther King and Robert Kennedy, the fabled ‘Prague Spring’ and resulting crackdown by the USSR, the rioting at the Democratic National Convention, the full horror of Vietnam was in everyone’s living room, and the resulting demonstrations which culminated in the shootings at Kent State. On a lighter note, it was also the height of the ‘British Invasion’ of popular music, a dramatic year for NASA’s moonshot ‘Apollo’ program, and the beginning of ‘Trudeau-mania’; undeniably all radical events in their own ways.

Those feelings of radical change even seemed to spill into the railway industry as this was the year of the mega-mergers, and saw the beginnings of Seaboard Coast Line, Penn Central and Burlington Northern. On top of this, there were several proposed mergers including; Chesapeake & Ohio with N&W, Illinois Central with the Gulf Mobile & Ohio, UP versus CNW for the Rock Island, and CNW with the Milwaukee Road. Fortunately the collapse of PC put all mergers into question and only the IC-GM&O proposal went through.

With all these radical events unfolding throughout 1968, it’s easy to forget that the management within Canadian Pacific decided to undergo a radical change of corporate identity themselves. Whether it was due to the attitudes of the times, or just to counter Canadian National’s dramatic image change of 1960, the decision to scrap the ages old CP beaver shield along with the traditional maroon and grey colours was final. The only question was what to replace it with?

1024px-CP_Multimark_geometry

Geometric layout of the CP Multimark logo.

It should be noted that this was a change of corporate image, not simply a new paint scheme for the railway’s locomotives. The new image would be applied to all aspects of Canadian Pacific Limited, from airplanes, to ships, to trucks, to hotels, to real estate, and to the railway. For this purpose, CP turned to the noted New York advertising agency of Lippincott & Margulies, known in the railway circles for coming up with the ‘Big Sky Blue’ imagery of the Great Northern, and later the corporate logo and colours of the new Burlington Northern. The final product was a drastic departure from CP’s traditionally conservative imagery.

To begin, the name Canadian Pacific was discarded, and new CP acronyms were created for each corporate division; CP Air, CP Ships, CP Express, CP Transport, CP Hotels, and of course CP Rail. The lettering style chosen for these new acronyms was that modernistic ’60s font; Helvetica. Holding company Canadian Pacific Limited was represented in plain Helvetica font, but all CP divisions featured it bolded and italicized. Also, the old beaver shield was shed and replaced by a new corporate logo, coined the Multimark. This geometric symbol was a simple rectangle overshadowed by a white half-circle, with a triangle on-edge piercing the ensemble.

CP_Corporatenewlook

The image may seem simplistic and almost childlike to many railway buffs, but it was meant to convey a variety of universal connotations to the casual viewer. The rectangle denoted stability and longevity, while the circle represented the globe and CP’s multinational nature. Officially the triangle signified the companies progressiveness and motion, however it also instilled the imagery that it was about to encircle the globe, a reminder of CP’s old corporate slogan “Spans the World”.

Each division of Canadian Pacific in turn received their own colours for their equipment to wear; green for CP Ships, orange for CP Air, blue for CP Express and CP Transport, and red for CP Rail. The red chosen for the railway was a vibrant shade mixing orange and red (similar to vermilion), and was coined ‘Action Red’ by Lippincott & Margulies.

CP_Corporatenewlookmodels

Though ‘Action Red’ was chosen for the railway division, not all equipment was to be painted red. Lippincott & Margulies envisioned that different car types would each have their own colour, and painted a number of O-scale models to demonstrate the concept.

Though red was chosen as the dominant colour for the railway, not all equipment was to be painted red, and various car types would feature their own colours. Red would be used for general service cars, green for newsprint service, yellow for insulated cars, silver for mechanical refrigeration, black for bulk commodities, and yellow for the caboose. Indeed, an almost forgotten fact was that the original recommendation from Lippincott & Margulies was to paint CP Rail’s locomotives black, with a white and red multimark – yes the same way their hoppers were painted. An O-scale GP35 locomotive was even so painted by the ad agency to demonstrate the scheme.

CP_Corporatenewlookmodels02

Ad agency Lippincott & Margulies painted this O-scale GP35 as part of their advertising pitch for the new CP Rail image. The original idea was black locomotives, with a white and red Multimark. Thankfully the CPR president wasn’t impressed, and ordered they change it to red.

Apparently CP president Norris R. Crump was not happy with their choice of colours, and was reported to have mumbled something to the effect of ‘paying thousands of dollars for these units, so we’re not going to paint them black’ (reportedly profanity was also involved). Upon his insistence, the scheme was quickly changed to red, with a white and black Multimark, matching the colours chosen for boxcars. On a personal note, I thank Mr. Crump to this day for his attention to imagery and his choice of red. Can anyone envision what CP’s locomotives would have looked like if they stuck with black, especially after they dropped the Multimark in the late ’80s? It would have made Norfolk Southern’s diesels look elaborate.

While the thought, creativity and marketing behind this imagery was certainly ingenious and innovative, it must also be viewed in a historical context as a failure. Despite its use on the sides of everything from boxcars, containers, aircraft and hotel entrances around the world, most people off the street would identify the symbol as ‘Pacman’. Indeed many railfans now incorrectly identify CP’s 1968 adopted Multimark, as this Atari video game character created in 1979. Contrast this with CN’s effective yet simple ‘Wet Noodle’, voted recently as one of the top-50 international corporate logos of all time. Show that CN noodle to anyone from Gander to Prince Rupert and they will correctly think of Canadian National and trains. Could the same be said of the CPR if you showed them the Multimark? Sadly, the only surprise from CP dropping the ‘Multi’ as their logo in 1987, was that it was not done sooner.

CP_Corporatenewlook02

The Multimark appeared on everything Canadian Pacific owned; on trains, airplanes, ships, trucks, overseas containers, hotels, and resorts. You could even buy a lunchbox with new CP Rail trains and airplanes featured on them. Sadly, when shown the logo now, most Canadians would probably identify it as Atari’s video game character ‘Pacman’.

The first locomotive painted in the new Action Red CP Rail scheme was C-424 #4242, with sister #4239 following right behind in September of 1968. They were soon accompanied by nine different freight cars, each painted in their appropriate action colours; a green 50’ newsprint boxcar, a silver mechanical reefer, a black cylindrical hopper, a yellow insulated-heated boxcar, a 50-foot 202000-series double door boxcar, a 40’ NSC boxcar, a 53’ mill gondola, and 53’ flatcar all painted in general-service action red. There was also a yellow caboose numbered CP 438850, which was former streamlined cupola van #437450, freshly rebuilt by Angus with a new wide-vision cupola. This was the first of a long line of new ‘saddle-back’ vans constructed by the CPR.

The new colours were officially unveiled in Montreal on 03 October, 1968. Shortly thereafter the 4242 and 4239 were enlisted to pull this diminutive nine-car train across the system to display the new image to the nation. Most readers have probably seen the famous Nicholas Morant publicity shot of 4242 and 4239 pulling this train through the spiral tunnels in Yoho, BC. This picture was posed, and the train was split to give the appearance that the freight was coiled inside the tunnel and crossing underneath itself, but there were in fact only nine cars.

CP_CorporatenewlookDisplayTrain

CP new image display train posed at the spiral tunnels in Yoho, BC. Despite it appearing to loop around itself, the display train was only nine cars long.

The initial CP Rail locomotive scheme is exemplified by Nicholas Morant’s publicity shots of 4242 and 4239. From the frame down, the locomotive was black, while the entire hood and cab sections were action red. The Multimark was positioned on the extreme rear of the engine, and was painted the full height of the unit. In this way the new action red scheme shared a similar trait as the old maroon and grey, both were direction dependant. For example, on locomotives that were set for long-hood forward operation such as an RS-3 or RS-10, the Multi was painted on the short-hood.

The CP Rail logo and cab numbers were painted white, in italicized bold Helvetica font. The CP Rail name was placed over the engine access doors, as forward as they possibly allowed towards the cab. They were also placed as high as the hood doors allowed. These features identified all early painted units, as over time it was found that lettering over hinges, louvers and handles was a pain. The CP Rail logo was soon lowered or moved over to avoid obstructions depending on the locomotive type.

ArialvHelvetica

Anyone operating with MS Windows and wanting to create their own CP Rail heralds or decals may be tempted to use Arial font. Microsoft developed this as a Helvetica-based font to avoid paying royalties. It is close, but in a side-by-side comparison you can see the differences.

On the front of the unit, alternating 5” wide white and red angled stripes were placed over the entire nose, cab face and battery box fronts. When viewed head-on the striping lined up to give them a continuous flow. Painting the entire face of the unit in this narrow striping gave the locomotive a busy look, and it was quickly coined the ‘candy-stripe’ scheme by modellers and railfans alike.

On the rear of the unit, alternating 5” white and black (continuing the black from the triangle of the Multimark) striping was applied, and strictly to the hood section. On “DRF” class units (road freight) lacking numberboards on the rear hood, a white letter panel was painted near the centre with black road numbers applied inside.

All handrail stanchions were painted red, while the handrails themselves and all grabirons around the unit were black. On 4242 and 4239 the handrail runners up the access stairs of the units were red below the frame, and black above it. Later for safety reasons these runners were simply re-painted white, and all additional locomotives received this same treatment.

CP 4242-3

The first locomotive to be painted Action Red was MLW C-424 #4242, released from Angus shops in September 1968. Sister C-424 #4239 followed immediately after, and both powered the official CP Rail display train across Canada though October 1968. Photo courtesy cprdieselroster.

Over the course of the action red era, many of these features changed. Not only the position of the CP Rail, but Multimark sizes, striping thickness and application, rear number panel colours all changed. Finally, the Multimark was dropped in 1987, and action red was abandoned altogether in 1993; replaced by the deeper SOO Line instituted ‘System Red’ and the unimaginative dual-flag CP Rail System logo. By 1996, CP came to their senses and renamed the railway back to Canadian Pacific, and resurrected a new golden beaver shield. You can say what you want about the application of this scheme, but few would argue that Canadian Pacific currently has the classiest railroad logo in the industry.

Part two continues here: The Action Red Era (Part 2) – Locomotive Paint Scheme Variations