Falconbridge Nickel Mines Railway

Posted on August 14, 2024 by Chris van der Heide

While INCO (now Vale) was always the dominant player in the nickel mining and processing scene in Sudbury, Falconbridge (now Glencore) was the major independent competitor to INCO. This post will look at Falconbridge and how it relates to CPR’s railway operations.

Map showing location of Falconbridge smelter (top right) and rail lines. Red lines are Canadian Pacific, blue lines are Canadian National.

Falconbridge Mine and Smelter

Falconbridge Nickel Mines Ltd. was incorporated in 1928 to develop mining claims near the village of Falconbridge to the north-east of Sudbury. The first mine on the site was brought into operation in 1930. At the same time, development of a mill and smelter adjacent to the mine site was begun, with the smelter beginning operation in 1930 and the concentrating mill in 1933. A second mine at Falconbridge opened in 1935.

Due to patent restrictions in North America on nickel refining processes, Falconbridge purchased the Nikkelverk Refinery in Kristiansands, Norway in 1929 to acquire access to the refining processes they required. The smelter in Ontario produced a semi-refined nickel product known as “matte”, which would be refined to cathodes in the Norway facility.

Rail map of the Onaping-Levack area. Red line at bottom left is the CPR main line. The (now-abandoned) FNM railway is in purple. Yellow is the INCO line to Levack Mine.

Hardy Mine/Mill

In the early 1950s, Falconbridge expanded their mining operations from their original mines on the east side of Sudbury and developed some mines on the north west rim of the Sudbury crater in the Onaping-Levack area. By 1955 these operations included a pair of nickel-copper mines, Hardy Mine and Mount Nickel Mine, and a processing mill (Hardy Mill) located alongside Hardy Mine on the south-west edge of the town of Levack, capable of processing 1,500 tons of ore per day into concentrate which would be shipped to the smelter at Falconbridge east of Sudbury in open cars (hoppers and gondolas). This dry concentrate has been described as “pyrophoric”, meaning it can spontaneously undergo oxidation reactions (combustion) in contact with air and/or moisture, and could arrive at the smelter in a clumped or “burning” state.

To serve the new mines and mill, a new private rail line was built between Hardy Mine/Mill to the CPR Levack siding where several interchange transfer tracks were built. FNM locomotives would haul loads from the mill to the CPR and bring back empties delivered by CP. Hardy Mill was FNM’s rail base of operations, with a single stall engine shop, repair track, and a turning wye located next to the mill loading tracks.

1975 aerial photo of Hardy mine and mill. City of Greater Subdury aerial imagery. (Click on image to open larger size)

The Hardy Mill operated until 1977 when it was closed, with the older mines in the area reaching end of life near the end of the 1970s, and newer replacement mines having their ore processed at the newer Strathcona Mill (see below).

Fecunis Mine/Mill

In 1956 a new pair of mines, the Fecunis and Longvack Mines were in development on the north-east side of Levack. The odd name of “Fecunis” is based on the chemical symbols of the primary minerals found in the rocks here – iron (Fe), copper (Cu), nickel (Ni), and sulphur (S). By 1957 these mines and a new mill at Fecunis to handle the production were on line capable of processing 2,400 tons per day of ore into concentrate, which like Hardy Mill was shipped in a partially dry concentrate in open cars. The FNM private rail line was extended past Hardy Mill to serve the new mill. Additionally another large mine, the Onaping Mine, was opened by the end of the 1950s.

Fecunis mine and mill aerial photo from 1975. City of Greater Sudbury aerial imagery. (Click on image to open larger size)

The Fecunis Mill closed operations in 1979.

Strathcona Mill

Also in 1956 the Strathcona Mine was discovered, though it would be 1967 before this mine went into full production along with a brand new mill which would serve as the basis for all further Falconbridge expansions in the Levack/Onaping area.

Strathcona mill Aerial 1975. City of Greater Sudbury aerial imagery. (Click on image to open larger size)

The new Strathcona mill opened in 1967 with a 6,000 tons per day capacity, but was upgraded quickly to 7,500 tons per day capacity to support increased production from various new mines in the area.

In contrast to the Hardy and Fecunis Mills, the concentrate produced at Strathcona Mill was shipped to the smelter in a slurry form, with the concentrate mixed with water. To handle this traffic, CP provided a small fleet of specially designed short cylindrical hoppers to carry the slurry from Strathcona to Falconbridge. The first 20 of these cars were built in 1967, with another 40 cars added in 1969. These cars operated to the late 1980s or early 1990s, as the cars were starting to wear out due to the rough effects of the concentrate slurry on the interiors of the cars. At this point, rail service to Falconbridge’s Levack operations came to an end, as Falconbridge elected to ship their product by truck rather than agree to CPR freight rates that would have covered replacement costs for the rail cars.

CP 381930 represents the special hoppers that were constructed for the slurry concentrate service from Strathcona Mill to Falconbridge. Bill Grandin Collection photo.

While no longer rail served, Strathcona Mill remains an important and active processing site for nickel ores from Glencore’s (Falconbridge’s current successor) mines in the area to this day.

Nickel-Iron Refinery

In 1970 Falconbridge opened a large new facility on their property on the south-east side of their main smelter to recover the trace amounts of iron from the processed nickel ores in order to directly market it to the steel industry. Unfortunately this operation was short-lived and closed in 1972.

Aerial photos from 1975 show a rather significant set of railway yard tracks and loading (and/or unloading) structures at this (then shuttered) facility, and CN (which also accessed the Falconbridge smelter via the north side) also built a spur crossing the CPR spur to directly access the iron plant. However given the short lived nature of this operation we have very little other information on its operation from a railway perspective; what went in and out by which railway and what kind of cars used.

Falconbridge Smelter Upgrades

Another major project at Falconbridge was the construction during the 1970s of an upgraded smelter using new modern technology. This modernization project opened in 1978. The project included new fluidized bed roasters which removed iron sulphide from the ore, and electric furnaces to smelt the roasted ore. The upgrade also included an acid plant which captured sulphur compounds from the off-gas of the roasters and produced large quantities of sulphuric acid. Some of the tracks leading to the shuttered iron plant (which was itself demolished) were reused to built large tank car loading racks for the sulphuric acid.

Railway Operations

Operations at Levack should have been fairly simple. While the exact operations of the FNM railway aren’t really documented, it seems Hardy Mine is their base of operations with a small engine shop and repair track. Operating from this base of operations, FNM switchers would gather up outbound loaded cars from the Hardy, Fecunis, and Strathcona Mills and deliver them to the CPR interchange tracks, pick up empties left by CP and spot them at the mills for loading. As noted in the individual descriptions of the mills above, Hardy and Fecunis mills loaded dry or semi-dry concentrate into open cars and Strathcona loaded a liquid slurry into special cylindrical hoppers. On the CP side, a local operating out of Sudbury yard would run up to Levack siding to deliver the empties and lift the loads left by FNM, which would then operate to the smelter where the loads would be dropped off in interchange tracks for the Falconbridge plant switchers.

After Hardy and Fecunis Mills closed (in 1977 and 1979 respectively), the trains from Levack to Falconbridge became “unit” trains of cylindrical slurry cars from Strathcona Mill. By the 1990s rail transport of concentrate from Strathcona was replaced by trucks ending FNM’s rail operations in Levack.

CP-FNM interchange tracks at Falconbridge smelter site. Note that a CP track is actively performing an interchange here (locos and caboose visible at left.) This shot gives a good overview of the traffic between Onaping and Falconbridge, showing a mix of open cars of dry concentrate, and the distinctive little short slurry cars from Strathcona. At bottom right the FNM switcher appears to also be lifting or spotting covered hoppers probably for nickel matte. (Click on image to open larger size)

Outbound traffic from the smelter was in the form of powdered nickel matte. Due to patent restrictions on refining processes in North America, the matte was shipped to the Falconbridge owned refinery in Kristiansands, Norway for refining. Originally the matte was shipped out of the smelter in barrels, but changed to bulk shipments in covered hopper cars in 1968. As both CN and CP had rail access to the Falconbridge smelter, it’s a little unclear how much product went out via each railway during the 1970s. By the 1990s, CN had abandoned their spur line to Falconbridge and contracted a switching arrangement with CP, wherein CN would supply cars via the interchange at CN Junction between Sudbury and Copper Cliff and CP would exclusively switch the plant.

CP local heading up the spur track to Falconbridge in the late 1990s. The train consists mainly of CN hoppers for nickel matte loading (as CN had abandoned their access to Falconbridge by this time and engaged in a switching agreement with CP) and tank cars for sulphuric acid. By this point rail moves of ore concentrate to the smelter had ended. WRMRC collection.

After the new plant upgrades in 1978, sulphuric acid also became a major outbound commodity; with again CN and CP both having direct access to the acid loading tracks until CN’s abandonment of their line to Falconbridge, making it hard to know how much traffic was split between the two railways.

After the 1978 electric furnace upgrade, coke was used as an input. This was sourced from the US and we have noted the occasional presence of various hoppers from the Eastern Seaboard in Sudbury yard in some late seventies photos. An additional input to the mill was powdered dolomite or limestone, which mostly arrived in Penn Central/Conrail covered hoppers.

After the late 1970s upgrade, separate locals handled the ore concentrate from the Levack region and the acid/coke/dolomite/matte traffic to the smelter.

Equipment

Diesel locomotives operated by Falconbridge consisted of a small collection of ALCO/MLW S-series switchers and GE centre-cab models. The larger ALCO and GE 80-ton units seem to have seen service at either Falconbridge or Levack, while the smaller 45 ton models were probably exclusively used within the Falconbridge smelter complex.

Falconbridge S-4 #108, built new for Falconbridge in 1955, showing its 1970s era paint scheme. At CP’s Sudbury shops for maintenance or transfer between FNM operations.

FNM Railway Diesel Locomotive Roster
No.	Builder	Date	Model	Notes
101	ALCO	5/49	S-2	ex-NW 3321, ex-Wabash 321; to FNM 3/71
103	ALCO	12/46	S-1	ex-EL 309, ex-ERIE 309; to FNM ?/66
104	GE	8/26	45 ton	New
105	GE	1/48	45 ton	New; fire damaged 3/71, sold
106	GE	12/51	80 ton	New
107	GE	4/53	80 ton	New
108	MLW	7/55	S-4	New
109	MLW	1/50	S-4	ex-Canadian Commercial #1, to FNM /68

In terms of freight equipment, Falconbridge would have operated the usual assortment of hot-metal and slag cars for intra-plant movements within the smelter complex, and other freight equipment for the shipment of ores and concentrates from the Levack operation and shipment of refined products out from the smelter were provided by CN and CP.

INCO Ore Operations on the Sudbury Division

Posted on August 6, 2024 by Chris van der Heide

It’s hard to have any discussion about the Sudbury region’s industrial base without an extensive discourse on the mining industry. Sudbury is well known for being one of the world’s major sources for the production and refining of nickel, and the largest mining and smelting company in the area was the International Nickel Company, or INCO (today owned by Brazil’s Vale). Other companies in the area such as Canadian Copper Company, British-American Nickel Co. (BANC), and Mond Nickel were absorbed by INCO in the early 20th century helping to make INCO the biggest player in the Sudbury region.

INCO operated a large smelting and refining complex west of Sudbury at Copper Cliff, expanded from and replaced the original Canadian Copper Co. smelter in this area. Another older smelter at Coniston, built by Mond Nickel in 1913 was at the end of its useful life in the 1960s and finally closed in 1972. From the late 1970s to 2010s ore from all of INCOs mines was processed at the Clarabelle Mill, which opened in 1971 to consolidate all ore processing at a single mill.

INCO operated several large mining operations in the area, most of which were served by rail, and this posting will survey the mine and ore train operations of the 1970s which are (or will be) represented on the WRMRC’s layout.

Map of INCO mines and interchanges on WRMRC’s modeled territory. Mines are highlighted in blue, and CP-INCO interchange locations in green. Crushed quartz was also shipped from Lawson Quarry (highlighted in yellow) to Clarabelle in modified ore cars.

The key map above represents the Sudbury Division as modeled by the WRMRC. CP-served mines are highlighted in blue, and the interchanges connecting to INCO’s railway operations at Copper Cliff are marked in green.

In the 1970s, CP ran three unit ore train assignments for INCO. These were known as “INCO-1” (Creighton Mine), “INCO-2” (Crean Hill Mine), and “INCO-3” (Levack Mine). This posting will act as an overview of these operations and the mines they served.

Note: For a survey of the cars that CP used in ore service see the previous blog post The Sudbury Ore Car Fleet

INCO-1 (Creighton Mine to Clarabelle)

Creighton Mine, 1970. John Brown photo, WRMRC collection.

Creighton Mine is still active, and one of the oldest currently operating mines in the country, and while served by a CPKC line, is located so deep in Vale INCO private property and away from public roads that these trains are not easily seen.

Fans of astronomy and astrophysics will also note Creighton Mine as being the location of SNOLAB, the Sudbury Neutrino Observatory/Detector built deep underground in a cavern connected to and accessed via the Creighton Mine shaft system.

Train symbol INCO-1 would have been based out of Sudbury yard, running as a caboose hop on the Nickel Subdivision to Clarabelle where empty ore cars would be lifted from the INCO interchange yard, then on to the end of the line at Creighton to switch out loads and empties at the mine shafts. Then the train would head back for Sudbury, shoving the loads into the INCO interchange at Clarabelle on the way back.

While the Creighton Mine is still active today, as mentioned, there have been many changes over the years and in the 1970s the old No. 3 and 5 shafts would have still been active, while today the modern No. 9 shaft is the main access and the older shafts are abandoned and capped with the associated structures demolished, so the track arrangements around Creighton are quite different today.

INCO-2 (Crean Hill Mine to Clarabelle)

Crean Hill Mine in the late 1990s. WRMRC collection.

The second INCO ore job serviced the Crean Hill Mine west of Sudbury on the CP’s Sault branch. This mine was accessed via the “Victoria Mine Spur” which connected to the Webbwood Subdivision at Victoria Mine. Why the different names? Well in the early 20th century CP had a previous station at or near the same location where the spur connected to the main line called Victoria Mine, which served a Mond Nickel mine of the same name. So the railway location and spur inherited the historical name.

The Victoria Mine Spur/Crean Hill Mine is the first of the INCO nickel mines and ore trains to be built and placed into operation on the WRMRC layout, with 3D printing technology enabling us to finally build and place into service a train of accurately modeled ore cars.

Ore train at Crean Hill Mine on the WRMRC layout.

A second mine, INCO’s Totten Mine at Worthington, was also located on the Webbwood subdivision, however this mine was closed in 1972. Due to its short period of operation relative to our modeled era, space constraints, and the fact that we already had one other mine on this line, this location was excluded from our model layout. (Interestingly, this mine was redeveloped in the mid 2000s, however ores are today shipped to Clarabelle Mill by truck, not rail.)

Abandoned loading conveyor at Totten Mine (Worthington) in the late 1990s. WRMRC collection.

Train symbol INCO-2 would have again been based out of Sudbury yard, running up to the Victoria Mine Spur on the Webbwood Subdivision to swap empties for loads at Crean Hill Mine, then back to Sudbury to runaround and head onto the Nickel Subdivision to Clarabelle to deliver the loads to INCO and pull empties for the next run.

Crean Hill Mine was closed in the mid 2000s, ending this service, although currently there is a mining company exploring redevelopment of the Crean Hill Mine property..

INCO-3 (Levack Mine to Sprecher)

1950s view of Levack mine.

This job would operate out of Sudbury yard and lift empty ore cars from the CP-INCO interchange tracks at Sprecher, on the Cartier subdivision main track west of Sudbury. Having lifted the empties, the ore train would then operate over the Cartier subdivision west to Levack siding, where the empties would be exchanged for loads on a series of interchange tracks with INCO’s spur line to Levack. Like most of INCO’s operations, this line was operated with electric engines under trolley wire catenary, which would bring the loads down from the mine to the interchange at the CP siding, and then spot the delivered empties up at the mine.

INCO 100T electric #126 at Levack in 1970. John Brown photo, WRMRC collection.

Today CPKC still runs ore trains to Levack, although the old fleet of CP drop bottom ore gondolas have been retired since the late 2000s, and the ore is coming not from the same Levack Mine, but nearby Coleman Mine. Vale INCO now owns their own fleet of 220 modern ore gondolas built by Freightcar America in 2008, replacing both CP cars and INCO’s own previous fleet of aging cars. INCO’s old electric operations have long been abandoned, and CP locomotives handle the ore train all the way to the loadout tracks and do the switching themselves. While a few other mines are also still served direct by Vale INCO, this is the only ore train operating out on a CPKC main line.

CN Garson Ore

CN 198750. Bill Grandin collection.

Another source of ore for INCO was Garson Mine, located east of Sudbury between Sudbury and Falconbridge. This mine was served by a CN spur which accessed Garson Mine, a sand pit, and the Falconbridge smelter which will be discussed elsewhere. CN trains operating out of Algo yard in Sudbury would assemble a train of empty ore and sand cars, run out to the spur and switch the mine and sand pit, then run back across Sudbury to the CPR connection at CN Junction and joint trackage on the CPR Nickel Subdivision to interchange with INCO at Clarabelle to deliver the ore and sand to INCO’s operations. As CP did and does have exclusive physical access to INCO’s operations, all interchange traffic to INCO operated through Clarabelle, with CN sharing CPR tracks from CN Junction to Clarabelle and both railways jointly operating over this section.

Garson Mine appears to be still active today, but is no longer rail-served.

Other INCO Mines

INCO Copper Cliff South Mine in the late 1990s. The track at right next to the highway (Highway 55) with the stored cars is the CPR Copper Cliff Spur which accessed the INCO Iron Ore Recovery Plant, now closed. WRMRC collection

A few other INCO mines were rail served directly by INCO’s own private rail system connected to the Copper Cliff mill and smelter operations, and therefore would not impact CPR operations, although parts of these operations could be seen from CPR rails. These mines included Frood and Stobie, which were and are accessed via an INCO private line heading north from Clarabelle which crosses the CPR Nickel sub at grade at Clarabelle, and bridges over the Cartier sub near Sprecher. Copper Cliff South Mine is located alongside the CPR Copper Cliff spur near where it connects to the Webbwood Subdivision, and can actually be included on the layout as static non-operating tracks here. Frood and Copper Cliff South are still active, and served exclusively by Vale INCO’s private railway. There is also a Copper Cliff North mine, but being located immediately next to Clarabelle Mill it was not rail served.

A loaded INCO train of ore returns to Clarabelle Mill from Frood/Stobie Mine. CP cars on the tracks in the background are loads from Levack on the Sprecher interchange track.

Lawson Quarry

An honourable mention, the quarry at Lawson Quarry south of Espanola on the CPR Little Current subdivision quarried crushed quartzite rock which was shipped to INCO to use as a flux in their smelting process. While not an ore-bearing rock, the quartz was shipped in modified ore cars with side extensions (as the quartz was lighter than the nickel ores) from the quarry to the INCO interchange at Clarabelle. The INCO quarry operation began in 1942, and rail operation ended by the early 1980s, although a quarry is still active here today.

Abandoned crushing/screening building and loading tipple at Lawson Quarry, late 1990s. WRMRC collection

While we don’t have solid information on the frequency of this operation, there is some indication that this was shipped in occasional “stone train” extras. We don’t have solid information on how often these trains operated, or any evidence on whether individual cars of quartz were occasionally handled by the regular trains 73/74 on the Little Current branch, although the limited information does point towards dedicated extra trains. Any further information or clarifications (on any of the topics and articles we post) are always appreciated.

C&BT Shops Boxcars

Posted on September 2, 2023 by Ted Kocyla

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 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.

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.

‘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.

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.

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.

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.

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

Posted on July 6, 2023 by Ted Kocyla

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.

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.

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.

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.

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

Posted on April 7, 2023 by Ted Kocyla

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.

: Nearly new M-636 units 4732 and 4705 wear the A5L ‘Candy Stripe’ scheme as delivered from MLW.

: Front end of CP 5017 with early CP Rail logo application at very top of hood doors.

: Back end of CP 5014 with early CP Rail logo application. Note the white rear number bar with black numbers.

: Front of CP 3004 with the post-1972 (lowered) application of the CP Rail logo.

: CP 8597 with long-hood forward road switcher application. Early CP Rail logo positioned as high and towards front as obstructions allow.

: CP 8799 with short-hood forward road switcher application. Post-1972 positioning of logo spaced slightly below box filters.

: CP 1410 displays GM cab-unit application. Louvers and port-holes force CP Rail placement on bottom panel.

: CP 4090 displays MLW cab-unit application. CP logo placed as high and towards front as grills and cab door allow.

: CP 4465 shows B-unit application with small Multimark, and black & white stripes applied to both ends.

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.

: Regular Sudbury-assigned CP 7090 wearing the original A5Mc switcher scheme.

: CP 7093 shows how the scheme was applied on the backs of MLW S-series units.

: CP 8104 displays the standard application on the back-ends of GM SW1200RS locos.

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.

: Remarkably, one of CP’s (and Canada’s) only two GP30s received the rare A5M scheme – CP 5001.

: When viewed from the rear, the ‘Ogden Multi’ scheme is obvious, demonstrated by GP35 5024.

: Small Multimarks on wide stripe GP9s were common post-1979, but CP 8487 wears it with candy stripes in 1978. That’s the giveaway of an A5M painted unit.

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.

: CP SD40-2 5720 displays its factory-applied AL8f ‘wide stripe’ scheme at Banff AB in 1980.

: CP M-630 4511 sports an A8Lf repaint job, and a bungled Multimark due to upside-down installed grills. Looks like it came out of the shops on a Friday afternoon.

: The first A8Lf painted unit was CP 5700 in Oct-75. Note the rear number panel is now black with white numbers.

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.

: CP SD40-2 5904 wears a General Motors factory applied A8L scheme, complete with reflective frame circles.

: Straight SD40 5508 sports a CP-applied A8L repaint scheme at Toronto – Agincourt Yard.

: MLW-built C-424 4230 wears a CP repainted A8L scheme with missing frame circles at Sudbury ON.

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.

: Nearly two years old in this photo, CP 5938 sports a factory applied A8M scheme in 1982.

: CP ‘Torpedo Geep’ GP9 8528 wears the A8M scheme only months after its introduction.

: CP GP30 5000 poses in a freshly applied A8M repaint in 1982.

: GP35 5020 illustrates the rear application of an A8M paint job. Unlike the A5M scheme, striping spans the entire height.

: One could say any wide-stripe repainted CP F-unit wore the A8M variation. FP9 1412 displays a standard application in 1978.

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.

: SW1200RS 8158 displays the standard application of the A8Mc scheme.

: CP 8167 illustrates the typical cab-end application of the A8Mc scheme on GM 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.

: CP MLW S-3 6594 sports a fresh A8Mh repaint job at Sudbury ON.

: CP MLW S-2 7092 helps demonstrate the cab-end view of the A8Mh paint scheme.

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.

: CP M-636 4742 wears a fresh A8NM ‘No Image’ paint job at Bensonville IL in 1992.

: Smaller 4-axle diesels like rebuilt GP9 8206 seemed to wear the austere A8NM scheme better.

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, 2^nd 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.

Genesis of the Action Red Era (Part 1)

Posted on February 12, 2023 by Ted Kocyla

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?

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.

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.

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.

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.

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 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.

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.

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

Kitbashing Basics – Upgrade a ScaleTrains ‘Kit Classics’ Havelock Shops Gondola

Posted on January 2, 2023 by Ted Kocyla

We published a blog post a number of years ago about resuscitating old kits, in the hope it would inspire more hobbyists to kitbash and upgrade older models. However it wasn’t really a representative ‘how-to’ guide as the core kit came with separate detail parts, so that upgrade was just a case of adding finer details, matching the paint, and weathering to finish. So this article was written to assist any new modellers who might be apprehensive about taking a hobby knife to a plastic model.

Aside from showing some basic techniques, this article is also an attempt to answer the griping that happens on a lot of model railroad forums about the prices of today’s exquisite ready-to-run (R-T-R) pre-assembled models. If you are a newcomer to the hobby and/or on a budget, there are some manufacturers who are trying to help you by producing classic ‘shake-the-box’ model kits. The big one a good number of rail modellers seem to forget about is Accurail, who’ve been producing an extensive line of easy to build freight car kits for over 30 years now.

Now recently ScaleTrains have entered the field, (yes, the same company who are better known for producing those museum-quality R-T-R models that the price-gripers like complaining about) by introducing their more affordable ‘Kit Classics’ line of easy-to-build rolling stock kits. The following is a step-by-step guide to updating their Havelock Shops gondola.

Here is the base body of the Scale Trains Havelock Shops gondola as it comes out of the box. Paint and lettering is crisp, and the moulding is fine too. If you simply assemble and weather the model as is, it would look good. But by replacing the moulded-on details, adding a few extra parts and decals, and then finishing with a good weathering job, you will create a model that really pops.

Before we begin, an explanation may be in order as to why the CP Sudbury Division would require a Chicago Burlington & Quincy gondola. Well, we do model a portion of the CPR transcon line across Canada, and though the majority of the traffic we’d see is domestic, there are always a few interlopers from south of the border in any manifest freight. Of those US companies, the Burlington Northern (the 1970 merger that swallowed the CB&Q along with three other railroads) was a large and friendly interchange partner. To top it off, the WRMRC has two photos in our archive which show BN gondolas in Sudbury yard. We have not figured out why, but clearly having some BN and predecessor company gondolas on the club roster was warranted. Furthermore, this particular gondola is a good one, as these were signature BN cars home-built by the Burlington’s Havelock Shops (located outside Lincoln, Nebraska), so kits painted for BN and original CB&Q were acquired for the Sudbury Division roster.

The first step is to carefully scrape away the moulded-on grab irons. Though most modellers use X-Acto knives for this, the author was a former biology student and prefers scalpels.

The kitbashing begins with the removal of all moulded-on grab irons from the gondola sides. X-Acto knives are the traditional tools for this in model railroading, but I highly recommend scalpels. I learned to use them many years ago as a biology undergrad, and just like the feel of them when doing precision cutting. Frankly, nothing beats a fresh #10 scalpel blade for cutting styrene plastic, however I urge basic caution. These blades were obviously designed for cutting flesh, so always cut away from your hand. Also you should wear eye protection. Plastic is tougher than flesh, and you can break the blade if you force and bend it too much, causing the business-end to go flying. Nevertheless you may want to give them a try, and most better hobby shops carry the handles and various sized blades. You can actually sense the undulations and unevenness in the plastic with each pass, which helps as you scrape away the offending moulded-on details from your models.

On the gondola ends, a smaller #15 scalpel blade was used to carve out the ladder rungs while keeping the upright side-rails intact. This photo shows what a difference this makes between the left and (as yet) unmodified right ladders.

To help the appearance of the car ends, the ladder rungs were cut away using a smaller number 15 scalpel blade. The method is to cut on small diagonals in each direction, and eventually chip away each ladder rung while maintaining the ‘rolling pin’ pattern of the Dreadnought ends. Be advised that even after sanding with a small sanding block, you will never achieve a perfect ‘unhacked’ finish. But that doesn’t matter as weathering done to the car will help hide any imperfections the cutting leaves behind.

I had considered removing all traces of the ladders by cutting out the side-rails as well. However that would be almost as much work as cutting off the ends entirely, and rebuilding with old boxcar Dreadnought-ends I have laying around in my spare parts collection (yes, I considered that too). The later option would provide a clean car end, and would be the way to go if building a contest model. I quickly realized that either option would require a lot more effort than I was willing to spend on this project, and replacing the rungs alone was enough to help give the ladder depth and greatly improve the appearance.

After scraping away as much as possible, drill #79 holes for the new grab irons by using the shadows of the old moulded-on details. Sanding is done afterwards to remove any scratching or imperfections left behind. Sanding first would make positioning the drill locations more difficult.

The next step is to use a pin vice to drill #79 holes for the new wire grab irons, using the shadows of the old ones as your placement guide. It is easier doing this now, before any sanding that will widen those shadows. You can shave and sand away any remaining imperfections once all the holes are drilled.

I utilized Tichy Train 18″ phosphor bronze drop grab irons for my car, but any manufacturer’s scale 18″ wire grab irons (Detail Associates, A-Line, etc) will work just the same. Tichy calls for drilling #80 holes for their product, but I prefer a slightly larger hole to take into account the cyanoacrylate superglue that the grabs will be dipped in prior to positioning. Aside from making it easier to slide the wire in, I also have a habit of breaking #80 bits with little effort on my part. So I stand a much better chance at drilling all 32 holes required using a #79 without breaking another drill bit.

New scale-18″ grab irons are installed by cutting back the wire ends to about 6 scale inches (to keep them from protruding inside the gondola) and then dipping each end in a puddle of cyanoacrylate (otherwise known as CA ‘superglue’) prior to installation. Note that the very top grabiron is positioned upside-down in relation to the other three.

I also cut down each grab iron end to about 6 scale inches, and with Tichy using phosphor bronze wire, cutting them back is easy. This way the grab irons will stick out about three scale inches from the carbody (as they should) without the wires protruding inside the gondola body. After installation, sand the gondola insides around those holes to remove the imperfections as best you can. Between the sanding, gap-filling CA superglue, and rust painting/weathering that will be done later, those grab iron holes should pretty much disappear by the end.

Now for the gondola ends the process is much easier. I simply glued pieces of 0.1″ styrene rod across the side-rails to replace each ladder rung. You can use either CA superglue or any MEK-based plastic weld for this. Once the glue is dry, you can trim and sand down any rod sticking out past the side-rails. Admittedly, I employed a quick and ad hoc method of ladder replacement, but it’s easy and effective. This is a big improvement in appearance with minimal effort, and after painting and weathering it will be difficult for the layout observer to tell that the end-ladders are not a separate detail part.

Ladder rung replacement was done simply by gluing lengths of 0.1″ styrene rod. It’s a quick and ad hoc method, but it accomplishes the task with minimal effort.

After all the grab irons and ladder rungs are replaced, the next step is to add some super-detail parts to the gondola, specifically coupler cut-levers and brake-line hoses to the gondola ends. Since all the new details still need to be painted, I leave the already coloured black brake hoses to the very end before I weather the car. There are many different pre-bent coupler cut-levers offered by many manufacturers, but I had none in my collection that worked. So being a ~~cheap~~ frugal modeller, I elected to simply bend my own using 0.1″ phosphor bronze wire with a fine pair of needle-nose pliers. To attach them, a #79 hole was drilled into the bottom-left side sill of each gondola end, and eye bolts glued in place (see photo below). Then slide the cut-lever in through the eye bolt, and fasten the wire against the bottom of the coupler with CA superglue. If you ever need to service the car in the future it’s easy enough to break this bond, and then just re-glue the cut-lever and touch-up the paint.

Coupler cut-levers were fabricated by bending 0.1″ phosphor bronze wire, and attached using brass eye bolts fixed to the bottom-left side sills of the gondola ends.

The next step is to repaint all the detail parts, and the resulting damage caused from kitbashing the gondola. I use an airbrush for this, but the number of great quality acrylic hobby paints available these days makes it easy to brush paint too. The only hard part is picking a red that’s a close match to the original gondola colour. ScaleTrains recommends Tru-Color TCP-086 Burlington Red, but this is a solvent-based paint and I’ve long ago switched to airbrushing with water-based acrylics.

The CB&Q was famous for their Chinese Red painted equipment, which was a very vibrant shade of red. Now being a 1970s CP Rail modeller, I have lots of CP Action Red in stock, but there is too much orange in that shade of red. So I tried my luck by opening a bottle of TrueLine Trains (long out of production) post-’90s CP ‘Bright’ Red, which is the same colour as 1970-80s era Soo Line ‘Full Signal’ Red. Looking inside the bottle it looked pretty close to me, so I loaded it up in my airbrush and was pleasantly surprised that I could not see any difference. I got lucky here. If you also prefer a current production acrylic paint, all I can suggest is try to find a Chinese Red shade as close as possible. Also, maybe reach out to CB&Q modellers on-line as to what they recommend.

After masking the end reporting marks with small pieces of green painters tape, and wrapping some tape around the couplers, all the worked-on areas of the car were airbrushed to match the original CB&Q Red. I got lucky that old TrueLine Trains CP/SOO ‘Bright’ Red was an exact match. A piece of paper was simply held while airbrushing to protect the lettering along the gondola sides.

Turning to the inside of the gondola, the top was masked to protect from overspray, then airbrushed with a coat of Mission Models ‘Standard Rust’ as a base. If the name is new to you, they are a US company that make wonderful acrylic hobby paints. They are well known to military modellers, but they do have a weathering line that rail modellers should learn about. Getting back to painting, this rust coat is just a base as weathering will be completed with various powders and stains. If you don’t own an airbrush, then Mission Models paints can also be brush painted. So with both the exterior paint repaired and interior now given a rust coat, the gondola is ready for weathering.

The inside of the gondola was airbrushed with Mission Models MMW-005 ‘Standard Rust’ as a base. This will be further weathered with various stains and powders.

It should be noted that before you begin any upgrades or kitbashing, it is highly recommended that you try to find some photographs of the prototype to assist you. Not only does it help you with detailing, but they will also show if any extra decals need to be applied, and they also aid with weathering. In my case, I was lucky enough to find a photo on RRPictureArchives.net of the exact gondola; CB&Q 83453.

When kitbashing, finding prototype photos beforehand is always highly recommended. A 1980s photo of the real CB&Q 83453 showed where additional COTS stencil, ACI label, and white frame stripe decals needed to be applied. For weathering, it also shows where dirt tends to accumulate.

This was a photo taken in the 1980s by Chuck Zeiler, and it shows the gondola with new ladders added on the car sides, versus the as-built separate grab irons. I have come to learn that Burlington Northern was gradually replacing these on all the old Havelock shops gondolas over time. However in our modelling period of the 1970s this gondola would be under 10 years old, and probably still had the separate grab irons. As mentioned earlier, I purchased a BN painted model too, and I will probably add ladders to that gondola when the time comes. This actually makes it easier to kitbash, as a ladder is much easier to glue on versus installing all those wire grabs. A final note about the proto-photo, you will notice there are also some very recently spray-bombed grey lines painted along the tops of the car. However for my purposes, that’s a fairly recent detail I didn’t need to duplicate.

Another thing this photo helped determine was where the COTS stencil and the ACI label were located (this differs from car to car) so I could duplicate this exactly by adding decals (Microscale, if anyone was wondering) in the appropriate locations. There were also white frame stripes which the CB&Q applied to the gon as built, but which ScaleTrains failed to add. These were also applied to my model by using scraps of white decal remnants I hold on to for just such an occasion. After the addition decals were added the gondola was sprayed with a flat coat to protect and seal everything, and was now ready for weathering.

Though gondolas are among the most abused pieces of freight equipment in the industry, these Havelock gons would have still been in decent shape in our club’s modelling period. In their first years they were initially equipped with covers and used to haul concentrate ores, which is a fancy term for sand. It was not until the mid-70s that BN began using these cars in general service, which is when these gondolas could potentially begin showing up on the Sudbury Division. So my weathering treatment was limited to just adding grime and rust.

Photos showed the majority of the dirt tended to collect along the exterior posts of the gondola. That heavy reinforcement bottom sill plate also collected dirt too, along with the area around the grab irons. The gondola ends also collect serious road grime. All of this can be reproduced with hobby weathering powders and a good angled paint brush.

Studying prototype photos, I concluded that the majority of the grime would collect along the sides of the exterior posts. Interestingly the posts themselves stay relatively clean, and it’s the area around them that mainly collects dirt. Road grime would also collect around the heavy reinforcement sill plate that runs between the bolsters, and of course some serious filth would also build up on the gondola ends. The area around the grab irons would get grimy too, thanks to employee’s greasy gloves. All of this can be reproduced with weathering powders. There are plenty of great products out there to try; AIM weathering powders, Vallejo effects, AK Interactive pigments, or PanPastel artists pastels are just a few of the wonderful brands that can help you age your models. Don’t be afraid of mixing various pigments, because dirt isn’t all the same colour and texture in reality.

After spreading multiple rust powders and general soot to the interior, Tamiya panel line accent (shown here drying) was applied to highlight the separate boards of the gondola floor. A little more rust powder was then added to blend any irregularities, and all was sealed with flat finish.

Turning to the gondola interior, the first step was to apply multiple grades of rust and general soot coloured weathering pigments. Afterwards, I applied black Tamiya panel line accent to bring out the detail of the separate boards on the gondola floor. To finish, some more rust powder was added here and there to blend any irregularities, and then everything was sealed with a spray of flat coat to protect the weathering.

It should be noted some modellers supplement their interior weathering even further by gluing small piles of real crushed rust flakes inside their gondolas. While I encourage this, I avoided doing it myself as this gondola will be hauling multiple inserted loads on our club layout, and these rust piles have a habit of interfering with how the loads sit. But otherwise, it is an excellent way to further enhance the realism of your weathering.

Weathering around the gondola ends was also done with powders. The grime usually accumulates around ladders, in between protruding ribs, and on top of the crossover platform. Aside from enhancing realism, adding dirt really brings out the ladder rung replacement efforts too.

Turning to the gondola ends these get particularly filthy, for that matter this is true for most rail cars. The reason is that dirt is kicked up from the trucks, in addition to employees causing grime to accumulate around the end-ladders and on the crossover platforms. Also, much like the exterior posts on the sides, the areas between any protruding ribs seem to collect more road grime. Again, all of this was duplicated using weathering pigments. As a bonus, and with the efforts from the earlier ladder rung replacement, the weathering pigments collecting around the end-ladders help give the appearance they are separate from the carbody. And as mentioned earlier, the weathering also help conceal any scrapes or scratches left over after sanding.

Photo showing the finished weathering on the main body, but with the trucks yet to be completed. This helps illustrate that even the best weathering efforts are unconvincing if the trucks are left in their kit-supplied shiny plastic and metal state.

With the main weathering completed, I then airbrushed a light spray of Mission Models MMP-123 ‘Rail Tie Brown’ to the underbody to help highlight the brake details. The beauty of this being a ScaleTrains kit, the underbody brake details are a one-piece separate detail complete with brake rods and levers. All the weathering efforts were then protected by spraying the gondola body with Tamiya flat coat, right from a rattle can. If you’re still using Dullcoat, give Tamiya a try. You’re welcome!

Wheel treads were masked with green painters tape, then airbrushed with MMP-105 ‘Worn Black’.

Aside from the brake detail, ScaleTrains also supply these kits with their excellent 100-ton trucks, including their high-quality free-rolling metal wheelsets. Which brings up a pet peeve of mine; going to the trouble of aging and weathering a model, then leaving the trucks unweathered. Even the best weathering efforts are thoroughly unconvincing if the trucks are left in their kit-supplied shiny plastic and metal state. And it’s relatively easy to do, I just masked off the wheel treads and airbrushed the trucks with Mission Models MMP-105 ‘Worn Black,’ though any dark grey-camouflage colour will work. You can go further by painting the wheel faces and insides a rusty colour, but with trucks being in the shadows anyhow, I find these extra efforts are lost on most casual layout observers. As long as the trucks are grimy, that’s good enough for a layout model. And with the trucks weathered, the gondola is ready to enter revenue service.

The finished gondola, ready to enter revenue service on the CP Sudbury Division layout.

In conclusion, the techniques high-lighted here were once common practices in the hobby, before all the expensive R-T-R models arrived. So I encourage anyone new to the hobby, or those sitting on an armchair for years, to invest a bit in the tools required and to begin hacking up any inexpensive, shake-the-box kits that tickle your fancy. Yes, there’s a trial and error period at the beginning, but you learn more by messing up and fixing your mistakes. There is also the satisfaction of upgrading and owning a unique model for your layout. So if you’re inspired to try, these inexpensive ScaleTrains ‘Kit Classics’ are a great place to start. Then try an Accurail model. Personally, I find upgrading kits to be one of the most satisfying aspects of the hobby, and I hope more modellers will discover this too.

B&O F-Units in Twilight

Posted on October 23, 2022 by Ted Kocyla

Part 3 of That ’70s Rent-a-Wreck Fleet

Introduction was: That ’70s Rent-a-Wreck Fleet
Part 2 was: The Saga of the Bellequip Geeps

By the time Canadian Pacific had fully dieselized their system in the early spring of 1960, a recession had hit the North American markets. Additionally, the CPR was realizing all the efficiencies that a 100% diesel roster provided, and was beginning to unlock their fleet’s full potential. These factors caused the CPR to cancelled purchase orders with General Motors Diesel for more GP9 and SW1200RS locos which were scheduled for delivery later in 1960-61, and it doomed all remaining stored steam power for good. It also created a stable four-year period between 1960-64 for the CPR’s motive power needs, where they rostered sufficient locomotives to meet all traffic demands. From 1964 right up to the present day, the Canadian Pacific Railway would never again have such a time.

A great illustration of what a colourful time the 1970s were for CP Rail. Here we see script-lettered GP9 8676 coupled with B&O F7A 4517 (one of few leasers to wear the early ’60s *Sunburst* scheme) as they assemble freight #912 at S.S.Marie ON on 18 March 1973. (Ted Ellis photo)

Over the winter of 1964 the CPR entered the wonderful world of locomotive leasing. Forced into it by a sharp traffic upturn, their short-term solution was to lease several A-B-A sets of Union Pacific Alco-built FA-1 and FB-1 locomotives. These 1600hp cab units were early diesels built after the war in the late 1940s, and they were never a favourite of the UP who tended to run them hard with deferred maintenance. In fact the UP had tied-up this fleet earlier in 1963, and then re-activated them specifically for the CPR to lease. When they were returned later in 1964, the UP promptly retired them all and used them for trade-in for credits on new EMD locomotives. They literally ran their last miles over the CPR.

After dipping their toes into leasing with the cantankerous UP FA-1/FB-1 fleet, Canadian Pacific refined their rental practices throughout the late 1960s into a useful and effective strategy. Future leases included diesels from such diverse owners as the Bessemer and Lake Erie, Boston and Maine, Bangor and Aroostock, and the Chicago Great Western. All of these leasers proved to be of much greater reliability, and held a number of assignments over this time. Though they operated mainly in the CP Eastern Region, it was not unheard of for leasers to reach as far west as Calgary. Leasing numbers were highest over the winter months when traffic levels hit their peak, and coincidentally when CP’s own locomotive reliability stats suffered from the legendary cold Canadian climate.

Locomotive leasing really peaked in the early 1970s, as CP Rail began running robot coal trains to the new Roberts Bank Superport, and the Canadian government had inked large grain export contracts with both the Soviet Union and China. By January 1972, CP Rail already had over 75 leased units in service, primarily from locomotive leasing pioneer Precision National Corp. But by February the motive power crunch hit a critical point, and CP was forced to take anything that was available. Enter the Baltimore & Ohio F-unit lease fleet.

Travelling between Sudbury and Smiths Falls over the Chalk River line, B&O 4487 leads GP9 8493, M-636 4731 and FA-1 4015 on train #974 through Carleton Place ON on 27 February 1973. This photo helps illustrate two points; that B&O F7As could and did lead while leased to the CPR, and that the motive power bureau wasn’t too picky about diesel arrangements when lashing locomotives together during the 1970s. (Bruce Chapman photo)

The once mighty B&O F-unit fleet had become a shadow of its former self by the early 1970s. Back in the day they were a staple of mainline operations, featuring 155 F7A and 104 F7B units. There were also older F3 models (some upgraded to F7 standards) along with second-hand F7’s purchased from the Bessemer & Lake Erie, and a number of 7000-series F7A’s transferred from the Chesapeake & Ohio (C&O had acquired controlling interest in the B&O in 1962). However by 1972 the B&O F7-fleet was significantly diminished through attrition, and were being used as trade-in bate towards new EMD GP38 and GP40 locomotives. The surviving F-units were holding down secondary freight and local coal mine shunting assignments. To put it bluntly, they were in rough shape.

Entering its second winter season on lease to CP Rail, venerable B&O F7B 5529 is seen here sandwiched between sister B&O F7A 4587 and CP C-424 4243 at Smiths Falls ON on 26Dec72. (Bruce Chapman photo)

The B&O began transferring the F-units from Detroit MI on 08 February 1972, and all the leasers were initially inspected at CP’s Windsor Yard before entering service. In a foreshadowing of their decayed state of maintenance, five of the first leaser locomotives to arrive were judged to be mechanically unsound and were returned to the B&O. Another five units would arrive later to comply with the lease contract. (See roster below for details.)

The CPR was in such desperate shape for power that the first three units accepted for lease (F7A 4622 & 4646, F7B 5498) were almost immediately placed on local manifest freight #74, and left Windsor ON for CP’s Agincourt Yard in Toronto on February 10th, 1972. After arrival the trio were promptly placed on train #955 to travel north up the MacTier Sub to Sudbury ON, and eventually wound up in Chapleau ON the following day.

Ultimately a total of 28 F7A, F7B and even a pair of FP7 diesels would be leased to the CPR over the 1972 traffic crunch. Most wore the spartan post-B&O/C&O merger Enchantment Blue scheme, but at least two F7A locos (4487 & 4499) and an F7B (5477) were still sporting the classic late-50s B&O double blue / yellow pinstripe scheme. Another trio of F7A units (4517, 4622 and 4645) wore the remains of B&O’s famous, albeit short-lived early 1960s ‘Sunburst’ scheme, though all their noses had been repainted and lost their attractive sun rays in the process. As if that wasn’t enough variety, all the 7000-series F7A locos transferred from parent Chesapeake & Ohio were wearing hastily patched C&O paint in various states of degradation.

The former identity of B&O F7A 7054 is hard to miss as she leads CP RS-3 8431 and SW1200RS 8161 on an eastbound at Smiths Falls ON on 18 February 1972. All the B&O’s ex-C&O cab units on lease to CP were in various states of paint decay as such. (Bruce Chapman photo)

As one would expect, this combination of B&O paint variations coupled with CP’s own radical corporate image change, plus the riot of colours available in the leased ‘rent-a-wreck’ fleet, resulted in a particularly vibrant period of CPR motive power lash-ups. Possibly the wildest incident involving B&O leasers (recounted by a credible source) was of a CPR employee (and closet railfan) who proceeded to chase northbound train 955 from Toronto up the MacTier Sub into a blinding snowstorm. The reason? On the point was a perfect A-B-A consist of B&O 4487, 5477 and 4499, all adorned in the old late-’50s double blue / yellow pinstripe scheme.

B&O 5498 is the trailing unit on train #911 at Nairn ON on the WRMRC’s CP Sudbury Division layout. Model was completed by the author from a powered Intermountain F7B, with Polyscale paints and Microscale decals. The unique B&O spark arrestors were scratchbuilt from styrene.

Whether it came down to duct-tape, bailing wire and ball-peen hammers to keep these weary beasts rolling, the CPR shop crews faithfully maintained these F-units until the initial lease ended in August of 1972. But only four short months later a number of these original leased units would return again, along with a few new numbers, to help out with the ’72-’73 winter season. All B&O F-units went off lease and were returned to home rails by the end of April 1973.

However it would not be the end of spotting leased ‘Chessie’ power on the CPR, as they and successor Chessie System (the official merger of B&O / C&O and Western Maryland) seemed to have forged a rental relationship that resulted in leased C&O GP30 and GP35 units operating through 1979-1980, and again between 1984-1989 with B&O GP38 and GP40 locos. But as Canadian Pacific began amassing their own large fleet of SD40-2 locomotives throughout the 1970s, that signalled the end of a particularly evocative and polychromatic era of locomotive leasing, and the B&O F’s were operating right in the middle of it all.

On a final note, the Baltimore & Ohio F-unit rental experience did somewhat emulate the Union Pacific’s FA-/FB-1 fleet from almost a decade earlier, as many of these F’s were placed into storage after their return to home rails. A good number also soldiered on for a while, but eventually all would be used for trade-in credits towards new Chessie System GP38-2 and GP40-2 diesels from General Motors. Just as before, there were rent-a-wrecks operating their last revenue miles on the CPR.

All-time Roster of B&O F-Units Leased to CP Rail Between 1972-73

Road No.	Model	Paint Scheme	Notes
4472	F3A	B&O Solid blue	Replacement unit from B&O – Feb 72
4477	F7A	B&O Solid blue	Failed inspection & returned – Feb 72
4487	F7A	’50s Double blue
4499	F7A	’50s Double blue
4502	F7A	B&O Solid blue
4503	F7A	B&O Solid blue	Replacement unit from B&O – Feb 72
4517	F7A	B&O ‘Sunburst’
4575	F7A	B&O Solid blue
4576	F7A	Not confirmed
4577	F7A	B&O Solid blue
4580	F7A	B&O Solid blue
4586	F7A	B&O Solid blue
4587	F7A	B&O Solid blue
4589	F7A	B&O Solid blue	Replacement unit from B&O – Feb 72
4622	F7A	B&O ‘Sunburst’
4630	F7A	B&O Solid blue	Failed inspection & returned – Feb 72
4645	F7A	B&O ‘Sunburst’	ex-B&LE acquired 1962
4646	F7A	B&O Solid blue	ex-B&LE acquired 1962
4648	F7A	B&O Solid blue	ex-B&LE acquired 1962
5420	F7B	B&O Solid blue
5424	F7B	Not confirmed
5429	F7B	B&O Solid blue
5447	F7B	B&O Solid blue	Replacement unit from B&O – Feb 72
5448	F7B	B&O Solid blue
5477	F7B	’50s Double blue
5495	F7B	B&O Solid blue	Failed inspection & returned – Feb 72
5498	F7B	B&O Solid blue
5515	F7B	B&O Solid blue
5529	F7B	B&O Solid blue	ex-B&LE acquired 1962
5533	F7B	B&O Solid blue	Failed inspection & returned – Feb 72 / ex-B&LE acquired 1962
7039	F7A	Patched C&O	ex-C&O, transferred to B&O 1962
7052	F7A	Patched C&O	Failed inspection & returned – Feb 72 / ex-C&O, transferred to B&O 1962
7054	F7A	Patched C&O	ex-C&O, transferred to B&O 1962
7081	F7A	Patched C&O	ex-C&O, transferred to B&O 1962
8009	FP7	B&O Solid blue
8011	FP7	B&O Solid blue	Replacement unit from B&O – Feb 72

Additional notes:-

Units were leased Feb 1972 to July 1972, and from Dec 1972 to April 1973.
All units received by CP at Windsor ON via C&O’s Rougemere Yard / Detroit MI.
Initially 28 units were listed by Extra2200South magazine – March 1972.
The fleet was down to 10 units by end of Feb ’73 (X2200S, no numbers listed).
All returned by May 1973, a number were stored after return. All retired by parent Chessie System by 1975.

References: Extra2200South, Bruce Chapman, Bruce Mercer and Greg McDonnell.

The Sudbury Ore Car Fleet

Posted on October 17, 2022 by Chris van der Heide

It was during the construction of the CPR during the 1880s that copper ore was discovered and sparked a flurry of mineral exploration and mining claims. Since then, Sudbury has been known as a major mining and smelting centre, producing not just copper but becoming a world leader in the production of nickel. As the new railway opened up accessibility to the mineral resources in the area, many mining and smelting companies were incorporated such as The Canadian Copper Company, Mond Nickel, British America Nickle Co. (BANC), Dominion Nickel, International Nickel Co. (INCO), and Falconbridge Nickel.(The first four would later be absorbed by INCO to become the major player on the Sudbury scene.)

Much of this ore would be moved between the mines and the smelters by rail, so transport of both ores and finished products is a major part of the rail scene in the Sudbury area. The mining companies had their own private railways connecting some of the mines, and other mines were served by the “common carrier” railways: Canadian Pacific, Algoma Eastern (later part of CP), and Canadian Northern (later Canadian National).

Sometime around 1910, the Hart-Otis Car Company of Montreal patented a drop-bottom gondola design, whereby doors in the floor of the car could be operated by geared handles on the ends of the car to discharge its load to the sides of the track, which would quickly become popular across Canadian railways with short steel versions of these cars being adopted as the standard car for shipping raw ore for INCO in the Sudbury region.

The Pre-1920 CC&F Cars

CP 370094 was built in 1916 as part of the AE 2801-2925 series and renumbered to CP around 1932. John Brown photo (WRMRC collection), 1970.

The early Hart-Otis design cars used by INCO were a 22’5″ interior length car with 4 drop-bottom doors on each side. Interior bracing give the cars a nice smooth-sided appearance. Canadian Pacific, Canadian Northern (later Canadian National), Algoma Eastern, and INCO themselves all rostered cars to this basic design and size. (When CP went to a larger car size as we will see below, CN and INCO continued to also use cars of this smaller size at some of their operations.)

The CP cars were built (probably by Canadian Car & Foundry in Montreal) in three batches totaling 200 cars between 1914 and 1919. Another 125 were built for the Algoma Eastern, which would later be transferred to CP in the early 1930s after CP leased the AER and absorbed its operations. An unknown number of identical cars were also owned by INCO.

By the 1970s only a tiny handful of these older cars would still survive.

Series	#Cars	IL	Builder	Date	Note
CP 370000-370124	125	22’5″	CC&F	1916	ex-AE 2801-2925 /32
CP 371200-371239	40	22’5″	CC&F?	1914
CP 371240-371259	20	22’5″	CC&F?	1916
CP 371260-371399	140	22’5″	CC&F?	1919

The 1926-1930 CC&F Cars

CP 376650, built in 1929 by CC&F, at Sudbury yard. Jim Parker photo, sometime in the 1970s.

Between 1926 and 1930 Canadian Car & Foundry (CC&F) built 350 cars (in three batches) for Canadian Pacific to a larger size of 25’11” interior length. The extra 3’6″ of interior length provided an increase of approximately 200 cubic feet over the previous cars and would become the standard ore car size for all new deliveries going forward.

The buttressed ends and riveted Z-shaped side bracing give these cars a rather distinctive appearance among the CP ore car fleet.

In the early 1940s, a number of the cars from this group were rebuilt with side extensions to raise the internal height and add another approximately 300 cubic feet of capacity for service hauling crushed quartz out of INCO’s Lawson Quarry, which began production in January 1942. Other cars from this group were rebuilt in the mid 1970s to convert them from drop bottom to solid bottom cars, which will be mentioned again later further down in this article. A few remained in more or less original condition until retired in the early 1980s.

CP 376809, built in 1930 and rebuilt with side extensions in the 1940s for quartzite service. Jim Parker photo, April 1973.

Series	#Cars	IL	Builder	Date
CP 376500-376599	100	25’11”	CC&F	12/1925-1/1926
CP 376600-376699	100	25’11”	CC&F	9-10/1929
CP 376700-376849	150	25’11”	CC&F	6-7/1930

The 1942 NSC Cars

CP 376469, built 1/1943 by National Steel Car. Jim Parker photo, sometime in the 1970s.

The next batch of new cars acquired by CP were built by National Steel Car (NSC) of Hamilton, Ontario in late 1942, replacing cars that had been transferred to quartzite service (see above). Similar in overall size specifications to the previous 25’11” cars built by CC&F, interior bracing gave these cars a smooth sided appearance similar to the early pre-1920 22’5″ CC&F cars, but unique among the larger 25’11” cars.

While delivered many years before the Canadian Pacific “script” logo and paint scheme was debuted, the smooth sides lent themselves nicely to repainting with this lettering, and by the 1970s it seems most photos of these cars show them repainted in the 1960s script.

Series	#Cars	IL	Builder	Date	Note
CP 376350-376499	150	25’11”	11/1942-1/1943	NSC

The 1956-1967 CCF/ECC Cars

CP 376231, built 1967 by Hawker-Siddeley Transportation. Jurgen Kleylein photo, late 1990s.

In the late 1950s, CP expanded their ore car fleet again, with orders in 1956 and 1957 to CC&F and Eastern Car Co. (ECC) of Trenton, NS for 2 virtually identical groups of 100 cars from each builder. Another 60 identical cars from Hawker-Siddeley Transportation (HST), ECC’s successor company, were added on in 1967. These groups of cars were numbered above and below the existing number series for the 1926-1942 cars.

These cars feature riveted body construction with heavier external bracing compared to older cars. The 1967 order would have been the first (and only) ore gondolas to be delivered in script lettering from the factory. The 1956-57 built cars would have been almost identical construction, but painted in the block lettering scheme.

Series	#Cars	IL	Builder	Date
CP 376190-376249	60	25’11”	HST	8/1967
CP 376250-376349	100	25’11”	ECC	10/1957
CP 376900-376999	100	25’11”	CC&F	11/1956

The 1970 HST Cars

CP 375692 built in 1970 by Hawker-Siddeley. Jacques Richard photo.

CP’s last order of ore gondolas was this 200 car group built by Hawker-Siddeley in November 1970. While extremely similar to the previous cars built by ECC/HST, these are distinguished by being the only all-welded ore cars (the previous cars being of all riveted construction), and the only group of cars to be painted in the CP Rail “Action Red” paint scheme with the iconic “MultiMark”.

Sylvan Scale Models made a resin kit for this car.

Series	#Cars	IL	Builder	Date	Note
CP 375500-375699	200	25’11”	HST	/1970

The “Tight-Bottoms”

CP 375818 1926-1930 built CC&F ore car rebuilt with solid floor, retired and awaiting scrapping at Winnnipeg, August 1985. Fred Shannon photo.

In the mid-1970s, INCO installed a rotary car dumper at their smelter facility in Copper Cliff, converting to rotary rather than bottom dumping. Some 200 cars originally built between 1926-1942 were rebuilt between 1973 and 1979 to remove the bottom doors and replace them with a solid steel floor. These rebuilt cars were selected and renumbered rather at random into the 375800-375999 series and colloquially known as “tight bottom” ore cars.

Many of the newer cars built after 1956 would later simply have their bottom doors welded shut and door operating levers removed to convert them to “tight-bottom” cars and retain their original numbers, which can actually be seen in the photo of CP 376231 above, which lacks its door operating levers, the doors having been welded shut.

Series	#Cars	IL	Builder	Date	Note
CP 375700-375799	0	25’11”	n/a	n/a	planned but never filled; shows in some 1970s ORERs
CP 375800-375899	100	25’11”	var.	1926-1942	ex 376350-376499 & 376500-376849 /73-/77
CP 375900-375999	100	25’11”	var.	1926-1942	ex 376350-376499 & 376500-376849 /77-/79

The Falconbridge Slurry Cars

CP 381930, built 1969 by Davie Shipbuilding. Bill Grandin collection photo.

Last but not least, we leave INCO behind and head over to competitor Falconbridge Nickel for something completely different. In the late 1960s, Falconbridge decided to ship concentrated ore as a slurry (finely crushed and mixed with water) between their mine and mill near Levack to their smelter at Falconbridge to the east of Sudbury. To ship this ore slurry, CP acquired a group of very unique cylindrical hopper cars that were dedicated to this service between Levack and Falconbridge. These distinctive cars were built in two separate batches in 1967 (delivered in script paint) and 1969 (delivered in Multimark paint) by Davie Shipbuilding. Since rainwater mixing with the slurry wasn’t considered an issue, the openings at the top of the car did not have covers.

The ore slurry was abrasive to the interior of the cars, and with the cars wearing out in the late 1980s Falconbridge switched to shipping by truck and the slurry cars were retired. A few survived however, being used as scale test cars by CP.

Sylvan Scale Models made a resin kit for this car.

Series	#Cars	IL	Builder	Date	Note
CP 381900-381919	20	19’5″	Davie	12/1967
CP 381920-381959	40	19’5″	Davie	9-10/1969

Kitbash Free Or Die

Posted on August 6, 2021 by Ted Kocyla

or: How to Salvage a McKean PS-1 Kit and Create a Cool New England Boxcar

NSRC 481, a typical North Stratford Rail Corp 40ft PS-1 boxcar, was photographed rolling through Pomona, California on 07 June 1982. – Tim Brooks photo (courtesy canadianfreightcargallery.ca)

This latest project originated from an evening bout of model train show withdrawal symptoms, as the lack of flea markets and swap meets during the pandemic restrictions caused me to review my boxes of surplus models. There I re-discovered all the old McKean and Front Range rolling stock kits that I’ve been offering for sale over several years worth of Kitchener Train Shows.

Looking over these kits my mind began to meander and imagineer various modelling possibilities, somehow wandering back to the late 1980s where I recalled seeing North Stratford RR boxcars rolling though southern Ontario. They were curiosities back then, not only because they were probably the last 40-foot boxcars still in interchange service, but from their bold logo and distinctive ‘Live Free or Die’ slogans (the state motto of New Hampshire). But then I remembered the kitbashing involved to get these kits up to modern modelling standards, and reasoned there must be some manufacturer out there that produced a good ready-to-run North Stratford RR boxcar.

Well a quick internet search found there were none, but there were decals available for the project. That caused more research on the real North Stratford Railroad, and whether the WRMRC’s CP Sudbury Division layout could see any of their boxcars. The short answer was yes, which caused me to pull an 8-foot door undec McKean kit from the surplus box, followed by an online decal purchase. The kitbash was on.

Left-hand (tall-ladder side) view of the kitbashed McKean model, ready for primer. You pretty much have to toss all the manufacturer-supplied details when bashing these old 1980s kits.

A brief history of the North Stratford Railroad can be found on their Wikipedia entry, and a Google search will provide you with plenty of information if you wish to learn more. From this research, for the purposes of club operating sessions, it was plausible that NSRC boxcars could be hauling furniture from the former Ethan Allen furniture factory in Beecher Falls VT to the greater Chicago area over the CP Sudbury Division. CP trains 911/912 captured a lot of New England – Chicago bridge traffic through the 1970s, as shippers used whatever means possible to avoid the lengthy transit times caused by the Penn Central merger mess.

I’ve written before about my old kit salvage jobs, specifically here and here. Basically my goal is not to create a contest model, but to make a reasonable representation utilizing the many boxes of spare parts I’ve accumulated over the years. The challenge is to create a boxcar that will not melt if coupled between a Kadee and Tangent model, and not to spend any extra money aside from decals and maybe paint.

Right-hand (shortened-ladder side) view of the model. The various detail parts used came from the author’s spare parts collection. Roof-walk and ladder supports were fabricated from styrene.

Before you copy my work, please note there was a mistake made because I began kitbashing the car before thoroughly researching the prototype. Bashing enough of their kits over the years, I habitually began by adding the roof walk supports that McKean inadvertently missed on their model. This was done using .060” styrene angle, chopped to the appropriate length, and glued on the roof rib peaks. After doing this I came across a good roof-view photo of an NSRC boxcar, and discovered the roof had been completely rebuilt with no roof-walk supports. It turns out their entire fleet of 100 reconditioned 40-foot boxcars had rebuilt roofs. So I actually went out of my way to goof this boxcar up. Oh well, good thing this isn’t a contest model.

As for the other details utilized, most came from my collection of left-over parts from old Intermountain, Branchline and Proto-2000 models purchased over the years. The ladders, grab irons, and tack boards were all surplus left-overs from those kits. The 8-foot Superior doors were excess parts from a Sylvan Scale Models double-door boxcar kit. I never throw any good spare detail parts away. Additionally there were some wire 18” drop grab irons on the car ends, and a a wire corner-grab on the roof utilized also. I often re-bend staples to create new metal stirrups on my kitbash projects, but went the easy route and used A Line Products stirrups on this one.

‘B’-end view. The McKean brake housing was salvaged, but with a Kadee brake wheel and metal wire used for the brake and air lines. A couple of re-bent staples support a Details Associates photo-etched brake platform. That jade green tack-board must have come from an old NYC kit.

They might have been good for their time, but the underbody on these McKean kits needs a lot of work too. First I body-mount scale #158 Kadee couplers in their own boxes (nothing works better than a Kadee in it’s own box), which requires you to remove the molded-on McKean coupler housings. Doing so will expose a square hole which needs to be filled with styrene. After that’s plugged you can drill and tap a #2-56 screw to mount the replacement Kadee coupler boxes.

Underbody view. Most of the original details were cut away, and a new Accurail 1-piece underframe brake rod set was installed. Kadee #158 scale couplers were also added.

Though the underframe brake rods look complicated, they are actually very easy to add. The hard work was cutting away most of the old McKean details in order to add them. Once that was all done and cleaned, I installed an Accurail one-piece underframe brake rod set which gives your model the appearance of having a super-detailed underbody with minimal effort. To finish, I installed a set of 50-ton roller bearing trucks equipped with Intermountain 33” wheels. All the NSRC 40-foot PS-1 boxcars rode on these style trucks.

In order to blend together all the different coloured detail parts before paining, the model was first primed with light grey Tamiya Fine Surface Primer. Yes, right from a rattle can, and you get a wonderful finish. I then looked for whatever green the WRMRC paint collection had that best matched these NSRC boxcars. Photos show a dark green / bluish colour when new, fading to a lighter, truer green as they aged. Needing to replicate a nearly new car I chose PolyScale F414188 CNW Green, unfortunately now long out of production. If you need help, I’m certain the CNW modellers know of a good replacement paint match. I then sprayed Tamiya clear gloss coat, as PolyScale paint is flat and a gloss finish helps with decal adherence.

In progress photo of the decal application. K4 Decals go on well, but you should always read the manufacturer’s instructions beforehand, and apply on a glossy finish to maximize adherence.

As noted earlier, an online search turned up the appropriate NSRC decals from K4 Decals. They are well-printed, good quality decals, fairly easy to work with, and yield excellent results as you can see from the photos. K4 were a new supplier for me, but I’ll definitely buy again from them when the need arises.

However there were some minor miscellaneous odds and ends I needed to add that were not supplied by the K4 sheet. Specifically the near-microscopic bank trust stencil lettering found on the top left of the car, along with the tiny ‘Retaining Valve’ and ‘Defect Card Holder’ stencils along the bottom side-sill of the boxcar. For that I used some Microscale decals I had in my collection to replicate those. For the bank trust lettering I used some N-scale tank car decals I purchased specifically for cases like this. If anyone is able to read them directly off my model with the unaided eye, I’ll buy you a coffee.

Completed model. Some light weathering was added, mainly road grime around the underbody, and some grunge coming from the roof eaves. A clear flat finish was then sprayed to protect it.

I probably over-weathered this model considering it should still be shiny after it’s rebuilding in 1979, but it just didn’t look right mixed with all the other really grunged-up rolling stock on the club layout. So I airbrushed a light coat of grime along the underbody, and added some dark grungy weathering powder along the roof eaves along with some running down from the door guides. A clear flat coat was then applied to protect the weathering. Combined with the original base gloss finish the model still has a bit of a shine to it, so I’m happy with the over-all result.

In closing, I just wish to reiterate that this kit was up for sale for $5 at the WRMRC table over several Kitchener Train Shows, along with a lot of other surplus ‘fleas.’ For all the complaints on model train forums about the high cost of our hobby, here is proof that if you have the time and are low on cash, you can create quality models while on a budget. You also get the added satisfaction of owning something unique. Personally, I get a kick out of re-creating something I’ve seen in the past, and the research and efforts towards that goal are what make the hobby rewarding. I hope this story inspires others to dig around in future train shows, and look beyond the latest ready-to-run models.