VIA's Ready?

I saw this VIA Rail ad pop up in my YouTube recommendations yesterday. In some respects it's charming, but in others it's ripe for satire. It comes at a time when VIA is experiencing considerable problems with its new train sets, the ones being promoted in the video. The most chronic being that travel times along the Québec-Windsor corridor are longer because the trains have to reduce speed on the approach to many level crossings in order to trigger the signals. According to VIA's website they say this translates into a 15 to 45 minute delay, although I have experienced longer ones because the problem with triggering crossing signals isn't the only event that can cause delays. Eric Gagnon has written extensively about VIA's woes and his posts are worth reading if you want all the details (see here and here for example; all his VIA related posts can be found here).

Into this troubled scene the federal government recently announced they want to introduce high-speed rail to Canada. Given the state of passenger rail travel in Canada, from VIA on down to numerous city rail systems, combined with the lack of seriousness in the elite classes, I'd be surprised if high-speed rail appeared in my lifetime, if ever. Believe me, I would very much like to see high-speed rail here for many reasons.

And I would very much like to see something like what's shown in this ad by Japan Rail that Galen forwarded to me not long ago.

I've enjoyed that video more times than I care to admit. Even though I don't understand Japanese the message is loud and clear. On the VIA side, this video is typical of its messaging:

People who know us know we take VIA a lot. Most think we're crazy to do so. The ones who are curious don't ask us how VIA is dealing with society's ills, but things like how much do tickets cost, how long does a trip take, have we ever been stuck in a remote area in a broken down train, is the Wi-Fi any good, and so on. Whether young or old the questions seem to be the same.

VIA usually emails me a post-trip survey, and I even recently received a questionnaire about services they should offer in the future (and how much extra I'd pay for them!). The questions always focus on amenities and social problems, never on the things I'm actually asked.

Well, I know all this is marketing and messaging on VIA's part to counteract the not wholly undeserved negative press it's getting. Is it working? I have no idea. 

My preference is for more subtle, positive, forward looking, or even sentimental ads instead of the bonk-you-on-the-head while proselytizing ones we're getting. Something with vision. Only slightly tongue-in-cheek might I suggest something based on either of these Aretha Franklin masterpieces:

Or if you're looking for maybe a more train-like rhythm, I suggest this instrumental by Thom Rotella. You could cut and mix sections from it to create a video called, 'VIA's Ready', but only if you are :-)

Cutting a mountain down to size

Before

I've been spending a lot of time just looking at the mountains. Something just didn't sit well with me. I finally realized I didn't like the tall rock outcropping over the tunnel portal on the right. And it was just a couple of weeks ago I thought it was too short and raised it!

After sawing

Yeah, yeah, wasted effort on my part. All I can say in my own defence is that why should I look at a constant reminder of a bad decision and grouse about it when I should get out the saw and fix it. Luckily I have many saws to hand :-)

After re-shaping

In retrospect I should have created the Granite Gate first - to the left of the shortened outcropping - and then examined the entire scene before adding height over the tunnel portal. Live and learn.

I learned another thing during this exercise: the papier mâché is very hard. Sawing though it wasn't easy. That's good to know. It gives me added confidence that the rest of the mountain is fairly solid.

Track still works

I was spending so much time working on the mountain I started to get concerned that the track might be in bad shape, so I took the trolley out for a spin. Luckily, things are still running.

Lessons learned while mountain building

A latex mold filled with paper mache pressed against the mountain

Back in September I tried two different methods for making rock castings: 1) filling a mold with papier-mâché and pressing it against the mountain while still wet, and 2) spraying Great Stuff foam into a mold and then pressing it against the mountain. The first method worked, but took awhile to harden, the second was a messy failure.

Later I tried filling a mold with papier-mâché and letting it harden in the mold before gluing the dry casting to the mountain. That seemed to work ok too. 

Masking tape holds still wet casting in place

The problem I found with making additional stand alone papier-mâché castings was they had a tendency to break before hardening because I failed to provide them with proper support during the drying process.

After some humming-and-hawing I settled on the first method of taking a mold loaded with papier-mâché and pressing it against the mountain while still wet. Sometimes masking tape had to be applied to hold everything in place while drying.

One modification to the process I made was to peel off the mold from the still gooey papier-mâché after around 8 hours. By that time the goo was firm enough to withstand the mold coming off without damage, and the now exposed surface allowed the casting to dry much faster.

Much faster? Hmmm, well, in my basement drying time of an air exposed casting could be anywhere from overnight to a few days depending on the thickness of the casting, the water content of the papier-mâché, and the workshop's humidity, which I attempt to control at this time of year with a dehumidifier.

Rock casting at Inspiration Point

I applied about 7 or 8 molds to the mountain to give rock-like three-dimensionality to large flat surfaces. Once they were hardened a lot of time was spent blending them together with carefully slathered on papier-mâché to create a unified surface. Surface detailing still needs some work, but the shapes seem to be ok. Well, except for the Granite Gate. I still haven't settled on the shape for that feature.

The Trefoil Transform

In issue #119 of Voie Libre there's a story about a fascinating O-14 layout called The Boidon-Cuncou Wire Drawing Mill. When I saw its trackplan it seemed like a trefoil to me even though it's more like a triangle with rounded corners - it's likely another case of me seeing trefoils in everything :-) So somewhat tongue-in-cheek I applied The Trefoil Transform to trefoilize it. Well, the trefoilization was not that effective as I think the trackplan would require further modification if it were to be used on a trefoil layout board. But, that inner trackage provides an interesting starting point for a trefoil based layout that is something other than a simple tour around the perimeter.