Paving Young St. & Ocean View Ln.

I've been 'paving' Young St.*, Ocean View Ln.*, and the area between them for the last two weeks. Not eight hours a day, just an hour or so at a time. The area beyond Ocean View Ln. will be open country, looking out to the ocean of course, and is planned for landscaping sometime in the months ahead. 

I won't go into a step-by-step, but will just note some points and improvements from lessons I learned from my previous streetcar layouts. 

The roads, sidewalks, and building pad area are built up from layers of cardboard, foam board, matte board, balsa, and styrene. I used what I had in my leftovers. If I was buying everything new, and specifically for this job, I'd buy one material in various thicknesses and stick with it.

Historical lesson #1: Instead of using glues to hold the layers in place I used transfer tape. This is not the least expensive way to go, but on previous layouts I experienced glue induced layer warping and distortion, especially with styrene glues. With transfer tape there isn't any distortion when bonding pieces, dissimilar materials bond together with ease, and the bonds are immediate. In the future I may regret using transfer tape, but on other projects that are a few years old, the bonds are still good and solid.

Historical lesson #2: On previous layouts I tried very hard to get the paving sheets right up flush with the railhead to mimic as best I could the surface on a Toronto street. The problem was that small warps, and imperfect sheet bonding, would often cause the road to protrude above the rail head, which would lift the wheels of passing streetcars and cause stalling. Fixing that was always a royal pain and discouraged me from running vehicles. This time I made sure all paving sheets were well below the railhead. This makes for a slightly less realistic street, but lets the streetcars run without problems.

Historical lesson #3: This is more of a planning thing, but I made sure the paved area didn't have any switches. I use standard Atlas switches, and feel they don't look good when paved into a street. Not to mention that lots of care is required to make sure they don't get fouled during paving. If I were to have switches in the paved area they'd need to be proper streetcar-style ones.

On each side of the layout there're two open areas of track between the roads that haven't been paved. These will be grassed in, and there will be low walls on the building pad side to prevent pedestrians from wandering onto the track.

*Young St. is a play on Toronto's Yonge St. Mine will capture some of Toronto's Yonge St. buildings of old, as well as a few that appear elsewhere in the city. So, my street is a free interpretation, hence Young and not Yonge. And Ocean View Ln., which is OVL de-acronymized? OVL, oval: is the layout type coded in the street name. Ok, you're right, I need more coffee :-)

A bit of green

I've started to apply some green base vegetation using Scenic Express's Summer Green flocking. Even just a little green in areas where I think it would naturally grow livens things up, and takes the edge off the dark magnetite bearing skarn.

I've also been making tufts with the static grass applicator, and applying them in a few places. I can see I need a lot more practice with the device.

Lots more green turf, static grass, dead leaf flocking, and ground foam bushes still to come.

Restarting the E. L. Moore book

The E. L. Moore book is back on. After an extensive email exchange with Galen I realized I was looking at the book the wrong way. I’ve been focused too much on the market and cost, and too little on E. L. Moore’s legacy, approach, and a way of model railroading that's rapidly vanishing. I’m not saying cost and market are unimportant, just that I lost sight of the bigger picture. Also, I’ve been a bit discouraged in having the deal on the second collection of E. L. Moore models fall through, and after locating E. L. Moore’s daughter, having her decline invitations to speak with me. I respect her decision. I’m a researcher and investigator, not a stalker or paparazzi, although I think Margaret Atwood once wrote there wasn’t any difference :-) Anyway, I don’t have any schedule, plan, or delivery date, just a desire to get back to work on chapters. I’ll see how that goes.

A Toonerville Trolley Triple Bill

Writing about the 'Jigger' got me thinking about another famous jigger, the Toonerville Trolley. After some digging in YouTube I found these three animated shorts from 1936. While he was adamant that he wasn't a trolley fan, these films have sort of an E. L. Moore story vibe about them.

It's a good thing The Skipper has Katrinka because without her the line would have fallen apart years ago :-) Who would fix things?

Restoring Ottawa Streetcar #696

Front view of OER streetcar #696 in restoration shop

While investigating the whereabouts of the Ottawa streetcar models, I came in contact with some gentlemen from the Ottawa 696/905 Streetcar Restoration Group. They sent me a couple of photos of Ottawa streetcar #696 that they're restoring, and have kindly allowed me to post the pictures here.

Bill McKeown's book, Ottawa's Streetcars, tells me #696 started life as streetcar #633, a 45'-3" vehicle built by the Ottawa Car Manufacturing Company in 1917. In 1927 it was rebuilt and stretched out to 49'-6". It was then renumbered to #696, and remained in service until 1958. Ottawa abandoned its streetcar line in 1959.

Back view of OER streetcar #696 in restoration shop

I'm told restoration was paused in March 2020 due to the pandemic, and, like much else in our society, it's not clear when work will resume.

In the first photo you can see another streetcar body peeking out from behind the right side of #696. That's Ottawa streetcar #905. 

#905 has a similarly long history. It was built in 1933, also by the Ottawa Car Manufacturing Company. A new set of trucks were installed in 1946, and the vehicle remained in service right until the end in 1959.

Car # 696 is looking good. Here's hoping this fascinating project can soon get going again once some semblance of normality returns to life.

Some thoughts on the Ottawa Electric Railway's Central Experimental Farm transfer trolley

Farm transfer trolley | Library & Archives Canada, PA-126776

Last week I bought a copy of Building Canada's Farm: An Illustrated Guide to Buildings at the Central Experimental Farm, written by Richard Hinchcliff and Patrica Jasen, and published last year by Friends of the Central Experimental Farm. The Farm is an Ottawa landmark, and one of my favourite places in the city to visit. When I saw the book at the local Coles over the Christmas holidays I knew it was for me. The book doesn't disappoint, and I highly recommend it. 

The Farm once came with a streetcar

Being a streetcar-guy, an added Farm bonus is that it was serviced by an Ottawa Electric Railway (OER) trolley line from 1908 to 1929. The federal government wanted to promote the Farm and have more people visit, so in 1908 they ponied up around $40,000 for the OER to run and operate a double-track line into the Farm.

Apparently ridership numbers were never great, and in 1924* the OER stopped running streetcars all the way into the Farm. They didn't terminate all service, and kept a stretch of track that ran along the Farm boundary paralleling Carling Avenue so they could provide service to the new Civic Hospital that was being built nearby. The OER also put in a loop near the hospital at the end of that stretch of track so the streetcar wouldn't have to drive down into the Farm in order to loop around for the return trip. So, now if you wanted to go into the Farm you'd need to get off at the hospital loop, and transfer to a small trolley** that could take you into the grounds. In the end though, there wasn't enough ridership to keep even the transfer trolley going, and its service was discontinued in 1929. And that was that for streetcar service into the Farm.

The mysterious Farm transfer trolley

You see the little, four-wheel trolley in the lead photo? That seems to be the only known picture of the Farm's transfer trolley. Building Canada's Farm, as well as the books Ottawa's Farm: A History of the Central Experimental Farm, and Ottawa's Streetcars: An Illustrated History of Electric Railway Transit in Canada's Capital City, all present that photo when discussing the transfer trolley. Although it's an interesting picture, I'd like to see some that have a few more details than what it shows. 

For awhile I've been thinking about building an HO-scale model of the vehicle. It would be powered by a NWSL Stanton drive I bought a few years ago. Given the trolley's small size, it should be possible to use some of the classic trolley model building techniques for its construction. However, I'm interested in getting more information on the trolley before getting started.

They say third time's a charm, and Building Canada's Farm is the third book I've seen that picture in, so I decided to contact the Friends of the Farm to find out if they had access to any more information about the trolley. They put me in contact with one of the authors, who generously provided a scan of the photo, as well as a little more information and a link to a brief related article they ran in their newsletter back in 2011. The article filled in some more information about the line, but the scan gave me some important clues about the trolley's possible identity.

Car 51, is that you?

The book Ottawa's Streetcars has some information about the Farm line and its transfer trolley, but it's scattered throughout, and the book has no index, so I spent some pleasant time searching through its pictures and text for applicable material. After pondering that information a bit, and cross-checking with the OER vehicle roster in the back of the book, I'm thinking the trolley in the photo might be OER Car 51. I can't be conclusive just yet, but clues are pointing its way, or towards similar cars in its lineage.

Left: Farm transfer trolley image sliced from PA-126776; Right: Car 51, Library & Archives Canada, PA-176783

Here are some clues and points of similarity:

1. That photo of Car 51 appears on page 144 of Ottawa's Streetcars, and the caption notes: "The car was in shuttle service between this point [Holland Junction] and the Experimental Farm". The caption also notes the photo was taken "in the early 1920s." I think these two statements may indicate that in the early 1920's, prior to the abandonment of service into the Farm's grounds in 1924, Car 51 may have been used for the entire Farm route when ridership numbers had dwindled to a level that no longer justified using a modern streetcar to service the line. Then in 1924, Car 51 became the transfer trolley, and was limited to running from the hospital loop down into the Farm's grounds. 

The OER's vehicle roster notes that Car 51 was still in service up until 25 September 1927, when it was converted into a grinder hauler. There's no exact date attached to the transfer trolley photo (PA-126776) other than it was taken sometime between 1924 and 1929. So, it's possible the transfer trolley photo is of Car 51, and later in 1927 another car was used on the line until it was closed down in 1929.

This stitched together story is speculation on my part, and would benefit from verification against original source material.

2. The cars in both photos are single truck, four-wheelers.

3. Both have six windows.

4. Both have dome roofs. Also, the clerestories, roof-top access ladders, and trolley pole connections appear the same.

5. Both appear to have the same type of front bumper, although in the Car 51 photo, the vehicle has elaborate safety scoops on the front and rear.

6. Both appear to have the same horizontal stripe under the windows.

Does a ghostly '5' appear in the red box?

And finally point 7, the admittedly weird ancient-aliens, reading-too-much-into-too-little part :-)

I think I see a very faint number 5 inside the red box in the image on the left. You'll have to enlarge the image, and squint your eyes a bit, to see it. There might be a number 1 beside it too.

There are a couple of problems with this observation. First, the pixels that appear to form a 5, and maybe a 1, could be simply just artifacts of digitization, which is the interpretation I'm leaning towards. And second, the number appears in an odd location. From the photo of Car 51, it should most likely be centred beneath the windows, not off to one side.

Although I have my doubts about the ghostly 5, I mention it merely for completeness, and entertainment value :-)

Now, none of this adds up to a conclusive argument regarding the identity of the Farm's transfer trolley, but it does provide a more concrete starting point for a model of a certain trolley, operating at a certain time, in a certain place. However, I now have a good photo (which includes a figure to give some scale) of a vehicle that bears a strong resemblance to the transfer trolley, an entry in the OER roster that tells me it was 28' long, and a note in Ottawa's Farm states that its colour was likely green.

However, over the 5 years the transfer trolley service ran, there could have been several different types of trollies used on the line, so any model probably won't be the definitive statement on what was actually used. We'll likely never know. 

*1924 or 1922?

The streetcar article in the Friends of the Farm newsletter implies that the OER stopped running streetcars all the way into the Farm in 1922; however, Ottawa's Streetcars says it happened in 1924. The article was published in 2011, the book in 2006, and the article says it was written with information provided by a third generation OER trolleyman. So, maybe it was 1922, which makes this year the 100th anniversary of the beginning of the Farm's transfer trolley service. 

**A Jigger of Trollies

One last thing. Apparently what I've been calling the transfer trolley was know colloquially as the 'Jigger', because of the motion the passengers were subjected to as it ran. It's noted in Ottawa's Farm that, "as it [the Jigger] rolled over the rails it rocked from end to end - a soothing motion for tired workers at the end of the day." The caption attached to PA-126776 describes the trolley as, "The "jigger", the small streetcar loved by the Farm staff for its comforting motion...".

I find it a little strange that something called the Jigger was considered to have a soothing and comforting motion that was loved by Farm staff who rode it. Merriam-Webster tells me one definition for jigger is: a mechanical device usually with a jerky reciprocating motion. The application of the English language is a many splendored thing :-)

Couplers before trees

I thought I'd have a look at the coupler situation on the N-scale cars before starting on trees and bushes. It seems there are a two problems: it looks like there are 3 different brands of knuckle couplers in use, and they're installed at different heights. The loco coupler height seems much higher than that on just about all the cars, coaches and freight cars combined. For this video I cherry-picked the car arrangement so couplers between neighbouring cars were at about the right height. Random trains of cars just won't work. I need to figure out how I'm going to fix up all these rather tiny coupler units. In the meantime, here's an N-scale train zooming across the trestle - at least the track isn't causing decouplings.

Culvert

In the comments to yesterday's post Galen asked for a close up of the culvert under the road that connects the peninsula to the shore. Here are a couple of photos.

The culvert was made by cutting an old pill bottle in half and wrapping it with some Alexander HO-scale corrugated sheet metal. Super glue was used to bond the metal to the bottle. A loose mixture of flat grey and aluminum acrylic paints was used to tone down the colour.

This area of the layout will be choked with reeds and tall grasses, which I still need to figure out how to create. A couple of weeks ago I bought a static grass applicator to help make that sort of vegetation, so there'll be a few experiments in the weeks to come.

Also, the 'water' hasn't yet been poured, although I've painted the base a greeny-black so I can at least get an idea of the colour tones in this area.

Rock around the coast

It surprises me how much rock this little layout's needed. Back in the summer I collected up a big bag of rocks and thought they'd be plenty, but it turns out after sorting through for the right colours, and breaking up a lot of them for smaller shards, I'm not left with much. I had enough for detailing the layout with smaller pieces in strategic locations, but I don't have much left over. Note to self: for future layouts with this sort of terrain, more rock than seems reasonable is needed, and focus on collecting up pea-sized and smaller rocky debris.

As well as rocks, I've sprinkled on a sifted sand and brown flocking mix for some dirt ground cover. It's held in place with a thin smear of white glue applied to the terrain. Once dry, a number of places were overlayed with a sprinkling of fine rock and dirt that accumulated in the bottom of my rock box. That layer was stuck down with a 50/50 mix of matte medium and water. I think it's those random dregs from the rock box that make the scenes pop.

I've had enough of rocks for awhile, and I think the layout's ready for vegetation and trees.

EXchange sightings by the yard

I've been using these old yard sticks from long gone Toronto hardware stores to mark out the streets on the layout. They're of the era when telephone numbers still had exchange names. Over at Orange Crate Art, Michael has an ongoing series where he notes sightings of exchange names in movies (here's one). Duly inspired I thought that after staring at these old sticks for such a long time, I felt I should make note of the stores and EXchanges.

Gray's Hardware

471 Sammon Ave.

Phone: GE 4060

Coxwell Hardware

1628 Danforth Avenue

Phone: RI 7300

Eglinton Wallpaper & Paint

2032 Eglinton Ave. West

Phone: RU 3-6135

Wikipedia tells me beginning in March 1966, the Toronto telephone directory no longer contained exchange names.

Bonus EXchange:

Smith & Sons Dry Cleaners

(location unknown; somewhere in Toronto)

Phone: OX 1-1141

Track installed

Track installed and functional

I've been scratching my head for quite awhile over the Way Out Layout's track plan. As well, I've been settled on a simple loop for the longest time, but I've had some nagging doubts I just couldn't shake that stopped me from installing the track.

Then I had two realizations that broke through my mental log jam. The first came from this statement in Scale Model Electric Tramways and How to Model Them: "On a model tramcar layout there is always movement and action." The more I thought about that statement, the more I figured I needed another loop. In the past, I found with the Lost Ocean Line layout visitors liked to have a go at running streetcars and found it quite fun when we got a lot of cars going. This track plan allows for that. And second, I would like to build a compressed model of the old Yorkville streetcar barn, so I needed a spur.

During the head scratching planning action

Along with those two things I reintroduced strong diagonals into the plan. I found it surprising that certain diagonals didn't seem right to me, but others did. I can't explain it, but there you have it. There's now a tilted cross of a sidewalk / roadway that divides the plan into four main areas.

So now I think the layout has the right mix of elements for a little fun as well as space for scenes. Next project? I think I'll add the road and sidewalks along the long, straight section at the back as it'll establish a number of levels that'll work their way throughout the layout.

O-scale models of Ottawa streetcars #695 & #854

Model of Ottawa streetcar #695. (All photos courtesy of the builder)

Back in 2015 I wrote a post about some excellent scratch built O-scale model streetcars and a diorama I saw at the 2015 Ottawa Train Expo. Then in 2016 a reader noted it was a too bad that I didn't have any detailed photos of those models.

Recently I was contacted by the builder of those streetcar models. He generously sent me some great photos of these unique items along with a backstory on their construction. 

This photo gives you a good overall view of the diorama. There are two O-scale Ottawa streetcars, #695 & #854, on an Ottawa street circa 1954. To me, the street reminds me of Bank Street.

The diorama, as well as each streetcar, is unpowered.

The streetcar models are based on information the builder could find, supplemented with some provided by the Ottawa 696/905 Streetcar Restoration Group.

The diorama is 49" long, 15" deep, and 15" tall. All modelling is to 1/48 scale.

The builder told me the streetcars were built "mostly from 'junk', i.e. plastic packaging, electronic waste, etc. using no commercially available items." I wouldn't exactly call the materials junk, because as longtime readers know I'm a fan of models built from everyday items found around the house or workshop. As you can see from the high quality construction, these models don't give away their humble origins.

Car #695

The only commercial parts are "O-gauge freight-car trucks which had suitable wheel-base and diameter, and on which I practiced 'plastic surgery'."Again, it should be noted that the models are unpowered. 

Car #695

These models don't have interiors, but that doesn't detract from the overall look.

Car #854

The models and diorama were started in 2013 and finished in early 2015. 

Car #854

The diorama was first shown to the public at the 2015 Ottawa Train Expo, held in April of that year, at the Ottawa 696/905 Streetcar Restoration Group's booth.

Car #854

I'm informed the diorama was donated to the Ottawa 696/905 Streetcar Restoration Group in late 2015, and that the last known location of the models and diorama was on the top shelf of a storage room in OCTranspo's Colonnade garage. Whether or not they're still there is unknown.

The builder tells me he's currently working on a 1/24 scale model of Ottawa streetcar #864. Unlike these static 1/48 scale models, this larger new one is going to be battery powered and radio controlled. I'm looking forward to seeing it when it's done.

If you have an interest in Ottawa's streetcar history the best source I've found is Bill McKeown's book, Ottawa's Streetcars: The Story of Electric Railway Transit in Canada's Capital City, published in 2006 by Railfare DC Books. 

[15 January 2022 Update: Some good news: I'm told by a representative of the Ottawa 696/905 Streetcar Restoration Group that the models and diorama are safe and sound in their restoration shop at the Colonnade garage.]

A milestone

With the trestle done and installed I started thinking that I'm at the end of the first stage of construction. I got out the tram and did a quick spin around the track to see if things were alright. So far, so good.

I did try a spin with the EVRR loco and cars. The loco ran fine, but I had problems with the couplers on all the coaches, so I couldn't get a train to make a loop. Well, this is a test layout, so finding out these things is what this module is for. I need to look into the coupler problems.

While I'm doing that you could time travel back to 1971 for a brief lesson in navigating rocky shorelines in northern Ontario courtesy of Adventures in Rainbow Country. The lesson starts around the 10:10 mark.

Float plane accessories

All images courtesy 30Squares' Far North Adventurer

The 30Squares Media Empire's Layout Design Board has been chatting with our consulting Far North Adventurer about his float plane experiences. It became clear that one can't just plop down a float plane on a layout and be done with it. There are associated details to consider.

There might need to be a sign to indicate where one meets their float plane, as there usually isn't a cushy departure lounge to hang out in.

And near the sign one might find stashes of supplies and aviation fuel. As our adventurer notes, "these guys cache fuel all over the place."

A conveniently placed rock might be needed to stop these drums from rolling away.

And the Dehaviland Beaver might not be the only float plane to appear on the layout. The Beaver is an old, iconic bush plane, and I wanted one to appear on the layout in classic Department of Lands and Forests colours, but for more modern scenes a Cessna Caravan, as shown in the photo, might be more appropriate. Our adventurer tells us it's quite a good plane. 

And it turns out an HO one is available at Shapeways, so saws won't be the only thing I'll be looking for.

Gap spanned

It turns out I made the trestle a little too tight fitting. I had to trim back the gap a bit - right down to the pink foam substructure - and square up the opening.

There was also considerable sanding done on the bridge stringers. But once all that fiddling was done, the bridge finally slipped into place.

One thing you can't see in the photo are the track guard rails that were added once the bridge was installed.

You can see I removed the railing from the refuge as rolling stock crashed into it. I guess this means it isn't much of a refuge, but it should be good as a fishing platform :-)

I need to fix the trestle's colour. It looked ok when I was staining it, but in this lighting condition it looks all washed out.

The Pickle Factory is still being sold

You may remember from 2020 that I wrote a few posts on a discussion Martin and I were having about how the E. L. Moore Brewery kit was the basis for the Pickle Factory, which is now Walthers Factory in their Trainline series. I must credit Martin for bringing this all to my attention.

It turns out new Walthers Factory kits are still for sale. Last week I bought some stuff from Credit Valley Railway, and they included Walthers January 2022 flyer along with my order. Lo and behold, right there on page 46 is an ad for the kit, on sale for 25.98 USD. Maybe it's still in production, maybe this is a final clear out? Who knows, but there it is.

Loonar trestle

Along with the dock, the trestle below the rock face is the other major permanent wooden structure on the module. I had the urge to build it, so I did.

It's built up from odds and ends of balsa and HO scale dimensional lumber. The size of the components is all compromise as it needs to look reasonable in N, HO, and OO, and maybe even with some O rolling stock that's on the small side.

Naturally I used E. L. Moore's Timber trestles article that appears in Kalmbach's Bridges & Buildings for Model Railroads as a construction guide, but my weird framing is my own fault. For the small fry rolling stock that it'll support, it's not too unreasonable. Although, the refuge looks a little rickety and, given the choice, I might jump in the water instead of standing on it as a loco trundles by :-)

And there's the span it's going to cross. So, painting, fitting, and blending in the scenery are up next.

There is always movement and action

At one model engineering exhibition in London a national newspaper reporter, alert for a new angle upon which to write, after looking for some time at the wide variety of scale model tramcars gliding over the tracks on the Tramway & Light Railway Society’s stand approached me and asked, ‘Why model tramcars and not model trains?’ ‘Simply because on a model tramcar layout there is always movement and action,’ I replied. ‘In the heyday of electric tramcars it was the slogan of many tramway undertakings that “There’s always a tram in sight”. While not wishing to decry model railways, when the model train has passed, there should be a scale pause before the next one appears, that is if correct timekeeping realism is to be observed. No such restrictions applied to tramcars, the streets always had a profusion of them.’ Duly impressed the reporter left our stand and next day I observed with interest that this theme had been developed to the extent of three-quarters of a column in The Times newspaper.

E. Jackson-Stevens explains the allure of model trams in the introduction of his book, Scale Model Electric Tramways and How to Model Them, 2nd printing, 1986, published by David & Charles Publishers. First published in 1972.

That’s the only statement I’ve seen in print that tram, aka streetcar, modelling might be worth pursuing because it’s fun, and not for the usual prosaic reasons that such a layout could easily fit in a tight space, or more closely mimic how the prototype actually functions.

Something more than a train set

Pyramid Pictures boasted a logo to equal Paramount or Metro-Goldwyn-Mayer - a disembodied eye above a pyramid, the Masonic symbol on the dollar bill. But the lot, occupying a stretch of the Estate, was equivalent to the follies on with eighteenth-century English nobility squandered pocket money. The studio was a backyard train set for a grown boy who wanted to wear a driver's hat and toot a whistle.

A fictional Raymond Chandler describing the backlot at a fictional Pyramid Pictures in Kim Newman's book, Something More Than Night.

This is the biggest electric train set a boy ever had!

The real Orson Welles surveying the backlot at the real RKO Pictures.