Kicking 2021 to the curb

In the middle of Thrifty's construction

I’m never quite sure where to begin these year end retrospectives, but I guess listing the 10 most viewed posts in 2021 seems like a good place to start. So, here they are, from the 10th most viewed to #1:

#10: Repairing E. L. Moore’s Central Warehouse

#9: Cardboard thoughts in The Art of Architectural Modelling in Paper by T. A. Richardson

#8: Master index for the “E. L. Moore’s Legacy in the 21st Century” series

#7: E. L. Moore’s Ma’s Place: Original vs Kit

#6: Mr. Rogers meets E. L. Moore at the Ramsey Journal Building

#5: Did E. L. Moore’s track plan actually work?

#4: E. L. Moore’s Legacy in the 21st Century: HOJ-half-POJ

#3: The Art Metropole is finished… well, sort of

#2: E. L. Moore’s Legacy in the 21st Century: The Elizabeth Valley Railroad

#1: Was E. L. Moore’s Enskale & Hoentee RR inspired by the Gleish Valley RR?

Balancing the Pietenpol Air Camper

My special interest is making miniature buildings, and I finished a few this year, although not as many as I thought I would back in January:

Steinberg’s supermarket that was located in Cedarbrae Mall (ok, this was one I started in earnest in late 2020 and finished in the first couple of days in 2021, so even though it’s in the list based on a technicality, I like it, so here it is :-) )

Thrifty’s jeans store that was located on Yonge St.

The Art Metropole, also located on Yonge St.

The 30Squares HQ, which isn’t on Yonge St, and only exists in my mind.

Bachmann’s Contemporary House was built straight from the box.

Ocean Lookout built from an Atlas Elevated Gate Tower kit

Gluing down the roof of the Contemporary House

Like 2020, I’ve posted a lot, what with the pandemic encouraging me to stay home, or at least in nearby wilder parts of the province. Other than the E. L. Moore model restoration work, and chasing down the elusive Space Hopper, I’ve felt my heart wasn’t in many of this year’s posts or projects. However, over the last few months I’ve felt my interests coming back to life. I’m finding layout building and pursuing odd projects quite pleasant. I’m hoping I can bottle whatever caused the change (I think the pages of Voie Libre and the videos at Boomer Dioramas had something to do with it) and drink from it in the new year whenever my spirits are lagging. That’ll be good to have on hand for the wintry pandemic months ahead.

Gluing the 30Squares HQ's walls together

Although, I don’t think even guzzling down the entire elixir will perk up my enthusiasm for the E. L. Moore book project. I’ve tried a few times to work on the manuscript, but whenever I do I have a sense I’m wasting my time on a lengthy and expensive project for which there’ll be little interest. But, I will continue to work on the E. L. Moore dioramas as I quite enjoy that, and I think photos of them will help further show what good work E. L. Moore did. If Google shuts down Blogger, and the E. L. Moore posts disappear along with all my others, then so be it.

Creating the cliff face on the Loonar Module

Predictions for the year ahead are always troublesome, but I’m hoping 2022 will be The Year of the Layout(s) and I’ll continue riding the wave of layout inspiration started in 2021.

Well, that’s it for me. Thank you for taking the time to drop by here throughout the year. Best wishes to you and yours for 2022!

Happy New Year!

Workbench Scenes: Fire hydrants & Parking meters

Fire hydrants & parking meters being painted.

The layout needs a lot of 'street stuff' to make it credible: mailboxes, sewer grates, manhole covers, trash cans, newspaper boxes, street signs, traffic signs, fire hydrants, phone booths, parking meters, bike racks, and so on and so on. One or two of these things won't do; it would be like a 'forest' with just one or two trees. I need these things in bulk. 

I found some 8 packs of fire hydrants made by Atlas that looked pretty close to those along some TTC routes of interest, so I bought a couple packs. Along with some miscellaneous ones I already owned - which can be used to represent hydrants along older streets - I think I'll have enough hydrants to make the layout seem like it has at least rudimentary fire protection :-) The 6 parking meters are Walthers items I found in my spares box. Ocean Boulevard isn't open to automobile traffic - much like King St. - so the meters will be installed on side streets. No, I won't be modelling HO scale change for a dollar :-)

Workbench Scenes: N gauge test track

Kato powered chassis zooming around test loop.

I was rooting around in the crawl space and came across my old lumpy loop N gauge test track I used to test the EVRR loco and cars. The loop was in a bit of a sorry state, so I decided to clean it, fix it, and give it a try with my N scale fleet to see how they were running - and for a bit of simple fun :-) Fleet is a grand word for a Bachmann 0-6-0 loco, a TTC PCC streetcar, and a Kato 11-104 powered chassis. Luckily the 'fleet' still worked, so I polished all the members up a bit with a dusting off and lubrications all round. It's nice to see these running.

Workbench Scenes: PCC maintenance

The PCC fleet has been neglected for some time and I'm in the mood to get it back in operation.

There are 4 Bowser PCCs and 1 Con-Cor. They all need a bit of lubrication and some wheel cleaning. Of the Bowsers, one has never been run and is waiting for me to install its DCC decoder, which has been sitting on a shelf unopened for a few years! Another has either a broken or malformed trolley pole: the loop for the trolley rope is broken and needs to be repaired before a rope can be added. And speaking of trolley pole ropes, so far I've only added one to one of the Bowsers; the rest still need them installed so they'll look right on the layout. And speaking of looking right, I want to add ad cards to the outside of these things as to my eye they don't look right without them. Throw in a bit of running on the test track and it looks like the car barn will be busy for awhile.