Building the Rutherford Creek module gave me a bit of a bug for scenery and payout building so I’ve decided to go for it again, this time with a project that’s a little more ambitious.
I have few goals for this build. First due to the current state of the world, I want to build it (at least for the foreseeable future) with materials that I already have at home. The intent is to make zero trips to the hardware store or hobby store, which is closed for now anyway.
The second goal was to build a module that would be of good use operationally for our budding Free-mo-N club, FreemoNtario. We managed to put together a group of modules that was about 15ft long, for a recent show in Copetown, Ontario. It looked great and operated flawlessly. However with just one track we were only able to run one small train back and forth. For what we were trying to accomplish that day it was perfect, but I want to contribute a module that will allow it to be a little more operator friendly. In this case I’ve designed a set of two, 5ft long modules with a passing track. They are skewed so that the track will pass through in a nice long lazy S curve. The useful portion of the passing track is about 6ft long. Once complete we’ll be able to run two trains back and forth.
The third goal, and most important to me, is pay homage to a section of right of way in my Mom’s home town of Lake Cowichan BC. The Esquimalt & Nanaimo Railway on Vancouver Island had a branch into Lake Cowichan which, starting in 1910, hauled countless loads of logs from several loadouts to tidewater and mills along the E&N. In it’s heyday four trains of logs left Lake Cowichan every day, plus passenger and local freight service. But like so many towns, the industry died off and things slowed down. The last train out of Lake Cowichan was in 1984, I was 7.
I spent a lot of time in Lake Cowichan as a kid. Grandpa’s house was always a treat. They lived 4 houses up from a railway crossing on the line which was visible from Grandpa’s front window. If I climbed the couch and pressed my face into the glass I could see the crossing down the street. I had to run as by the time I heard the horn it was almost too late. Every day (sometimes a couple of times a day) Grandpa would walk me down to the tracks and we would walk to “the orange bridge”. After abandonment we would walk on the tracks. Grandpa would warn me not to step on the wet black ties as the creosote would get on my shoes. To this day when I smell creosote it reminds me of him. The river was pretty swift (and cold!) but it had a sharp turn right there which created a perfect shallow calm spot where we would swim in the summer. The rails were lifted not long after abandonment and now the right way and bridge are at the trailhead of the Trans-Canada Trail.
I’ve always wanted to model this section of the line, but there’s one big problem. I live in Ontario now. I have a few pictures I took as a kid, and there is the odd picture on the web, but not much as this section of the line isn’t really very notable. Most of the pictures I could find were of people tubing down the river with the bridge in the back ground. Google Earth was helpful as well but I still didn’t really have what I needed. On the suggestion of
@CNR5529 , I found a Facebook group of Vancouver Island railroad enthusiasts and reached out. A fellow named Steve Jackson replied and was interested in helping me out. Boy did he ever! Steve lives near town and when he would venture into town to get the mail, he would go to the bridge and take detail shots of anything I needed. He even made excellent basic measurements for me! With this crucial information I was in business and just like Rutherford Creek, I started with the bridge!
But first some reference photos of the area.
Here is a google earth screen shot. The blue area is the portion that the module will represent, with the key scenic elements being the railroad crossing and river crossing shown outlined in yellow:
This is the view of the crossing from Grandpas house. Its not very exciting but it creates context. The railroad crossing was behind the stop sign:
The is the view standing at the crossing itself. This looks toward the orange bridge:
Here is the same view only from on the other side of the tracks:
As we travel down the road with the ROW on the left, the bridge barely comes into view. It never used to be so over grown.
And of course here is the orange bridge, complete with the aforementioned tubers:
This is a screen shot from a drone video I found:
Looking through. Now it's been orange for as long as I can recall. When I was 7 the bridge was 50 or 60 years old. Maybe it was just rusty, but I'm pretty sure it was painted.
Each end of the bridge is supported by concrete abutments, and a pile trestle connects it with land on either side:
Steve sent me dozens of amazing pics so i won't post them all here but just so you can see the quality of the reference photos, I'll post a few.
Keeping in mind my plan to not visit the hobby store, I was very fortunate that I had pretty much everything for this project in my own store in the basement. Ages ago I bought a Central Valley truss bridge kit with this project in mind. The Cv kit is longer than i need so it was modified to better represent the prototype buy removing one of the sections :
Based on plans from the CP Sig website, and Steve's photos/drawings, I was able to build a pretty good replica of the two pile trestles. The piles are dollar store dowels that I chicked in my drill and sanded a taper into. The other lumber is Mt Albert Scale Lumber. All are stained with India Ink. There are 282 bolt/washer castings applied here:
I also made molds so I could pour the concrete abutments. It's clear they were formed using dimensional lumber, so I used Evergreen V groove siding for my forms. This way I'll have 3d forming lines. I made templates on my computer and cut them to fit. I opted to make them two parts with the caps cast as separate pieces for ease of de-molding. They are currently full of Plaster of Paris and will set for a couple of days.
I built the modules from scrap plywood I had in the garage. Even though Rutherford Creek was so small, I still had to buy full sheets, so between the leftovers from that project and what I found in the garage, I had enough to complete both modules.
Now, the prototype was a single track main through this section of the railroad, but I'm using a little bit of modelers license in order to make the module more useful for the club. this is intended to be a passing track so I'll be using #8 and #10 turnouts. The curved one at the bridge will be a 36/24r #8, and the the straight one at the other end is a #10. I have the #10 already. The curved one I have to build.
That's where I am so far. Next up will be some terra-forming and I need to paint and weather the bridge so I can assemble it with track and massage it into place.
Thanks for folowing.
Craig
