Sunday, 15 December 2013

Hunter River Mill Update

Here are some updated photos of the mill.  I suspect I will be stalled out on this one for a while now as I need to make the many Purina signs as well as windows and doors.



Wednesday, 11 December 2013

Hunter River Feed Mill

A while back I decided that I wanted to build a model of the Hunter River feed mill, which was serviced by the PEI railroad.  The mill was serviced right up until 1989 and burned in 2000.  I have little memory of it.

After many back and fourth emails between myself, Chris Mears and Steve Hunter I received some great photos of the mill pre and post renovations which took place in late 1989.  Originally the mill was finished in ashpalt brick siding which was covered with blue tin.  The roof appears to be plain silver painted tin.

This is a link to some of Chris's photos:
http://princestreet.wordpress.com/category/pei-railway/borden-subdivision/hunter-river/

Here is where I am at.






The property itself is still owned by the same company however a much smaller complex currently exists today.  I took a drive out this past Sunday, hoping to measure the foundation, however it has been covered over so the building is roughly to scale...although I think I made the elevator too high.

Wednesday, 4 December 2013

Operating on the Bayside and Tidewater

I would really like to start posting on this again.  I think I might try to keep it to a weekly post from here on out.

In addition to Canadisle Rail just outside of Kensington, there is a second layout in Summerside which we routinely operate on.  Our group rotates between the two on Sunday nights.  Scott Jay models CP loosely in the 1950's-1960's and has a very nice operation in his basement - namely the Bayside and Tidewater.

Here are some photos which highlight the main areas of Scott's layout.


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Derwin's Drop



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Kenville






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Chappleton






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Tidewater Yard




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Stephenville







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Bayside Yard





The layout consists of two yards -  Bayside and Tidewater - as well as several trains, in no particular order:



Mainline Trains

West One - departs Bayside Yard, runs to Tidewater Yard.  The operator runs around his train and returns to Bayside Yard as West Two
East One - departs Tidewater Yard at the beginning of the session and runs to Bayside Yard where the operator runs around his train, returning to Tidewater Yard.

Locals

There is one local in each of the four towns -Chappleton-Kenville-Derwin's Drop-Stephenville- which set out cars for the two mainline freights and put away cars which are dropped off for the various industries.

Misc Trains

Milk Train - usually a string of wood reefers, hauled by two steam locomotives.  Scott runs this train at the beginning of the session, which starts and terminates in Wholinthol
US Interchange -starts mid session, basically picking up interchange cars from both yards.  It is hauled by three B&M RS-3's
Yard Transfer - takes place mid session between the two yards.
Coal Peddler - typically steam powered, usually runs to the mine in Derwin's Drop and terminates in Wholinthol


Clearly, operations were in mind when he designed this layout.  Unlike Derwin's Canadisle Rail, Scotts layout is not point to point, although he has the option to do so through an out-of-sight turnout.  Scott also has hidden staging in Wholinthol (hole in the wall) where the tracks pass out of sight into staging in his work space.