January 5, 2006

At the beginning of another new year it feels like a time to look back as well as forward. So no story lines. Just some observations on those things accomplished and a quick peek at some things that are yet to be.

We finished the engine facility at Grande Prairie. This was a ‘must do’ because of the pressure put on us by an up coming open house. Wonderful how these things become a stimulation towards progress. True. I don’t think visitors who drop by once a year would really notice that there had been nothing done, but I would, and there’s the rub.

And we finally built in an operation “Y” to turn our trains. Extra 1390 demonstrate clearly that trains do actually run east to west at Winter Valley. This, after two or three years of running West to East following the laying of track. Gives one a whole new perspective on things and so the camera came out again for some different shots.

Those SW1200rs were by far the biggest project of 2005. Having never taken a saw to one of my engines before, even in N scale, and then to do two at once. Aarrrrrg! There was some frayed nerves showing and that’s even before I fired up that airbrush for the first time. Well, I’m happy with the way they turned out. Engines you don’t see in all the other large-scale pictures.

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Stepping into the future just a bit. The larger town of Pearson is beginning to take shape. The streetlights are on and people are busy in the IGA grocery as well as the hairdressers just next door. The owner of the yellow sports car is clearly caught is some sort of a time warp though. Not only has that car not even been invented yet but it’s also signaling for a perpetual left turn. This will change when a more appropriate dicast model can be found to take its place.

Not all the buildings are Piko products. That’s the building with the awning. Although they’re nice in their way. The grocery store is built with MDF and ‘sculptured’ with layers of photoboard and styrene. I found the original in Carberry Manitoba during a search for Cornerstone style buildings. Once you’ve built the first one of your own they get easy and you’ll never just buy one again.

Don’t forget to have a forest of poles in your city scenes. Most of us look right past them in our real lives but they’re really there. Lots of them.

Out towards the station the scenery has been finished on one side of the tracks. An old man feeds the pigeons under the trees, a young railfan waits for the afternoon commuter train and we can just see a couple waiting for friends to arrive.

The station platform is finished as well, except for some repairs that are being made at the far end, and the coke machine is full. Keep an eye out for those. They can usually be found among a selection of fridge magnets. The home made semaphore is typical of the time and place. It works as it should and the control rods will be motorized, below the benchwork, before to long.

There’s little to see at the farthest edge of town except for a few railway sheds. This speeder shed is also the temporary shelter for a conductor starting his shift. It’s easier for him to get a lift, by tractor no less, to this unscheduled stop than to drive all the way into town. He’s even managed to put a couple of old tires together and plant a small garden of Petunias and Marigolds. The prototype is/was in Cold Lake Alberta.

The Pearson grain terminal towers behind him and the leaves on the nearby trees (Sage cuttings) suggest there will soon be plenty of activity over that way.

The auxiliary power station can be seen through the trees that grew up beside the track. This facility provides emergency power for the grain elevator and, when needed, the local hotel. The shop is patterned after a small building near Kelowna BC that served as a pickers cabin at one time and since has found a home as a farm storage shed of some kind. I just liked the shape.

The trees are Sage, as usual, because I can get them for nothing out beside the highway just south of here. Some of these are 5 years old now and are in as good a condition as when they were first cut. The ‘leaves’ were never green, and besides, it’s always early Fall in Winter Valley. I have never sprayed them either.

There’s always a little gardening to do.

There are always a few of these homes in small prairie towns. In fact, Bev and I spent the first year of our married life in one just like it. Twenty three feet long and eight feet wide. Pink and silver too. Those great looking drapes came out of Sears catalog. Hmmm. I think ours did as well.

This one’s made out of a couple of 4x4’s covered with sheet aluminum. The cover over the deck is a plastic document protector and the floor is doll house floor tile. The fence is made out of stir sticks.

Now your pretty much up to date. Until the next time we’ll see you all at www.mylargescale.com