May 2012 Building a Canadian cylindrical hopper in 1/29th scale. One of the things on my bucket list was to build a ‘Trudeau hopper’ in 1/29th scale but it was a crazy great gift from my son that convinced me it was possible. Finding a foundation that was the right length – and had great… Continue reading »
April 2012 Wireless Control for the Winter Valley It was a long time coming and it will be a while before it’s all done but eventually all 9 of my diesel engines will be equipped with ‘radio control” by AirWire and controlled by the new T5000 wireless throttles. Wireless thinking started a few years… Continue reading »
Nov 2011 Returning a favour – Leasing power to the NAR Part 2. I greeted the world with a massive headache and I couldn’t even find my watch. I’d leased a taxi to get me to McLennan and had no idea if I was late or early. A call to the desk set me straight. … Continue reading »
October 2011 A Brief Visit From the Past. There wasn’t anything unusual about this September day. It broke as early as it usually dose at this time of year and by 7 AM it was light enough so I could see my way down the path that lead past the park and into the small… Continue reading »
July 2011 Returning a favour – Leasing power to the NAR Part 1. Over the past few years, with the boom in the oil and lumber industries, the Winter Valley Regional Railway has had to lease seasonal power wherever they could find it. This power was logged in using a complex horsepower – hours –… Continue reading »
February 2011 A Party For Reagan I run into ‘Train Nuts” in my line of work, hell I’m one myself, and they’re particularly prevalent and around the Winter Valley. This modern short line railway offers friendly access to people and property; we run ‘traditional’ LTC (less that carload) trains rather than those boring unit… Continue reading »
October 20 2005 A few new friends in Winter Valley It may have started out to be just another day but something special was about to happen. We waited in the shade down at the old freight shed and talked excitedly about what our first sighting of 5006 would be like. The 7 th SD40-2… Continue reading »
15 July 2005 Climbing out of a sleeping bag at 0630 on a coolish fall morning isn’t normally a big deal but after hiking up this far, just the day before, the thinner air and the smell of an early frost makes a nice warm pocket a hard place to leave. Photo 1 An old… Continue reading »
10 March, 2005 A trip into the high country. The main line north of Winter Valley climes slowly and steadily towards High Pass (the highest elevation on the WVRR) before dropping slowly into the mining country around Colder. This is not Rogers Pass, or even the Yellowhead, but it’s high enough to rate it’s own… Continue reading »