Hey Gang,
Sorry for the photos disappearing.
We used Photobucket over the years to post our photos to for our blog.
They have now decided to sort of hold them hostage unless we pay to use their services (which is a crazy amount of money as we don't make any money with this blog).
So we are slowly removing the photos and reposting.
That is why the photos have red x's in some of the blogs.
Please hang in there. Newer blog posts will have photos and then we are working our way back to fix the others. Yes, it is a slow process.
Thanks for checking in!
Stay tuned! :)
In the meantime, check this out :) LOL Who knew the Trailer Park Boys liked G-Scale too! LOL!! http://www.trailerparkboys.com/video/going-off-the-rails-on-the-swayzie-train/
Tuesday, September 12, 2017
Sunday, July 23, 2017
New Heavyweight Passenger Cars for our Steamy - 07-23-17
Blog Entry by Bob - Photos by Bob & Mary
Heavyweight Passenger Cars
With all our rolling stock being from the modern age, we needed something from "Steamy" the locomotive's time for him to pull. After riding on the St. Jacob's steam train in heavyweight passenger cars, Mary and I decided that we would try to find them for our layout. Being that Aristocraft made them and they are no longer in production we knew we had a challenge on our hands. There are 7 in the sets but we could only find 3 of 4 of them together from sellers in the Canada. We found some sellers in the U.S., but trying to get them across the border would be very expensive. A gentleman contacted us from about an hour and a half from our home saying he had 6 of them. We withdrew the money and drove over to meet him. Once we were there he said he found the 7th car in his possession. All the cars needed were kadee couplers and I am switching the lights from track power to battery power. Hopefully soon we can set "Steamy" loose with his brand new passenger cars.
As you can see, MR. BOB is jumping for joy for the find of his newest train cars! LOL
LOOKING FOR NEW OR USED G-SCALE ITEMS? Check out WINONA GARDEN RAILWAY - will ship outside of Canada www.wgrr.ca
TAKE A TRIP ON A STEAM TRAIN: http://waterloocentralrailway.com/
Heavyweight Passenger Cars
With all our rolling stock being from the modern age, we needed something from "Steamy" the locomotive's time for him to pull. After riding on the St. Jacob's steam train in heavyweight passenger cars, Mary and I decided that we would try to find them for our layout. Being that Aristocraft made them and they are no longer in production we knew we had a challenge on our hands. There are 7 in the sets but we could only find 3 of 4 of them together from sellers in the Canada. We found some sellers in the U.S., but trying to get them across the border would be very expensive. A gentleman contacted us from about an hour and a half from our home saying he had 6 of them. We withdrew the money and drove over to meet him. Once we were there he said he found the 7th car in his possession. All the cars needed were kadee couplers and I am switching the lights from track power to battery power. Hopefully soon we can set "Steamy" loose with his brand new passenger cars.
As you can see, MR. BOB is jumping for joy for the find of his newest train cars! LOL
LOOKING FOR NEW OR USED G-SCALE ITEMS? Check out WINONA GARDEN RAILWAY - will ship outside of Canada www.wgrr.ca
TAKE A TRIP ON A STEAM TRAIN: http://waterloocentralrailway.com/
Sunday, July 2, 2017
Rebuilding the layout - Part 3 in G-Scale Garden Train Railway Land - 07-02-17
Photos & Blog Entry by Mr. Bob
We are getting really excited with the last piece of the lower loop coming together. The retaining wall at the end of the pond is coming along slowly. The hole that will become the pond keeps getting bigger and bigger to supply the dirt to make berms. The patio stones weigh 80lbs each and are exhausting to carry around in the hot sun. The weather has been strange this week with sporadic rain showers and hail. With the long weekend coming up, I am hoping to put in the final push and get the trains running again.
We are getting really excited with the last piece of the lower loop coming together. The retaining wall at the end of the pond is coming along slowly. The hole that will become the pond keeps getting bigger and bigger to supply the dirt to make berms. The patio stones weigh 80lbs each and are exhausting to carry around in the hot sun. The weather has been strange this week with sporadic rain showers and hail. With the long weekend coming up, I am hoping to put in the final push and get the trains running again.
Sunday, June 25, 2017
Rebuilding the Layout - Part 2 - 06-25-17
Blog & Photos By Mr. Bob
We have the top leg of track that runs to the garage window where the rail cars are stored. The upper loop will circle the pond after it is dug out and the independent lower loop is for running longer trains that do not like climbing the grade. I re-sloped the top and upper track to be less than 2%, while the lower loop will be less than 1%. The double cross-over can have the two loops independent or open things up to have a giant loop. I am 3/4 of the way done that bottom loop with a small berm and patio stones to lay left to do. I still need to fine-tune the track slopes to fix spots where the posts have settled. The last picture is of our new purchase "Steamy Ray Vaughan". We were able to track down a live steam locomotive for the layout. No bells, lights, whistles nor remote control on this one. Once you build up steam and throw the lever forward it takes off. Mary and I are more excited than ever to finish the first loop so we can let it run free.
We have the top leg of track that runs to the garage window where the rail cars are stored. The upper loop will circle the pond after it is dug out and the independent lower loop is for running longer trains that do not like climbing the grade. I re-sloped the top and upper track to be less than 2%, while the lower loop will be less than 1%. The double cross-over can have the two loops independent or open things up to have a giant loop. I am 3/4 of the way done that bottom loop with a small berm and patio stones to lay left to do. I still need to fine-tune the track slopes to fix spots where the posts have settled. The last picture is of our new purchase "Steamy Ray Vaughan". We were able to track down a live steam locomotive for the layout. No bells, lights, whistles nor remote control on this one. Once you build up steam and throw the lever forward it takes off. Mary and I are more excited than ever to finish the first loop so we can let it run free.
Interested in purchasing your own Live Steam Engine? See www.wgrr.ca :)
Sunday, June 18, 2017
Rebuilding the Layout PART 1 - 06-18-17
Photos & Blog Entry by Bob
Happy Father's Day everyone!
These are pictures of the rebuilding and expansion of the layout. I picked up some lumber to start erecting the second loop. We purchased a load of 24x24 inch patio stones from one of Mary's co-workers for the ground work and started digging out the pond to get dirt to make berms. It is a race against time to get the lower loop complete as the summer heat will soon be here, making working outside difficult.
Happy Father's Day everyone!
These are pictures of the rebuilding and expansion of the layout. I picked up some lumber to start erecting the second loop. We purchased a load of 24x24 inch patio stones from one of Mary's co-workers for the ground work and started digging out the pond to get dirt to make berms. It is a race against time to get the lower loop complete as the summer heat will soon be here, making working outside difficult.
Sunday, June 4, 2017
When a tree falls in the forest does anybody hear & Steamy - B&M 2017 - 06-04-17
(Photos by Bob & Mary - Blog Entry by Mary)
So, backing up the bus (or reversing the train) for a moment, at the back of our yard is this tree on the corner of the CN land and vacant lot. Over the past year we noticed it slowly tilting towards our yard. Fall 2016 I noticed this one particular branch was hanging over our newly planted bushes at the back of the property. I had a bad feeling about it. "No, no, no, it won't fall" Mr. Bob explained. After much persuation we did some chopping and trimming so that it was way above the bush line. I told him this way we could see if it was continuing to fall.
Fast forward to a couple of weekends ago on Victoria Day. As a birthday gift for my father-in-law (Mr. Bob's dad) the family took a trip up to St. Jacobs, Ontario to take a ride on a live steam train. (Waterloo Central Railway) What an amazing time! I had been on a train before, but that was on a VIA from Toronto, Ontario to Ottawa, Ontario on a Grade 8 Class Trip. We were told that the train car we were sitting in was from the 1920's (and was featured on the CBC hit TV show MURDOCH MYSTERIES - LOVED how it creeked and bounced around. LOL!! We got to walk around and move from car to car. On the return trip, the train stopped and a bunch of us got off the train. They threw it in reverse and then all steam ahead it roared past us, twice. They did this so we could take photographs and videos. This made me even more excited about purchasing/owning our very own Live Steam G-Scale Engine.
Amazing thing happened, once we got back I went on YouTube and looked around at videos for Waterloo Central Railway and someone who was watching our train go by when we went over the trestle, actually recorded the train we were on and you can see Mr. Bob and I at the extreme far-left of the observation car - Mr. Bob has his camera out the window and I'm the short one looking out. LMAO!!!! Too funny!!!!
Found some more videos from that day. Someone had their camera placed on the tracks as the train went over it. Someone else took video from outside the train. So neat!
About a week later, I get up during a work day like any other work day, was pouring the coffees that we take to work and peered out the window, low and behold that tree at the back of the yard decided it had enough being up in the air and boom it was on the ground. We rushed out as I knew I had to take photos for the blog. It crashed over a section of Mr. Bob's track. Freaky thing, the night before, Mr. Bob decided to go out and do some work on the track and had removed the track from that section. How crazy is that? So instead of working on our train set, we had the task of removing this portion of tree without it crushing the existing bush line. I am so impressed with Mr. Bob as he was able to do it with an electric chain saw. lol!!! The only injuries sustained (besides sore muscles) was a broken ladder rung when one of the big branches came down and hit the ladder (lucky for Mr. Bob it didn't tip the ladder) but did destroy the bottom of it and he hopped off.
In between all that, one evening when Mr. Bob was off to the movies I received an email from John at Winona Garden Trains. He had a lead for a live steam engine - the crazy thing was, it was the EXACT one I had been dreaming of: an Accucraft Canadian National (which I am told is hard to find) and here is the kicker, the price, was the EXACT amount Mr. Bob had saved up. We were thinking we had to save over $4000.00 - $5000.00 to own but the price came in well below that amount. The Universe was on our side!! WooWoo!! :)
Now we are back to our regular scheduled program of working on the train track. The plan is to make a second loop. Mr. Bob had to disconnect our original loop and shift things over in order to add the second track. This is time consuming and we have to work on it in between the rain storms. Mr. Bob is more determined to get this job complete as he is eager to run our Steam Engine. We joked last night after dinner looking over the yard and the loop, I said we should name the engine "STEAMY" Ray Vaughan or maybe "Mr. McSTEAMY". LOL!!! Anyways, that is all for now. Enjoy the photos. :)
So, backing up the bus (or reversing the train) for a moment, at the back of our yard is this tree on the corner of the CN land and vacant lot. Over the past year we noticed it slowly tilting towards our yard. Fall 2016 I noticed this one particular branch was hanging over our newly planted bushes at the back of the property. I had a bad feeling about it. "No, no, no, it won't fall" Mr. Bob explained. After much persuation we did some chopping and trimming so that it was way above the bush line. I told him this way we could see if it was continuing to fall.
Fast forward to a couple of weekends ago on Victoria Day. As a birthday gift for my father-in-law (Mr. Bob's dad) the family took a trip up to St. Jacobs, Ontario to take a ride on a live steam train. (Waterloo Central Railway) What an amazing time! I had been on a train before, but that was on a VIA from Toronto, Ontario to Ottawa, Ontario on a Grade 8 Class Trip. We were told that the train car we were sitting in was from the 1920's (and was featured on the CBC hit TV show MURDOCH MYSTERIES - LOVED how it creeked and bounced around. LOL!! We got to walk around and move from car to car. On the return trip, the train stopped and a bunch of us got off the train. They threw it in reverse and then all steam ahead it roared past us, twice. They did this so we could take photographs and videos. This made me even more excited about purchasing/owning our very own Live Steam G-Scale Engine.
Amazing thing happened, once we got back I went on YouTube and looked around at videos for Waterloo Central Railway and someone who was watching our train go by when we went over the trestle, actually recorded the train we were on and you can see Mr. Bob and I at the extreme far-left of the observation car - Mr. Bob has his camera out the window and I'm the short one looking out. LMAO!!!! Too funny!!!!
Found some more videos from that day. Someone had their camera placed on the tracks as the train went over it. Someone else took video from outside the train. So neat!
About a week later, I get up during a work day like any other work day, was pouring the coffees that we take to work and peered out the window, low and behold that tree at the back of the yard decided it had enough being up in the air and boom it was on the ground. We rushed out as I knew I had to take photos for the blog. It crashed over a section of Mr. Bob's track. Freaky thing, the night before, Mr. Bob decided to go out and do some work on the track and had removed the track from that section. How crazy is that? So instead of working on our train set, we had the task of removing this portion of tree without it crushing the existing bush line. I am so impressed with Mr. Bob as he was able to do it with an electric chain saw. lol!!! The only injuries sustained (besides sore muscles) was a broken ladder rung when one of the big branches came down and hit the ladder (lucky for Mr. Bob it didn't tip the ladder) but did destroy the bottom of it and he hopped off.
In between all that, one evening when Mr. Bob was off to the movies I received an email from John at Winona Garden Trains. He had a lead for a live steam engine - the crazy thing was, it was the EXACT one I had been dreaming of: an Accucraft Canadian National (which I am told is hard to find) and here is the kicker, the price, was the EXACT amount Mr. Bob had saved up. We were thinking we had to save over $4000.00 - $5000.00 to own but the price came in well below that amount. The Universe was on our side!! WooWoo!! :)
Now we are back to our regular scheduled program of working on the train track. The plan is to make a second loop. Mr. Bob had to disconnect our original loop and shift things over in order to add the second track. This is time consuming and we have to work on it in between the rain storms. Mr. Bob is more determined to get this job complete as he is eager to run our Steam Engine. We joked last night after dinner looking over the yard and the loop, I said we should name the engine "STEAMY" Ray Vaughan or maybe "Mr. McSTEAMY". LOL!!! Anyways, that is all for now. Enjoy the photos. :)
Sunday, May 7, 2017
Spring Pond in G-Scale Garden Train Land - 05-07-17
Spring Pond
With the change of the seasons from winter to spring, it has brought a lot of rain. The basement sump pump has caused the backyard to flood. The small depression behind the garage has become a temporary pond.
Not letting an opportunity go to waste, I brought out the 'summer-bridge' and drove a train down to check out the water. When things dry up, I'm hoping to start digging and build up some berms and create a real pond.
With the change of the seasons from winter to spring, it has brought a lot of rain. The basement sump pump has caused the backyard to flood. The small depression behind the garage has become a temporary pond.
Not letting an opportunity go to waste, I brought out the 'summer-bridge' and drove a train down to check out the water. When things dry up, I'm hoping to start digging and build up some berms and create a real pond.
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