There is an exciting line up of clinics available at Trains and Tulips. Ranging from the history of some of the Ottawa Valley’s earliest railways to the installation of lights and sound in your model locolmotives. Need to spruce up your scenery, maybe you’ll find just the technique you need. Background a little blah, come learn how many of the great backdrops you’ll be seeing on the layout tours were accomplished.
As well as the formal clinics, the HO Trekkers from the Ottawa Valley HOTRAK modular club will be working their magic on a couple of modules throughout the weekend.
Each clinic will be presented twice to help prevent the frustration of having your two “must attend” choices on at the same time. There are 4 classrooms available each capable of holding approx 35 people. A standard time slot will be one hour but some clinics may be longer.
The schedule for clinics will be available near the end of March giving you lots of time to plan your weekend. Check out the descriptions that follow and start making some hard choices.
PROTOTYPE/HISTORICAL
The Brockville, Westport & Seldom See Money
A Trip Up The Line In Historic Photos And Maps presented by Bob Moore
Bob Moore first chanced upon the Brockville, Westport & Sault Ste Marie Railway quite by chance. One Sunday morning back in the summer of 1989, he was cutting the grass at the Smiths Falls Railway Museum when his lawnmower ran into a 33' piece of railway track. Looking on the side of the rail, he saw the letters "BW&SSM Cammell Sheffield Steel 1886". From this chance first encounter, Bob has since searched for information on the 'B&W" from Library & Archives Canada, to the small museums and public libraries that dot the route of the original line, having discussions with the old-timers that travelled and worked on the line. In over 100 black-and-white photos and maps, we'll go back in time from 1886 to 1952 and take a tour up this small railway from Brockville, Ontario to the end-of-line at Westport, 45 miles away. Along the way, we'll see how this little branch line contributed to the economy and the development of the Eastern Ontario countryside, get a close look at the little 4-4-0s and 2-6-0s that travelled the line and talk about the dreams and aspirations of the person who single-handedly developed the line. A good opportunity for those of us who model the smaller railway lines to pick up some ideas on modelling those small trackside stations, or a trackplan or two on junctions with some main lines.
Bob has been interested in Canadian railway history for over 25 years, has his own website which details some of his findings, and is a member of the Ottawa Railway History Circle. An avid modeller in "12-inches-to-the-foot" gauge, Bob is an active member of the Dirty Hands Club of the Bytown Railway Society. He's also an active member of Ottawa Valley HOTRAK, the G-Men, and an avid railfan. You can find out more about Bob's history passions by visiting his website at www.railwaybob.com.
The Canada Atlantic Railway
It’s history and a railfan tour of the western division, then and now presented by Ron Newby
Ron Newby chanced upon this railway when he received the book “Over the hills to Georgian Bay” for Christmas one year. Ron always had an interest in logging operations and this line was what he was looking for in model railway. Planning to build the section between Ottawa and Depot Harbour Ron started researching the line. Further research on the line became a project in itself and he continues to research the line whenever he can. Ron also has a collection of Canada Atlantic paperwork that includes timetables, passes, photos and other related paperwork. Ron is also a member of the Ottawa Railway History Circle.
After starting to build a layout depicting the western division of the Canada Atlantic Railway and realizing it wasn’t going to meet his needs, another long time interest finally got the best of him and he ripped out the western division of the CAR and started an On30 railway called the Clearwater Valley Railway Co. set in British Columbia. To find out more on the Clearwater Valley Railway Co. please visit www.cvry.ca. Ron is also a member of a four member crew that displays a HO modular railway at various shows in Ontario and eastern Quebec.
Historical Ottawa from a Railways Perspective
A slide presentation showing steam and early diesels of both the CNR and the CPR around Ottawa presented by Bob Meldrum. Bob is an officer of the C. Robert Craig Memorial Library and will be using slides from the library’s extensive collection.
OPERATIONS
Planning for Operations - How to get ready to introduce operations on your layout (applies regardless of method chosen (car cards, computers, etc) Doug Matheson has introduced computer-based operations to three large model railways in Ottawa; a 1948 era Canadian Northern, a 1942 era Rio Grande Southern narrow gauge and an outdoor railway that alternates operating sessions between narrow gauge and standard gauge. He has also written a beginner’s guide to a commercially available freight car forwarding system so is well versed in the planning required to introduce operations to a model railway.
A Car card operating system - Using a Microsoft Access 97 database. Bruce Leckie developed this system for a future S&BL. The clinic will explain some brief personal history of operation on the S&BL, from an early car card, through computer switchlists to a re-invented car card system and progress into a demonstration of setup for the Access program, along with comments on why various parameters worked for him. This clinic will be combined with A Tour of the Sheridan and Bruce Lake Railway- PowerPoint Presentation. This is a town by town, industry by industry tour of the old S&BL, followed by a photo gallery slideshow. The S&BL was recently featured in Canadian Railway Modeller magazine.
Automated Freight Car Forwarding - A roundtable on the pros and cons of the different methods available to automate car movements. Are you confused by the different methods available to generate car movements? This session will present a brief overview of the different methods and their pros and cons. Questions from the participants are encouraged.
Lessons Learned Working on the Prototype - Michel Boucher explains how to add prototype actions to your operations to increase the level of realism in your Model Railway operations. More closely mimicking the actions of the real railways will increase your operating time and pleasure. Michel has spent a number of summers working on the Wakefield Steam Train and his model railways have been featured in Railroad Model Craftsman on several occasions.
SCENERY BUILDING
Background Painting with Chris Lyon - This is an extra charge clinic limited to 10 participants each session that will take a double time slot. The clinic will cost $60 for materials and participants will be able to keep their backdrop painting and their brush. Those wishing to attend must pre-pay during registration (please see the registration form). If both sessions are full, money will be refunded at the convention.
Chris Lyon has been a model railroader for more than 40 years. He enjoys all aspects of the hobby and has been actively involved with Ottawa Valley Associated Railroaders, NMRA Canada, several Ottawa Model Railroad Operating Groups. He has conducted clinics at conventions in Canada and the United States.
Chris has developed a simple technique to create effective backdrops. He has painted nine backdrops in the Ottawa area (many of which will be open for layout tours) and many others across Canada. He has demonstrated and taught his painting techniques to a number of fellow modellers and they have applied the method on their own model railroads. He has conducted clinics for the NMRA and the Craftsman Structures Show in Mansfield, Mass., USA. Chris is offering a two hour, hands on Clinic, teaching participants easy techniques using Acrylics. In this one lesson you will feel confident to create landscape vistas and mountain scenes covered with forests. The main feature is learning how to match an effective backdrop to your modeled ground cover and scenery.
You will learn how to create depth so the railroad continues into the backdrop to the horizon. Chris will provide group and personal assistance to each participant as the clinic progresses. He believes anyone can do it and do it quickly and he will show you how you can do it. Come join us and have some fun.
Note: a 2x4 backdrop board, paint and brushes will be provided to each participant. Participants will each be creating a backdrop that they can take home with them to use as a refresher when they start working on their own backdrop.
Realistic Asphalt Roads and Pine Trees - This is two mini-clinics presented by Jean-François Chaput. He will teach you to create realistic roads with naturally formed cracks; true Canadian streets having seen many winters! A simple approach with great results! The pine tree portion will teach you to create your own forest, but at a fraction of the cost. The session covers realistic trunk making, adding foliage and texture. A 1000 trees for approximately $40.00 in N-scale sizes. A session can be conducted in French if there is sufficient demand.
Building Mountains - Bob Farquhar covers making rock molds using latex rubber; preparing the Hydrocal plaster; applying the molds; blending the molds to existing rocks and finally the colouring of the rocks and adding highlights. The demo uses regular tools and the techniques are simple and easy to apply.
Modelling Sedimentary Rock - Normand Levert will show how to simulate sedimentary rock, such as limestone, using broken ceiling tiles. The clinic will cover horizontal, tilted and bent (anticline and syncline) stratified rock faces. Using broken ceiling tiles to achieve the required rock face, Normand will show how to use paint and scenery materials to make realistic rock formations come to life.
Normand Levert started model railroading in the mid 50s by buying an Athearn bulkhead flatcar kit for $2.50. He is the current Chairman of Ottawa Valley Associated Railroaders (OVAR) and has written articles for “OVAR Interchange” and “Canadian Railway Modeller”. He built the scenery on HOTRAK Connaught and Orléans modules using the techniques that will be demonstrated in this clinic.
Scenery for Lightweight Modules - Actually these techniques can be applied to all permanent as well as portable layouts with great results. This is not a formal clinic as such. A group of members of the Ottawa Valley HOTRAK Modular club has taken to getting together at different members home layouts to apply their considerable scenery making skills. Calling themselves the HO Trekkers they can turn a plywood central into a finely scenicked layout in a few hours. HOTRAK will be operating at the convention train show and they have agreed to scenick a couple of modules over the course of the weekend. Convention attendees are welcome to watch and ask questions as they do so.
MODEL BUILDING
Live Steam Model Railroading presented by John Stewart - John will give an overview of live steaming, from the garden gauges on up. He has been involved in ride-on live steaming off and on since the mid 1970s, and has actively participated in clubs in Canada, New Zealand and The Netherlands. He and his wife actively model in HO scale, and John has, in past years, participated in full-size steam operation in Canada and the USA.
Introduction to Airbrushing - This clinic will discuss everything you need to consider up to the actual spraying of paint. Brian Earl has been a professional model railway painter for many years and is prepared to share the lessons he has learned.
Detailing & Weathering Diesels - CANCELLED
Decoders, Lights and Sound - Jacques Thuot is from Cornwall but is very well known in model railway circles in Ottawa, Montreal and Western Quebec. He is a master at squeezing decoders, speakers and LEDs into small engines with great results. Jacques and a small group of friends have a set of display modules that they frequently set up at model railway shows both in Ontario and Quebec and more recently in Upstate New York. Rather that trying to conduct a hands on clinic, Jacques will showcase a number of his engines on the display modules and explain how he achieved the results and answer any questions you may have about some of your installs. He will have a number of engines with the shells removed so you can see the inner workings and get ideas for your own installations.
Lighting Applications for Trackside Structures - Gilbert Lacroix will cover power supplies for lighting, LED lighting basics, interior and exterior building lighting, lighted signs (front and backlit), fibre optic basics, animated signs using electronics, light pipe basics, railroad crossing animation, constructing your own street lamp posts (3 varieties for different eras), basic vehicle lighting, hidden wiring tricks and regulating voltage for the proper application.
Gilbert will use his Prosperity Street modules to demonstrate his techniques. He started building this particular set of modules in 2005 and completed it in 2008. They now include some 200 LEDs for both interior and exterior structure illumination. Signs and other details provide interesting visual effects for this modular corner. These modules are best viewed with the room lights dimmed.
Gilbert taught himself using information from the internet and from friends. He demonstrates a level of inventiveness that amazes the rest of us and his sense of whimsy brings a smile to many lips.