I took a little drive along the BCRY route today for a little inspiration and to see if there was any sign of recent activity (though with the snow mostly gone I don't know how I was supposed to tell).  I pulled into TAG and sure enough, two of the line's ubiquitous DM&E hoppers were spotted on the twin sidings.  But something caught my eye that I never noticed before - they both had patch jobs for something called RCPE.

If there is one thing that makes N feel like the unwanted tag-along little brother of model railroad scales, it's the availability of RTR vehicles. Particularly modern cars, and more specifically, North American cars.  This makes putting together a modern layout (say, 1990s+) somewhat challenging.  It seems as though Ford is the only company which has licensed its vehicles in N (Atlas), and even those are few in number.

I was in Barrie on the weekend visiting the in-laws and as we drove over a BCRY crossing, I saw something troubling...the right of way was completely buried in pristine, untouched whiteness and the snowbanks lining either side of the crossing showed no signs of being disturbed.   My guess is that there has been no activity on the line for at least three weeks.

The last of my non-relevant rolling stock has left the building, and this is my entire roster as of today:  One locomotive and four freight cars.  I've ordered more cars which suit my planned layout, but as of this moment I've never had so little equipment since I first started dabbling in this hobby in 1997.

If there is a "signature car" on the BCRY, it would be the grey DM&E ribside covered hoppers which Tag receives. First, let me give you a quick primer on what Tag does:  They are a manufacturer of geosynthetic clay liners, for use as waterproof barriers in landfills, ponds, canals etc.  The main ingredient is Bentonite clay, of which they receive about 100 hoppers annually from two mines in Wyoming.  One mine is served by BNSF, the other by DM&E.

Well, technically It's CCGX #1001, the reporting marks of her owner and operator, Cando Contracting. She's 61 this year and looks great! This is a rare phase III GP9 previously owned by the B&O followed by the Ohio Central.  The primary distinguishing feature between a phase II and III is that the latter has two 48" fans instead of the usual four 36". It's kinda like a cross between a GP9 and a GP18.  

Thanks for the feedback and encouragement.  I've been lurking here for a few years and one thing I've noticed is that MRH is not like the other forums in terms of attitude.  There's one forum in particular which I won't name...let's just say it caters to my scale...that I haven't been to in a couple of years because I grew tired of the crap.  But I digress...

Here is a satellite shot of Tag Environmental:

While living in Barrie, Ontario about ten years ago, I noticed several covered hoppers spotted on a siding at a facility which I hadn’t previously paid much attention to.  I had figured that the trackage in and around Barrie was completely unused since being abandoned by CN in 1996 so I was quite surprised to see evidence of railroad activity.  I went right to the Google and found scattered information and photographs of what I found out was a municipally owned shortline called the Barrie Collingwood Railway.