This past week I was fortunate enough to spend a day exploring and documenting the locations of the Cascade Sub in Oregon that I am modeling. It was an incredible opportunity to see the line in person for the first time and start to accumulate photos and videos to enhance my modeling efforts. Below are just some of the highlights!

So we'ved moved again... back to Toronto. For my Toronto friends up here please get in touch. So this is the Ontario South Central's 4th location but it just won't work in the current living arrangement. It doesn't mean i'm demoloting it though. Here it is leaning up against the wall behind the guitar amp. (The OSCR has always shared a space with a recording 'work station' studio).

Have recently been working on FSM Jacobs fuel co again. It is an interesting old kit that can be had at a decent price and builds a demanding structure.

Still a long way off completion but wanted to share some recent progress shots.

Iowa Interstate SW1200 250 (ex-Texas & Pacific 1299) holds a special place in my heart since it was born just a month after me and was the only switcher owned by the railroad.  While it started out working in Blue Island (Chicago), it later moved to Rock Island and then, in 2003, to Council Bluffs, where it lived out its final years with the IAIS before being sold in 2007. 

During one of the recent NMRAx virtual meets, Miniprints.ca ran a contest for a $50 gift certificate. Since it only involved posting a couple hashtags to my Facebook page, I decided to enter.

And, rather to my surprise, I won. Then came the really fun part... deciding what of the many 3D printed figures I wanted to get (and what would be appropriate for my layout). Most of the figures offered were animals, and I do have a creek and a wooded area, so that seemed to be the way to go. And yeah, I spent more than $50 there... 

Based on the prior thread, I've been convinced that I should get my welding for benchwork done off-site by a professional welder. My current idea is to get 'slices' of benchwork support welded together out of 1" square steel tube, and bring them home, and then screw or bolt the slices together using 1" x 1" 90-degree angle bar once I get them into the room.

The benchwork has to be free-standing, I don't want to drill holes in my cement walls to attach the benchwork to the walls. 

Time sure seems to fly by, and it is now time for the FOURTH entry to the series that I started 21 days ago... the one for which I still have made no official name!

Does anyone know of a source for Bachrus series 50 running stands?  Looks like the company is gone and eBay is no help.

I tend to bounce form project to project until one is finished. So, I work on the all of the layout, a little here, a little there. One of the areas I have been working on is the village of Humbird. I have been redoing the streets and made one part of the street a construction area.