I created this weblog to showcase the many great layouts I visit up here in Ottawa, Ontario, Canada. All layout owners are great friends and ambassadors to the hobby. To view more pages of pictures and stories, simply click on the "older posts" button at the bottom of the page. I hope you enjoy the imags and tales from the cab!
Wally Weart is a retired locomotive engineer. He ran the real trains in Colorado where he held the controls of a Geep hauling sugar beets. Wally has a strong interest in traction, as you can see!
We were quite fortunate to have Wally live in the Ottawa region for a couple of years. He has moved back to the United States. Wally still writes for some of the railroad magazines.
Wally's traction layout featured numerous cars...and colourful they are. We miss ya, Wally and hope you can make it up to Ottawa sometime in the future!
Chris S., Brad L. and I drove down to Lyn, Ontario just outside of Brockville where we visited James Van B's gorgeous new layout! If you want to see long drags of CN trains and western mountain vistas, this is the place to visit!
I really like how James has created a distant look with his backdrop paintings. No matter what viewing angle I take, the lake in the background looks fabulous!
Aha! Yes, it is the Rocky Mountaineer exiting this tunnel. James has some floor to (almost) ceiling scenery and the layout is just in its infancy as I write this in the summer of 2010! I can't wait to get back to Lyn, Ontario to run trains along the route of this great layout!
Chris Lyon's LVN is a colourful railroad depicting train operations out in western Canada where the CN mainline interchanges with the NAR (Northern Alberta Railroad). I enjoy going over to Chris's place as he is so much fun to hang out with, although he needs no help on the layout as he is a master modeller in his own right! I built and painted the Canadian Northern 3rd Class station you see in these images as well as the section houses. They were all resin kits.
A BCRail locomotive approaches the station platform on a slow order restriction as a couple is engaged in conversation while sitting on the railroad bench. Chris snapped this shot.
Chris's scenery techniques are a marvel to behold. His backdrop painting is marvellous and he ties his three dimensional scenery in so well with the 2D backdrop. Photo by Chris Lyon.
I offered for Chris to have this structure as he had the need for large buildings to fill his space. Howard Scodras built the Hamer Hats building and it was an honour for me to have this facility named for me. Howard has since passed on, but his memory is with us always. The structure certainly looks like it is at home on Chris's layout!
Don Leger, retired morning news anchor for CFRA Radio here in Ottawa, has a fantastic layout on the go which he calls the Shadetree and Nepean. Don lives on Shadetree Street in the area of Nepean up here in Ottawa.
A number of friends have helped Don with his layout thus far. It is very much a work in progress although we are thoroughly enjoying his train operating sessions already! Grant Knowles built the Ed Fulasz corner gas station for Don.
Gilbert Lacroix made this gorgeous facility which dominates this scene. The trees on the layout follow my method of tree-making using the flowers of local shrubs that grow in our region.
Another view of this wonderful facility on Don's ever-developing layout.
David Primeau's fabulous New England based model railroad located in Ottawa, Ontario depicts some of my favourite scenes along the Connecticut River Valley. Here we see a meet of two Boston and Maine trains at White River Junction, one being the Flying Yankee!
David's layout represents numerous interchange roads, one of them being the St. J&LC. Here we see a 70-tonner from that line exiting a beautiful New England covered bridge.
A Canadian Pacific local hauls into Newport Yard. Yes, David's mix of steam and diesel make for an awesome operating session!
My friend, Chris Lyion, snapped this shot of the round barn David scratchbuilt. It holds a prominent place on the layout at the end of the peninsula where all can see! 
John Mitchell's layout depicts New York Central's crack passenger service between Chicago and New York City. Above, we see a New York central diesel finding daylight on its approach to Windsor, Ontario after departing the Michigan Central terminal in Detroit.
The Canadian Pacific makes an appearance on John's layout as do other railroads.
The terminal building in Detroit is a landmark structure on John's model railroad.
We see the passenger cars awaiting their turns to head out onto the high iron. John's layout is double-decked and a true joy to operate up here in the Ottawa region.
Our good friend and fellow Friday Nighter, Jim McSherry, models the logging lines of Vancouver Island. He is a superb scratchbuilder and many of his structures will need to be assembled this way as they are not found in the hobby marketplace.
This jillpoke and dock are all built by Jim's hands. Skeleton log cars are transferred to the wharf where the logs will be dumped.
This fine view of the waterfront scene shows the log cars on an angle. Bill Meek did a fabulous job on the water. 
I model the Boston and Maine railroad which interchanges traffic with the Maine Central. The year is 1958 and the day is May 27th, my date of birth. The image above depicts MEC train #391, the "Oil Can" on its inbound approach to North Dover yard limits as it crosses Boundary Road.
Here is an image of Train #11, The East Wind, as it traverses the New England River Bridge on my Boston and Maine/Maine Central model railroad. The train is outbound from Boston and heading to Portland, Maine. I live in Ottawa, Ontario, Canada where I am a member of OVAR (Ottawa Valley Associated Railroaders) and the SLD (St. Lawrence Division of the NMRA). 