Events 2012
2012 American Invasion, Day 1
The 2012 American Invasion off Ottawa officially started in the afternoon of Thursday, July 19th at Doug Matheson’s Northland Railroad. Historically visitors would come early to run their live steamers on Doug’s track. But this year it was just too hot to be messing with steam, so battery powered locomotives prevailed. A double-header of battery …
2012 American Invasion, Day 2, Afternoon
On Friday afternoon, July 20th, Fred Mills (Ottawa, Ontario) welcomed visitors to take part in a standard gauge railway operation on the Ironwood, Peter’s Pond and Western Railway, and it branch line partner the Rat Portage & Mattawa Railway. Craig Leigh is the eastern terminus of the IPP&W Railway. The two large JigStones buildings are …
2012 American Invasion, Day 2, Morning
On Friday morning, July 20th, David McCurdy (Ottawa, Ontario) hosted a “run what you brung” session on his Rio Grande Southern Railway. This is large railway with lots of open space and huge rocks for scenic effect. We will start our tour at the Ridgeway engine service facility. It is built on a raised and …
2012 American Invasion, Day 3
On Saturday, July 21th, our guests returned to the Ironwood, Peter’s Pond & Western and Rat Portage & Mattawa Railways to take part in narrow gauge railway operations. Rio Grande Southern 4-6-0 number 25 at the sanding and coaling towers in Craig Leigh. Number 25 backs down the passenger yard in front of Scobie’s Fine …
2012 American Invasion, Day 4
Monday, July 23rd was a day of rest. Some of our guests travelled home, others used the day to site see the National Capital Region. An invitation was also extended by Barry Birkett to operate on his Orleans Division Garden Railway. I understand a few people took advantage of the offer, but there were no …
2012 American Invasion, Day 5
The last event of the 2012 Invasion was held on Monday, July 23 at the Finger Lakes Live Steamers layouts in Marengo, NY. The gauge one railroad consists of three electrified inter-connected loops. At one end of the layout there is a 65 foot wye leading to a waist-level trestle connected to the gauge one …
2012 Barry Birkett’s Orleans Division Garden Railway
Many of us have had fun operating on Barry Birkett’s Orleans Division of the Orleans and Cumberland Garden Railways. The layout is a dog bone design with ten switching locations and one major yard. It can accommodate 5 trains operating. On this particular day there were only three trains running: one was operated by Bob …
2012 Grandparents Day on the Northland Railway
On Sunday, September 9th (Grandparents Day) Doug Matheson asked if I could help him run trains for a small group of children. The kids ranged in age from two to five. Here Doug is getting help from an eager young volunteer turning his K-27 steam locomotive on the new turntable. What amazed me was how …
2012 Steam Cruise on Lake Muskoka
On Tuesday 17 July 2102, a small group of us met in Gravenhurst, Ontario (about 380 kilometers/235 miles west of Ottawa) for a dinner cruise on Lake Muskoka aboard the steamship Segwun. The Segwun, shown moored beside her sister ship the Wenonah, is the oldest surviving steam powered ship in North America. After a fine …