STR RAILROAD STORY (CON"D)

SCENERY:

Scenery is hard rock terrain of Eastern Ontario with plenty of vegetation and rock outcroppings. Using hard shell techniques, rock mouldings and zip texturing the scene has been created. There are plenty of scratch built bridges and trestles in wood as well as stone bridges and retaining walls. The mountain effect at Iron Pot Mine rises up behind the valance out of site to give the viewer the effect of being in the hills. Various weeds and lichen are used for the foliage providing a wide variety of trees and shrubs. The horizon line is high enough that only one wall has to be painted with a background scene. Lighting for the scene is done behind a valance except over the yards, and uses white incandescent bulbs color toned with amber and red smaller lights. The building lights and overhead are controlled by a timer in sync with the clocks. The buildings, platforms, and street lights are all sectioned as well as the overhead is sectioned east and west to provide realistic on and off cycling of all lighting. The dimmers for the operation of night have to be installed. Night overhead will be a general blue lighting.

STRUCTURES:

The prime stations are scratch built to photographs of the original Brockville and Westport Railway structures. The paint scheme is yellow and tuscan red trim per STR color standards. The terminal enginehouses are scratch frame structures built to an article in RMC Apr 1960. The Board Bros Sawmill and various small structures are scratch built from wood. The Melt Ice Co and The Iron Pot Mine Co sorting plant are scratch built from styrene, the other structures include Dyna Models, Campbell, Muir, Alexander and misc plastic kit bashed items. Several structures are interior detailed and more are to be done. The trestles and bridges of wood were built for the locations and the wood cut in the STR shops. The stone bridges and walls as well as portals are products of the STR masons. The main street scene, King St, in Stump-Gulch was constructed of a series of front reproductions in plaster combined with plastic kit parts. The first 10 fronts of the street scene (from left to right) are a creation of the city block in 1910 in downtown Brockville Ontario, including the proprietors and their comodities. The remaining stores have the names of merchants in Brockville at that time but not in representative locations. Brockville was the headquarters of the B & W Railway.

MOTIVEPOWER AND ROLLINGSTOCK:

The motivepower on the STR is mainly small steam engines with larger turn of the century size for heavier trains. 17 STR steam engines, and 5 B&W steam engines provide the main stable. Two three truck Model Diecast shays with Northwest Shortline gearing and closed cabs with extra detail parts added provide the doubleheaded power for the upper branch 7% grade. 8 STR and 1 B&W diesels do exist and being a freelance railroad can occaisionally be used for the diesel fans. There are some leased engines that friends do bring to run and if they enjoy running diesels the rulebook of the STR allows them to operate during the sessions. The STR does provide refueling facilities for diesels. For open houses the President requests period steam only on the railroad. The majority of the small steam are brass engines and the rest are kit which range from 1940's Mantua Belle of the 80s and Mogul, 1940's MDC switcher kit to larger Mantua Mikes and Pacifics. Many of these have new can motors and gear boxes added.

The 184 cars on the rolling stock list consists of vans, brass and plastic, thru and wayfrt type, reefers-mainly wooden all iced, box cars-wooden mainly truss rod style, gondolas-mainly wooden hopper bottom and flat bottom, hoppers-twin bay only, tank cars-single dome, log cars-short flatcar style with stakes, ore cars-wooden flat bottom, some maintenance of way cars, and express reefer/milk cars-used in milk car service on the passenger trains. The passenger fleet consists of 3 baggage, 5 combine, 5 coach in open and closed vestibule, 1 diner, 2 parlor, 1 private in closed vestibule. The cars range from kits of the 1940's to current kits and cars such as log, ore, coaches, and gondolas which are scratch built. Kits include Varney, Globe, Model Diecast, Taylor, Park Models, Laconia, Silver Streak, Mantua, Athearn, Central Lines, Ulrich, Golden Era, Ayres, A-C, Labelle, Strombecker, Juneco, Scotia Models, Ambroid, Redball, and Concor. All the rolling stock has Kadee couplers.

TRIP: In continuing issue to follow.

OPERATING NIGHT:

The up coming open house has caused some upheaval in the job assignments in order to give people a chance to practice jobs for the tour. This job cross training should help in future sessions in order to fill in for absentees. The request to start sessions earlier by being here by 7:30 has resulted in some longer sessions lately. We may even get 24 hours in every session if we try hard. The computer clock seems to help and is now installed in the train room for the floor operators and one for the elevated.

BROCKVILLE (CON"D)

It is rather interesting to note that there have been Coles, and Buells and Jones here ever since.

The settlement was soon made a distributing center for government stores. The district was called Elizabethtown, but the little hamlet was known as Buells Bay.

A dispute arose as to a more dignified title, and in 1812 the hero of Queenston Heights, Sir Isaac Brock, on being applied to, gave the fast growing settlement his own name, and since it has been known as Brockville. The War of 1812 caused much anxiety to the small settlement, and the hamlet was in constant danger of invasion.

The Rebellion of 1837 had much interest for Brockville and only a few miles down river is the scene, yet well preserved, of the famous Battle of The Windmill. The town since allowed to grow in peace, boasts of a population of 10,000, and as a residentual place has few equals on the continent.

HOW TO REACH BROCKVILLE:

As far as steamboat and railway connections are concerned it would be hard to surpass the facilities of Brockville. It is on the mainline of the Grand Trunk Railway, 208 miles east of Toronto and 125 miles west of Montreal. The branch of the Canadian Pacific Railway connects Ottawa, the Capital of Canada, and there is a splendid ferry service between Brockville and Morristown NY, where the connections are made with the New York Central and Hudson River Railroad, main stem of New York Central Lines, for all points in the United States.

A daily service of palatial steamers puts the town in connection with the Upper Lakes and Lower St. Lawrence. The Brockville, Westport and Northwestern Railway forms a link between the town and the great inland waters of the Rideau.

BROCKVILLE ATTRACTIONS:

The attractions that present themselves during the summer months are practically unlimited. Situated as Brockville is on the banks of the mighty St Lawrence at the foot of the Thousand Islands, the traveller is in the very midst of all that makes summer worth living. There is no cheaper boating in the world than here. During all the season you can spend a whole day in a palatial steamer cruising among the Islands, at a nominal cost of 50 cents. (to be con'd) Taken from W J Curle 1905

This is the third issue of the STR Railroad Weekly, more will follow.

Prez Bill Ackland