Canadian National S13u in H0 scale...

Ever since I began my renewed interest in Canadian railways, specifically CN I've been in need of an item of motive power. My older Athearn stock is probably beyond hope, I decided a new model would be a great project to keep my interest up whilst easing me into the scale...

I bought a book on the Canadian National in the Atlantic Region by Bram Bailey from Morning Sun books (sourced through Linda Tinker books in the UK). This is a lovely all colour photo album with informative captions and tons of character and modelability on every page. I'd never really been interested in MLW (Sort of Canada's version of Alco) in my teens, although I did love the C424 and yearned for a CP Rail version - but the eastern provinces were unknown to me until I visited in 2001 with my Dad. The new book opened my eyes to all sorts of MLW types large and small but it was the RSC-14s and S13u that jumped out at me the most.

I looked about to see what I could find in the way of kits and found that Rapido are planning a RSC-14 (I've pre-ordered one) and a little more digging found Kaslo shops offer a resin S13 kit. The thing I'm enjoying the most about Canadian modelling is the pace, because I have to wait a long time for items to arrive it has slowed the whole process and increased the enjoyment. Anyhow after a few weeks the kit arrived, and within a few evening I had the body roughed up on the severely cut down Bachmann Alco S4 donor chassis, and the chassis frame rails glued on it...

A few more evenings have seen the bodywork progress and I've made the effort to do a lot more research. The S13 were similar to the Alco T6 (I think) and had taller bodies and cleaner side doors with less louvres. 56 were built, mostly for CN, between 1959 and 1967. The class were rebuilt twice, the last rebuilds in 1985 resulted in a new designation as S13u where the cabs were improved for yard use increasing visibility, and new cab doors that opened outwards. The small class have a lot of detail variations, I've chosen to model 8704 in CN livery.

The real 8704 was sold in 1997 to CANAC, and is now retired and preserved in Alberta. My model has seen a few tweaks and changed to the kit, I've spent time working on the fuel tank and under floor frame pipework and have a way to go with this but it's starting to look promising. This benefited from a Cannon and Co EMD fuel tank detailing set I've had for years since I attempted a super detailing project on a Bachmann EWS Class 66 more years ago then I care to remember. I've also re-built the corner steps, these are more of an approximation and may need further work and tweaking to improve their appearance.

The next big step will be beginning to add the etched details that are provided in the kit including some very find side grills and neat looking handrails. I've also dug out a suitable air horn and ordered a set of suitable transfers from TMR Distribution in Canada.

I've a few decisions still to make regarding control of my project - I prefer the ease and simplicity of DC, but the temptation of adding sound on a small roster is tempting. I can get a suitable sound file and DCC chip easily within the pace under the hood, and  the prototype only has headlights at each end so that wouldn't tax my wiring. We'll see - it would over double the cost of the project so far, I might just go with directional lighting for now but leave it easy to retrofit a sound chip at a later date. I hope you've enjoyed this distraction from my usual subject matter, I've enjoyed working on a prototype I'm not familiar with, involving a lot of digging around for research in places I've not used before, I've enjoyed sourcing parts form North America which is keeping the pace slow, and I've enjoyed working in resin and combining this with some of my own scratchbuilt details. More soon...