Prince Edward Island cameo...

Alongside the plans for a large (well, large for me) H0 gauge switching layout in my workshop, I've been drawn down a fascinating rabbit hole into railway operations on Prince Edward Island in Canada...

Photo: Steve Hunter, Visser spur at Kinross.

This photo on the PEI Facebook group was the final straw, when a casual diversion turned into the resolve to build something, that feeling that many of us know, it eats away at you until it can be satisfied in miniature, brought to life through your eye like a painter bringing a beautiful landscape to life on canvas, the art of creating a well captured cameo is a wonderful process - detailed enough to draw you in yet casual enough to be finished within 12 months, the perfect distraction for the longer term Halifax and South Western project.

The first step was the re-jigging of my workshop - I've shared some of these ideas before, but recently have stalled a little with the realisation that the proposed height of the HSW layout was too high. However, I noticed IKEA did a 3x4 bookshelf, that could be used to replace my existing setup (which can be re-used elsewhere at home) which would allow it to be lowered. However, that would mean a re-location of the Post-y-dulais micro, which has been so successful due to it's easy accessibility based above my workbench and always ready for action. However, I turned around to look out the window and realised that there might be enough room to add a couple of shelves in place of my large mirror, in fact probably 3 or 4 IKEA Lack shelves would fit nicely. These would easily hold Pont-y-dulais and some other materials... hey, there might even be space for the PEI micro...

The Bachmann GE 70t I bought was dug back out and left on my desk as inspiration whilst I delved into PEI history. I've been drawn in particular to the Murray Harbour and Montague subdivisions, specifically in the mid 1970s, these lines saw largely seasonal traffic for the potato harvest, yet maintained an 'as required' service all year round seeing short trains hauled by a pair of 70t due to the light weight rail and relatively poor condition of the trackbed. These lines clung on, despite increasing competition from road transport, local management even invested in ballasting and improvements to allow larger engines to use the lines when the GE 70t were finally retired in the early 1980s - alas to no avail, as CN pulled out of PEI in 1989, about the same time they did the same on the 3'6" gauge Newfoundland lines - as one feels suited the crown corportation as it was preparing for privatisation. A lot more of the history of these fascinating lines can be found on Facebook and the various historical Wikis setup by dedicated rail historians.

So that photo, by Steve Hunter, was inspiration enough, and with help from Chris Mears I focused down on Uigg, and Kinross and the Martin Visser warehouse spur... I felt this scene had real potential, and if I can get the feel of the back scene and colouring right, it will hopefully really 'pop' - as well as providing a distraction it will help me get my eye back into H0 scale scenery, techniques and begin to think about the need (or not) for colouring adjustment in my finishes.

So several sheets of A4 were taped together, to represent approximately 1m x 25cm scenic area, and my solitary Peco Code 83 point (a number 6 right hand, perfect) were pressed into action. My hope was that it could be operated with a Ge 70t and pair of 40ft cars WITHOUT needing the 'cassettes', but longer trains could be handled with those fitted - so allowing adhoc operation as well as more dedicated, say 15 minute sessions - the cassettes will literally be placed on fold down 'tables' at each end of the micro, the holes in the sky may need filling in with plugs, that is hard to know until it's started.

The Busch 'Chevy' pick up from the teenage Canadian layout pulled over on the shoulder to see the Ge70t switching the spur - the angles are wrong here, but I feel like it's got the potential to work, and I can use some of the tricks I've learnt in OO to hide the exits and block viewing angles - I plan on a little ground undulation, which should be easily achieved with a flat baseboard and separate track bed, and the backscene needs to feel like a summers day I think, so bright sky - and some research to determine if a photo back scene can work, or a sky (like Pont-y-dulais) or an artist impression painting. Progress though and enough to focus on for the better... I hope you've enjoyed this trip down the rabbit hole so far, we'll climb out for now, but there will undoubtedly be more soon...