I have a small collection of British model kits to build. More on these to come, but for one of them I have been staring at an issue for almost a year. The "Transfers" for the model are "Methfix", meaning that unlike waterslide decals on most kits and that are most common in North America, they need to be activated by a chemical agent.

Tomorrow (September 30th) is Truth and Reconciliation Day in Canada. A day to contemplate our complicated relationship with and historical and continuing wrongs against Indigenous people of what is now Canada. The railways have more than their share of complicated history here. Today's Tuesday Train is Goderich and Exeter 3523 displaying an "Every Child Matters" logo in Stratford Yard on the side of the carbody in response to uncovering what happened to Indigenous Children at Residential Schools.

On the GO. A film scan from 2024 of GO 560 working a Kitchener line train on the Weston Subdivision from the Wallace Avenue pedestrian footbridge. 1/125 f6.7 Ilford Delta 100

Recently I received an order I had placed some time ago for six of the Rapido Trains 1937 AAR Box Cars. I have lots of these built from resin kits, but the Rapido Cars were going to be a way for me to instantly bulk up my fleet, especially as my primary supplier of resin kits of Canadian box cars in…

It's 106 miles to Chicago, we got a full tank of gas, half a pack of cigarettes, it’s dark… and we’re wearing sunglasses. Hit it! Jake…Elwood…The Blues Brothers! Recently at the Waterloo Railway Expo one of the 3D printing vendors had a range of fun pop culture prints. One of which, was one of my favourite movies main characters, Jake Blues (John Belushi) and Elwood Blues (Danny Ackroyd), the Blues Brothers!

A westbound VIA Rail Venture set heads west at Sunnyside toward the Toronto Maintenance Centre after arriving from Montreal on a Friday afternoon.

After torrential rains in Toronto on Wednesday September 2nd flooded out the Don River valley and the lower part of the Bala Subdivision, GO Trains and eventually VIA Rail's Canadian as it arrived into Toronto on Friday September 4th were being diverted to the west side of the City and coming down the Newmarket Subdivision. This is how the train normally departs going north when it leaves for Vancouver.

A blast form the past. Essex Terminal Railways Number 9 blasts through a photo run past at its re-launch into service on the Waterloo Central Railway this Sunday following an overhaul. We were on the first of two excursions she hauled on Sunday. and this is a panning shot during the 2nd run past. The out of focus areas I felt at least lent themselves to a bit of selective black and white as the 103 years young steam locomotive put on a show. Video of the days runs is below.

This weekend, August 29-30 is the first Waterloo Railway Expo hosted by the Waterloo Central Railway and the Waterloo Region Model Railroad Club. Saturday will see a Railway Prototype Modellers meet, clinics, shop tours of the Waterloo Central and speeder car rides at the St Jacob's Farmers Market. Sunday sees a steam excursion(!!!) on the Waterloo Central with Essex Terminal Railway No.9 returning to steam following overhaul, and visits to the WCMRC Layout.

Train 4L49 Basford Hall Yard-London Gateway Intermodal passes through Harrow and Wealdstone northwest of London, lead by 90041-90044-66588.

Looking south down the line. An Ottawa Line 2 O-Train sits at the northern end of the line at Bayview Station and the interchange with the Line 1 LRT above it before heading south to Limebank Station.

Time flies when you are having fun. Its been an up and down eight years, but my good friend Trevor Marshall messaged me today reminding me that eight years ago him, Ryan Mendell and Doug Currie braved the wilds of Etobicoke and built the majority of my layouts bare benchwork in a single day. I am deeply indebted to all three for their generosity in their time, skills and muscle power to make it happen.

Puttering through the cornfields. It's Ontario Corn Season, and a throwback to a visit to the Waterloo Central a couple of years ago with their Heritage Hopper train passing through the cornfields north of St. Jacobs.

Ontario Steam in 2026! On our way up to a cottage rental outside of Huntsville a couple of weeks ago, we visited the Huntsville and Lake of Bays Railway at the Muskoka Heritage Place in Huntsville. I had been once before in 2023 when I spent a whole day "chasing" such as it is on its very short run. It was good to smell steam and see enthralled families by the ride.

Wow, here we are at the turn of the summer, Civic Holiday Monday in most of Canada. Its not quite the midpoint of meteorological summer, but it is for the traditional summer school holiday for the children out there between the end of June and Labour Day. As I type this, I am getting into month 3 of not really working on the layout, or any hobby project.

It doesn't feel like its been a year, but a year ago on Monday next week I was in Derby for "The Greatest Gathering" at Alstom's works celebrating 200 years of the modern railway. Today's image is Class 37 37407 "Blackpool Tower" at Derby Station after the event on one of the Branch Line Societies excursion trains that were running during the event.

Coming down the mountain. An eastbound CN train heads down the Niagara Escarpment in Dundas headed east toward Toronto.

Subway Building. The TBM Launch shaft for the Scarborough subway extension at Sheppard Avenue East and McCowan. This is where the Tunnel Boring Machine (TBM) went into the ground to start tunneling, where the concrete wall segments get sent in, and where the spoil (the dirt cut by the TDM) comes out.

Over the hump to Osler. A long range makes the hump in the line and the track look less main line than it actually is. CPKC Local H25 lead by CP38-2 2264 pulls east from Lambton Yard towards Osler Street while shunting.

CN Meet in Beaconsfield. A westbound CN Auto Rack Train (presumably E271) meets an eastbound manifest west of Beaconsfield station on the adjacent CPKC. As seen from a pedestrian bridge over both railways and the highway. The tail ends crossing is seen below.

Racing into Gare Central. A northbound REM overtakes VIA Train 38 as they head to the station as dusk falls over Montreal.

EXO 1329 hustles eastbound toward Gare Lucien L’Allier in Montreal this morning with a Vaudreuil-Hudson line train on the CPKC Vaudreuil subdivision as it nears Beaconsfield Station.

Something a bit different. A Brandt hi-rail truck pulls three ballast hoppers downhill at Mile 30 on the CN Halton Subdivision during a work possession in 2022. Not the action I'd hoped to catch on a day out, but interesting none the less as the Maintenance-of-Way Crews keep the railroads working with hard work and regular maintenance along with regular rebuilding.

The hobby has come a long way in the time I've been in it. Once upon a time there was no hope of seeing obscure and rare locomotives offered in ready-to-run form, you had to be prepared to build kits if you could find them for things. I have wanted a model of London & South Western Railway No.563 since we hosted her in Toronto at the…

VIA Train 75 rolls through dusk and mist at Copetown Ontario en route for Windsor.

With the paint booth out and the rainy weekend continuing, after painting the Mill/Elevator, and weathering my new UK 7plank wagon, I kept the good times going and finally braved throwing some grime at my big shinny CPR SD70ACu for the Canyon Road Diorama. I got this locomotive in 2022, and have been staring at it for near on four years going "it is way to clean and shiny", but I struggle with weathering factory fresh models even though I want my models to look alive and used.

A GO Transit Milton train, seen departing Kipling Station for Toronto Union Station, as seen from a TTC Subway car as my subway makes a simultaneous departure at 0642 eastbound in the morning. Been commuting from Etobicoke for 8 years and never managed to have the timing line up or be awake enough to shoot it the couple of times it came close. Video of the GO overtaking the subway below.

When my good friend Trevor Marshall broke down my admittedly weak resolve against buying some 7mm GWR British O Gauge models a couple of years ago, one of the things I said was if I ever found one of the super limited run of Highley Mining Company wagons done for a group on the Severn Valley Railway (where the mine was), that I would buy one regardless of the cost.

This weekend has been a washout in Toronto for leaving the house, and even if it wasn't, falling off my bicycle last weekend on our long weekend has left me in a grump and sore a week on. Fortunately didn't do more than tear a chunk out of my elbow when I went down, but haven't been motivated to do a whole lot as a result.

CPKC Toronto Local H25-15 is pulled out onto the main approaching Osler from Lambton Yard, shunting on a Friday afternoon before the Victoria Day long weekend.

This Thursday, May 14, 2026 will mark 75 Years of Preserved Railways in the United Kingdom, marking the re-opening of the Talyllyn Railway in Wales by preservationists. I had the opportunity to visit in 2024 and take a trip. I heartily suggest everyone should try and visit Wales and the Talyllyn at least once if you are a railfan. I've built models of two Talyllyn Locomotives, #1 Talyllyn and #2 Dolgoch, along with a pair of coaches. Seen here is locomotive #3 Sir Hayden at Abergynolwyn on our trip in 2024.