Recap of our open House

Wow what a weekend! We had the privilege to welcome some 300 visitors. Young and old, big and small, everyone really appreciated the Richelieu Valley facilities. All our members, where present and accounted for, ready and willing to answer all questions. A real stimulating and encouraging environment for all.

A beautiful mural made by Luc impressed everyone. All where impressed by the projected layout.
We had our first locomotives in the paint scheme of the club running on our sister layout the Vermont& Essex, giving us a taste of what is to come. By the way, what do you think of the colors?
We would like to thank all who attended for their support, and just wait to see what is planned for next year, November 2010 to be exact.

Benchwork concept of the Richelieu Valley

With such a large and almost rectangular space (roughly 42’x40’), will give us a great possibility to have a layout where a long mainline is important.
In the image below, you can have a good idea of the area we have to work with.

The left side of the space runs along 43rd Street, the back runs along Bélanger Street. The entrance is in the foreground, we will also have a small workshop in the right hand corner. On the left, we have covered a stairwell that leads to a commercial space on the main floor.

Some of the constraints we have to deal with:

Our entrance leads directly into the coffee area that must remain relatively clear.

Lighting is done with neon fixtures from the back of the room to the front following three large columns, there will be other fixtures put in to simulate various conditions.

Because of the layout of the room gives us the impression that there is a lot of space up and down. There were many layouts proposed but the consensus came out that Benchwork will run from the back to the front in general. Please see the pictures below to have a greater understanding of the layout.

As for the final look of the space will let you know in upcoming blogs.

Nicolas

How I arrived at the Richelieu Valley

Today, I am a member of the Richelieu Valley Railroad. Really, I am one of the new recruits, just as the adventure begins. What a lucky break just as the club is coming into existence, with sympathetic members and great atmosphere. Now at 33 years old I am now realising a dream, building a layout from scratch and then operate like the real thing.

My story is not original, it seems to me a lot have of people have the same ideas, I am going to tell you how I went from dreaming about modelling to actually becoming active in modelling a great project from a passive fellow sitting on my stoop with Model Railroader in my hands and hoping for more.

Since I was little, I have been fascinated by all that ran on rail. Be it close to home or rolling down the highway, spotting a rail line had me watching out for trains that might appear at any moment. Sometimes we would be in the country I learned to spot old train stations, maybe an old rail line and dreamed of all the trains that were there in the past.

Being lucky enough to have parents that listened and understood me, I acquired an oval track, complete with extra switches, track, and locomotives and wagons of all sorts. My parents even conceded to me and old table made of plywood. However, my great layout never amounted to more then Plywood Valley, but the dream of the great layout always was in the back of my mind.

As time went on like everyone else, I had other interests, I had forgotten about model trains, but remained fascinated by trains that I took often or discovered on my travels.

Then one faithful autumn morning in 2005 to be precise, I spotted an advertisement for an open house at The AMFM train club. My eyes were opened when I saw the layout, my childhood dreams just rushed back; I wanted to experience those feelings once again, but time and money constraints put a hold on those plans. Since then I have purchased many magazines to help keep the feelings alive, that one day I would have the layout I have always wanted. However daily living put a hold on my dream once again.

Finally, this summer I happened upon a link that sent me to the Richelieu Valley blog. I got in contact in touch with some of the members who suggested I join in a great adventure… And was I glad I did, the atmosphere and friendliness of the group is just what I’ve wanted since I first dreamed of the great layout… I Found it.

Nicolas.

Exporail in St-Constant

The modelling get together at the train museum in Delson is now a thing of the past. Judging by the size of the crowd it was a rousing success. We would like to thank all those who stopped by the display. It’s true we were at the entrance to the museum, but it was great to see the people head right for our display.

We had 4 people manning our booth, Nathalie, Luc, Jean-Claude, and Sylvain, we warmly thank them for there time.

Youngsters were lined up to get a hold of the controls, and manipulate a train in Pine Station. We did notice that a lot of children young and old alike jumped at the chance to use the controls while Moms and Dads stood back and marvelled at the sight of the kids manipulating the enormous control or perhaps they were just a little overwhelmed by all the buttons. But there is no denying that children today are not intimidated by electronic gadgets. The way they were handling the controls you would swear they where born with a controller in there hands.

Many people were interested in the materials used in the construction of the layout, while others were fascinated by how the layout was decorated wondering how they can use the ideas on there own layouts. It was a real pleasure getting good wishes and exchanging ideas on different construction methods.

The next chance to greet the public will be on November 28 & 29 at 5356 Belanger at the home of the Richelieu Valley Railroad and the Vermont & Essex. We look forward to seeing you and exchanging more great ideas.

Origin of the Richelieu Valley (part 1)

28th of February, 2009 what a memorable day. In hindsight, no one could have predicted that the Pine Valley and Vermont and Essex club would become partners in a joint project.

On this Saturday morning, six Pine Valley members went on to visit the beautiful “Café de la Gare” at the invitation of the Vermont & Essex train club. While strolling through the premises with our hosts, an excellent cappucino in hand, we ended up in an unoccupied room adjacent to the “Café de la Gare”. Questions, comments and answers started to fuse. The conversation became more focused; eventually a clear and precise proposal emerged ; why not move the Pine Valley Club to this room? The project is enthralling, and full of enthusiasm, we undertake to go back to the members of the Pine Valley Club to present them this superb proposal.

However, the project will be the subject to long discussions throughout the following months. Eventually, half of the membership elects to decline the offer and to remain on the rue Angers premises. The other half, curiously the six members that had visited le “Café de la Gare” in February, accept the proposal of the Vermont & Essex Train Club and enter into a lease agreement for the vacant Bélanger premises. Vermont & Essex, ten year in existence, will thus host a new railway modelist group : The Richelieu Valley Club. Since then, three new members have joined the founding group.

This union presents several advantages: sharing of expenses, regrouping of passionate modelists, improved efficiency in the organization of promotional activities, but most importantly, the reunion of enthusiastic modelists happy to meet one another and chat about their passion: the railways of North-East America.

As to the day-to-day operations, the two groups agreed that each club will keep its own identity and remain two well-distinct clubs. Of course, there will discussions and exchanges of good will, and state-of –the art modeling technologies, but each club will remain autonomous and free to decide where and how to operate its railway grid. Each will develop its geographic territory and will develop it at it sees fit. At the same time, the experience and expertise of the Vermont & Essex Club is already rubbing off on the members of the Richelieu Valley. First, the designation Richelieu Valley designation as new name is not a hazard. Although we wished to center our core activities on Quebec railroads that we have been modeling for many years, we eventually wanted a liaison with the Vermont & Essex grid. Vermont & Essex is modeling the Bellows Falls –St-Alban line. Thus the Richelieu region became interesting to our eyes. Swiftly, we modeled a railway line between Montreal and Halifax, with a junction at St-Jean along the Richelieu, meeting with Vermont & Essex at St-Alban. Already, this link allows for passenger trains to circulate between Washingthon and Montreal.

Building a Building (Part III)

Now let’s put on the roof. Just like the walls, they are cut out of cardboard; we do not have to paint them black because the shingles will cover the cardboard surface entirely. The shingles where made with 80lbs paper stock. I first put on my workbench a dozen sheets of paper held down with thumbtacks, I then drew parallel lines to guide me on the height of the shingles. Each shingle is cut out with the Xacto knife, I determined the size by eye, and to give the effect of a cedar shingle I vary the size of the shingles.

We can now cut the shingles along the line that we drew, this process may seem tedious but remember we have a dozen sheets so it makes the job quicker. As can see in the pictures only half the line is individual cuts while the other half holds it in place. As for the installation on the roof, you must trace the lines the width of our shingles. The remaining task is to affix the shingles to the roof using white glue. Now you could use commercially available shingles, but I did not have any in my magic box. Nevertheless, by doing it yourself it is so much more satisfying.

Have you ever looked at real cedar shakes, you will notice that they turn grey very quickly when exposed to the elements. A big mistake made by a large number of modellers, is that they paint the roofs brown or beige when in reality it should be grey. I started painting the roof with acrylic grey paint, you must be sure to cover the paper well and don’t forget the roof line. I then went about painting some part lighter and other parts darker with a Dry Brush technique. This is a process where you wipe the brush to a point were there is little paint left. Once this process was completely dry I applied a very diluted black wash made with aquarelle paint, acrylic paint would have the same effect. In some areas, I used less diluted black and even added touches of burnt sienna. Once finished I did notice that the roof had gone a little darker then I had planned, but the effect overall was quite interesting, so I left it alone.

The chimney is made out of a small bloc of balsa wood, using an Xacto knife I traced out the brick décor. I then painted it with red acrylic on some of the chimney; I used lighter and darker colors to simulate different brick use on the chimney. At this stage you must use as little paint as possible, you must not fill in the tracings you have made for the brick. When the red is completely dry, I apply some diluted grey wiping it immediately after painting it on, this grey will fill the gaps in the brick and simulate mortar.

The gables were finished with small pieces of wood. I found a sign on the net and I was able to rework it in Photoshop so that I could get the words Canoe and Lake in French. The posters also came from the net and were made on my printer.

I hope you have enjoyed this series of articles and perhaps I have given you a slight push, so that can try these simple techniques for yourselves. We have a tendency to think that a project like this is difficult, but as I have attempted to show, it can be quite easy and very rewarding. Using these, techniques allow you to build unique structures that cannot come from kits. I must also say that the economics are also an advantage. This building unbelievably cost me about $10.00 and about the same time as building a kit.

Building a Building (2nd Part)

To finish the assembly, you must hide all the cardboard on the corners of the walls. To accomplish this step all you have to do is add a small piece of wood on the exposed side and sand it so that it blends in with the rest of the wood.

Once you have finished assembling the major portions of the walls, I built a small stairway that gives access to the office on the second floor. I had in my bag of tricks a small plastic stairway that I had salvaged from another kit. The only thing I had to do was build the structure to support it. Just like the walls I started with a cardboard base, next I covered it with wood. The work was going along to well, I had forgotten to take pictures of this step. As you can see in a photo that I did take I extended the wood to form the railing, and as a finishing with the help of a Xacto knife I cut some wood pieces 1x3 in HO scale that were glued on to make the handrail.


There are two large sliding doors from were we get a look inside. It is obvious that if we do not treat this portion of the floor we will see only cardboard. It is not necessary to cover the whole inside, only cover the portion that we can see. To achieve this look I covered the floor with wood only on the portion visible from the doors. I then stained the floors with a mixture of India ink and alcohol, to give them a greyish tint simulating more or less being exposed to the elements.

Even if I did not intend to do the interior, I still would have put floors on the second level if for no other reason but to add strength to the structure, this also has the added feature for anybody looking through the windows, as if the building has two floors.

Before going any further, I had to do some painting. The windows also came from my bag of tricks; they were painted by airbrush with Tamya paint. The walls for there part, were put through an aging process to give them that aged look. For most projects of this type, I use inexpensive acrylic paint that you find in most hobby stores. In this case, I used Delta Creamcoat that I bought at Omer Deserres. The first coat must be grey and put on in a haphazard way. The more brush strokes you see the better the aging at the end will look. I look for ways to get irregular shapes. To really be successful at this step do not dilute your paint.

Once this coat is dry, you then apply your desired color. I used white; this coat must put on with more care, and always have the brush strokes follow the length of the wood strips. Please make sure that the paint is completely dry, before moving to the next step.
We have now arrived at the magical step. With the help of a piece of 220grit sandpaper not any rougher, you must always sand the wood along the length to reveal the grey beneath the white finish, and where ever you put the grey on extra thick that is what will show first. The windows were put on with cyanoacrylate glue (Super), I then added the

Les fenêtres ont été collées avec de la colle cyanoacrylate. J’ai ensuite ajouté les vitres que j’ai découpées dans une feuille de styrène transparent. Pour donner plus de vie au bâtiment, j’ai simulé un carreau brisé avec la pointe d’un X-acto. Dans le bureau au deuxième étage, j’ai créé des stores avec une pièce de ruban cache (Masking Tape)

Construction of one of the first buildings on the “Timesaver”

I started construction of one of the first buildings of the Timesaver. The construction will be entirely in modelling terms “scratchbuilt”. This will be a hybrid construction made of wood and cardboard. This is not a standard method used by majority of modellers, but once mastered you can get some amazing results. I am hoping in this series of articles will inspire you to try this simple yet effective method of construction.

First step you have to choose a model and create a drawing. Most of the time I do not go this route but it is a question of habit. I start with a photograph and do a simple drawing to see where I am going. If you are just starting out you need to work with a plan that you create or find in one of the modelling magazines.

The next step is to glue the slats of wood to the walls. Once that step is done, you will see the black that was painted previously through the cracks this give the perception of depth. You can use slats of wood that is commercially available but in this case, I cut them myself with an Xacto knife and inexpensive wood. Going this route keeps the cost low and the material is readily available, with one sheet, I can create dozens of buildings. The trick is to cut all the pieces lengthwise all at once using masking tape to hold them together. You transfer the pieces to your wall that have been pre glued with a thin cote of white glue, if you use to much glue it will run out between the boards. The final step is to put some heavy object on the wall while the glue dries. I normally leave it overnight.

Before proceeding to assembly, I cut out the openings for the windows and the doors; it is so much easier to do on a flat surface. We are now ready to assemble. There are no photos for this stage, but I hold the building together with masking tape while everything dries.

Richelieu Valley Timesaver

The Richelieu Valley has a new project that is beginning. In order to give visitors to our exhibitions the best possible experience.

We will build a small layout 14”x70” to give a taste of what they can expect at our open houses that will be held on the first Friday of the month.

To add even more excitement visitors will be able to take control of a train and experience what it’s like to do operations. Visitors will effect a train movement in the least amount of time, they will be able to judge them themselves by a known time and try to improve, but be careful some of the cargo is perishable, you will have to manipulate with extreme care.

This is a little game inspired by the famous “Timesaver” created by John Allen. What will make the Richelieu Valley “Timesaver” special is that it will be completely landscaped, and a little easier to operate for those with less experience.

Please come back on a regular basis. We will post all the stages of the construction of the railroad, from the Bench work to the final touches of course along the way will talk about electrical hook-ups, and building construction. The “timesaver” will be unveiled to the general public in the month of August at The Canadian Railway Museum in St-Constant, Quebec.

Below is the first step, The Plan.