The end of the year

Here we are at the end of 2010. For the Richelieu Valley, it’s been a year of heavy construction. For those who attended the open house in 2009 and returned this year, were surprised by all the changes.

The Benchwork is done and track placement has started. The day the first trains begin to move is fast approaching and we are looking forward to that moment in time.

Claude is the master of the handlaid switch.

Luc can create sequoia’s in no time at all.

Louis is helping kids and older kids using the timesaver.

The open house on December 4th and 5th , brought many visitors and a large percentage of them found great interest in the workshops given by Claude on handlaid switches, and by Luc who showed us how to make evergreens.
We would like to thank all the visitors that came to visit with us, and for all the kind and encouraging comments. Young or young at heart be sure to join us at next years open house, we are sure you will be pleasantly suprised.

Open House December 4th and 5th, 2010

Come and join us just before Christmas. Come and see how much we have accomplished since our last open house, you may be surprised. Members of the club will be there to greet you, and answer any questions you may have about the developments that have occurred in a year and what will be. We hope to see you in great numbers, remember put it on your calendar the first weekend of December open house Richelieu Valley Railroad. Don't forget.

Pierre L.

The track plan

Here is the first detailed look at what the Richelieu Valley RR should look like once we finish the layout. The layout is culmination of many months of planning and may I say a few lively discussions. What you see in the plan should be the finished product. We have finished the rough Benchwork, and other aspects are moving along nicely.

The layout represents the portion of the Eastern Townships from St-Jean sur Richelieu on the right side of the plan to Megantic on the left side. We are inspired by the real life beauty of the region but take license with what we can realistically achieve. We welcome any comments you may wish to make.

August 21st and 22nd at Exporail

Attention Railfans, The Richelieu Valleu will be at Exporail, put on at the Canadian Railway Museum in St-Constant, QC. We will be participating in «Small tains, big passions train show». We will once again have our timesaver, where young and old alike can show us there switching abilities, as well as meet greet and exchange train talk with members of the club.

Before / After (1)

September 2009

Mid-October 2009

Late April 2010

Progress of construction in early May

The work is progressing at great pace. We have stopped looking up to paint the ceiling, and all the lighting for the layout is now operational and perfectly works. I can tell we are so happy to talk to each other without getting neck pains. We have two types of lighting, neon fixtures that we use when working on the layout and small halogen fixtures approximately every three feet along the layout to give us ambiance once the layout is functional.

Panorama picture taken towards Bélanger Street. At the right,the entrance to the small workshop.

As you can see we have a magnificent blue background that really shows well when the halogens are lit. We plan on dressing up the background later just give us a little time.

Translated by Pierre Legault

The Richelieu Valley has two beautiful windows!

What? We are in a basement and we have two windows? May seem strange at first sight!

It happens to be two windows between our layout and the station café, our wonderful area were many a dinner have taken place and a lot of discussion most of the time peaceful. Really, we are not that crazy most of the time. In a previous entry we let it slip that we were up to something, now is the time to tell you what we are going to do with the openings. Part of the layout will reach the south wall and the openings. There will even be some extension of the layout through the windows for a real birds eye view truly spectacular.

From the larger of the two windows, visitors along with those operating will benefit from a unique perspective of the layout. From the windows, the whole layout will be visible. You have to imagine yourself watching the trains roll by while enjoying a great cup of coffee.

On top of it all this part of the layout can be identified easily by a majority of our guests and will bring back many pleasant memories for many. In future segments we will reveal more details about the layout so please stay tuned

Members of the club (1)

Louis
I’m the latest member, I have no major experience in train, but on the plus I am a modeller I have built airplanes, cars and plastic figurines since I was a teen. When it comes to trains, my experience is with good old Lionel, what great memories!

I consider myself an apprentice at this point a go for it type, do what needs to be done. One of my goals is to better my time with the club Timesaver.

Claude

My story begins at Christmas when I was just nine years old. I received a 4x8 Lionel layout with a 44 ton GE Locomotive, and at 12 years old, I got a great big box of railway cars along with a 2-6-2 Steam Locomotive. I enjoyed this set for along time and kept me and my friend entertained for many hours, until in my teen years when I finally put it in storage so I could finally play sports, go dancing with the pretty young ladies, do some studying, get married and start a family. The dream of trains never really went away and came back in the form of HO Railroading.

I was invited by my Father in Law to go down to the Pine valley railroad layout on Gordon Street in Montreal to take some pictures of the layout. At that time I was fortunate enough to meet some members of the local chapter of the NMRA, Allouete division and was soon called upon to head up the Divisions official journal “The Signal” for 3 years.

Shortly after, I became a member of the Pine Valley Railroad Club. At one point, I was the president of the club and finally just a member until we decided to form the Richelieu Valley.

Jean-Claude

Since childhood, I have been crazy about trains of all kinds. I was lucky enough one Christmas to get a CN passenger set. When I bought my Home and before the kids began arriving, I started on my first layout before I could realise my dream, my life changed in a big way I had two kids and a fulfilling career.

Retirement was coming up, my interest with Trains was rekindled and where I had left off, I started back up. I was at it again in clinics but mainly with a group of railway modellers that were looking for new members. Well two years have gone by and here I am in a new club ready to start new adventures with The Richelieu Valley Railway. Looking forward to meeting all are blog readers.