“Marley was dead to begin with” but my layout, meant to depict Ontario, Canada in October, 1944, is alive and well. It is mainly cantilevered off the wall in a 45’ X 16’ dedicated room.

My primary railroad is the Canadian National along with a fictitious short line Ontario Southern Ry. This allows me to freelance locomotives that I like such as “Canadianized” PFM Frisco 2-10-0 Russians and USRA designs.

I mainly enjoy scenery construction including water features, rocky cliffs and outcroppings and lots of pine trees. Due to the time period I have chosen, steam locomotives and early diesels dominate the head end power. Most freight cars are 40’ or less. Trucks and automobiles can be no newer than 1942 with the majority built from Sylvan kits. I try to make signage in the scenery appropriate for the era.

I can run continuously or point to point on the branch line. While not specifically designed for operations, there are numerous industrial sidings on the main and branch lines that should give operators enough work to do. As I add cars to my roster, I create a car card for each one.

My interest in Canadian railways began with a picture of a GTW 4-8-2 with an Elesco feedwater heater, vestibule cab and a Vanderbuilt tender in a book my father gave me when I was about 12 years old. It was the coolest locomotive I had ever seen. Scenery ideas come from many vacation trips to Ontario and the Maritime Provinces. I also still love the NKP and NYC steamers that I saw running as a kid.