DAR in O scale

haltonsub · Post by **haltonsub** » Wed Jan 26, 2011 8:23 am

Decided to take the plunge and get going on my O scale (2 rail) version of the DAR

I lived in Kentville as a small kid (1964-67), my Mom grew up in Grand Pre, and her parents lived in Wolfville and Kentville area from the 40s to the 80s.... so my first railway memories are of the DAR/

Layout will be about 25' by 30' including the staging and helix

With the recent announcements of D10 and also with the G5 coming (they will have to do for a G2), will be able to reasonably accomodate

Dave M
Brampton, ON

Post by **Dan Conlin** » Wed Jan 26, 2011 9:56 pm

Congrats. That will be a wonderful scale to do rolling stock models. What stations or stretches of the line do you plan to include? Any terminal facilities? I can't imagine how large a O scale roundhouse would be - mine is too big in HO!

Dan Conlin

haltonsub · Post by **haltonsub** » Thu Jan 27, 2011 3:35 pm

Hi Dan
O scale is fun due to the level of detail. Have been modelling in it for about 20 yrs. Also a member of the O scale Model Railroad Club of Toronto ... check out some shots / video on our website
http://www.modelrailroadclub.com

For "my" DAR... Towns on the line will be Windsor, Grand Pre, Wolfville, Kentville, Middleton, and Digby. Halifax, Truro and Yarmouth will be represented by off scene staging/return loops. Total mainline will be about 3 scale miles on the two levels including the helix, with about 2 scale miles of visible track. Timeframe will be 1958-59 so that there is the most fun.

I have tried to fit in a reasonable resemblance of Kentville, as much as one can do with only about 35' of linear distance for the yard. The turntable at Kentville will be 80 scale feet (20"), but will feature only 4 active stalls due to "real" estate issues.

I have uploaded three screen shots of the design from 3rd Planit software to give you an idea of what is coming.

http://www.dardpi.ca/wiki/index.php?tit ... _Aisle.jpg
http://www.dardpi.ca/wiki/index.php?tit ... _Aisle.jpg
http://www.dardpi.ca/wiki/index.php?tit ... dhouse.jpg

btw... I built a 120' (30") turntable for the club layout which features a seven stall roundhouse... yes it's huge ... about 20' in total for the engine ready tracks, turntable and roundhouse, and our other roundhouse is even bigger with 17 stalls!

Dave

Post by **stem** » Fri Jan 28, 2011 2:17 am

Thanks for the Planit shots. They look very cool. I think it's pretty a exciting looking layout. When does construction start and how many years is this going to take? It would be awesome to see construction photos as the layout progresses. By the way, can Planit rescale designs to other gauges?

To properly index the images, I created a Biography section in your name on the wiki and files them under subsection "Collection" as they're not really photographs:
http://dardpi.ca/wiki/index.php?title=C ... ve_MacLean

Post by **downeastrailfan** » Sun Jan 30, 2011 3:07 pm

Wow, your layout looks like its going to be awesome! I favour 2 rail O scale as well, but only own two O scale freight cars so far.

1959 is a good year as you can run steam along with SW1200RS', RDC's, S-3s and steam hauled passenger trains. Atlas makes an SW1200, but you will probably need to fabricate the front number board. Not sure if anyone makes an S-3 in O scale.

haltonsub · Post by **haltonsub** » Mon Jan 31, 2011 9:42 pm

Well.... Construction has "started".... old wall partitions are down now and I have a huge pile of drywall and stud debris. Hopefully I can get the news wall started in the next few weeks. Wont be building benchwork until the spring once weather gets better and I can work outside where there is lots of room to build big. Even with a "tight" minimum radius of 44", the turnback blobs are still 8' wide. I have a 135 yr old house to keep the rain off the layout... its a bit of a squeeze to get things down the stairs.

In the meantime, I have five Mullet River CPR wooden vans to put together plus I will need to build up my fleet of wooden passenger cars.

My fleet so far will be three D10s, 2 G5s (they will have to do for the G2s because I dont think they were ever produced in O), an Atlas 0-6-0 will be the Kentville yard goat, plus I will be eventually painting two Atlas SWs into the CP scheme, and with the correct number boards. Trying to convince a friend to sell me his CPR RDC1 as well. I have an S4 also so it may be put into service.

No rush... this will take years to get finished... I plan to handlay all of the track ~ 700' Will need to buy spikes by the "pound" LOL

Will post some pics soon.

Post by **Dan Conlin** » Sun Feb 06, 2011 10:08 am

Sounds inspiring. Thanks for sharing your plans. I look forward to photos as things progess. I also had to selectively compress my Kentville roundhouse to 4 stalls - and that was only in HO. Looks like you have pretty well covered things with your rolling stock. I am impressed to see what is available in O, even if you can't get a G2.

Dan Conlin

haltonsub · Post by **haltonsub** » Tue Feb 08, 2011 2:12 pm

Does anyone know what sized rail was used on the DAR? Shots in the 50's seem to show maybe at most 70 lb rail, but was 100 lb used on the main?
Any help would be great. Will be ordering either code 100 (70 lb) or code 125 (100 lb)

Post by **Dan Conlin** » Tue Feb 08, 2011 6:03 pm

Hi Dave,

There is a great document we put up on the DAR-DPI which listed the size of rails for the whole DAR in 1969:
http://www.dardpi.ca/wiki/index.php?tit ... oOfGenInfo

Most of the DAR seems to have been 85 lb rail laid in the late 1940s and early 1950s with some stretches of 100lb at stations.

Dan Conlin

haltonsub · Post by **haltonsub** » Thu Feb 10, 2011 10:15 am

Thks for the tip... thought I had seen just about everything in the wiki, but this info is a real highlight! Already has me thinking about changing a few things in the layout plan... and wish I had more space

Post by **stem** » Fri Feb 11, 2011 5:15 am

For additional info you might not have seen check out the Maps section. There's topographic and CPR track charts available from Ken McIlvoy's collection. The topos are good for the whole line and the track charts go from Yarmouth until Windsor. Mind you, time contraints have kept me from getting them all on but they're in the works. If you like them and want more detail or more sections that perhaps haven't been put up yet, we can arrange something.
http://dardpi.ca/wiki/index.php?title=Category:Maps

A real beauty I wouldn't want you to miss either is the map of the Yarmouth yard that harold Crowell photographed when he visited the Yarmouth Museum. I piece it together from the photos harold supplied:
http://dardpi.ca/wiki/index.php?title=Y ... _Blueprint

For rolling stock we have quite a but of info especially on the passenger side. Of particular interest if you want to do some scratch building, check out DAR000095 and DAR000005 as Jim O'Donnel has supplied us with drawings that he made from the original cars. Most of the rest of the cars have references to drawings available from the CPHA site as well. They also have a wealth of structural drawings you'd find interesting and useful too.

If you're looking for roster info, check out the section on MP14s avaiable here and on the CPHA.
http://dardpi.ca/wiki/index.php?title=MP14FORMS

Last but not least for operational planning don't forget about our section on time tables, our section on unschduled trains and our section on various valley industries that would be of interest to include on a layout.
http://dardpi.ca/wiki/index.php?title=C ... ime_Tables
http://dardpi.ca/wiki/index.php?title=C ... led_Trains
http://dardpi.ca/wiki/index.php?title=C ... Operations

Post by **downeastrailfan** » Sat Feb 12, 2011 5:17 pm

I wonder if Mullet River discounted the CP van because I don't see it listed on the website.

haltonsub · Post by **haltonsub** » Mon Feb 14, 2011 10:02 am

Ya.. the Mullet River vans were a short run. I know the person who worked with the manufacturer to get them built and also few friends at the Model Railroad Club of Toronto sold me their unbuilt kits.

Perhaps however that sometime in the near future, Weaver may bring out a O scale brass CPR van similar to the beauty they have in CNR.

(no doubt this will be available AFTER I spend about 60 hours assembling the kits.... oh well)

You could always put a note in to the yahoo site "oscaleyardsale" enquiring about any other available..

Cheers

Post by **Dan Conlin** » Thu Jan 17, 2013 8:17 pm

Great new shots on the modelling page Dave. Love that trackwork. I am impressed with your selective compression. Good idea to tuck in the roundhouse in the corner.
Looks like a nice train room too - how'd you get permission from the "domestic authorities" for that?

Dan

sbhunterca · Post by **sbhunterca** » Tue Aug 05, 2014 8:37 am

Hi, Dave:

Are you the owner of the "Dominion Atlantic Railway in O scale" blog? It appears to be the same as your 3PI images. That's some nice modelling.

I'm about to start building an HO 70' turntable very similar to the model shown in the blog, for my HO scale CNR Montague, PEI yard. If possible, I'd be very interested in obtaining a photocopy or scan of the CPR turntable drawing. Of course, I'd pay all expenses.

Please give me a shout offline at s.c.hunter@sympatico.ca .

Thanks, Dave!

Steve Hunter

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