Been having a bad day so to brighten things up...

[Bill Wray]

Hi  Canuk,

We arrive in Vancouver (after a few days in Japan), spend a few days, travel to Jasper, I think, and then after a day experiencing the delights thereof board a train that takes us across the country to a place called Toronto.... then onto Niagara (Canadian side) then a quick dash thru the US (NY, Baltimore, Washington DC, Chicago, Colorado Springs, San Fran, Santa Cruz, Tacoma {for the annual Garden Rwy Convention}, Seattle, Vancouver - again - then fly home via Japan.

Any tips on trains interests in Canada (and I know there are many, many, many) appreciated... the guys at the Toronto Roundhouse obviously love what they are doing... I can only hope they are conducting tours by the time we arrive.........

The problem is squeezing in all the things we think we might want to do ... have to rationalize..... reduce... re-arrange... re-schedule for another trip down the track etc.......

 

 

Rowan:
Although I'm not from Canada, I used to spend a few weeks there each summer as a kid. I recommend the Polar Bear Express - Cochrane to Moosonee on the Ontario Northland Ry. Quite an experience.  You can probably connect to it through Toronto. If you like Theatre, Toronto is one of the best theatre cities in the world. The National Museum in Ottawa has a wonderful collection of steam locomotives - also well worth a visit.

In Baltimore, the B&O Museum is a must, and in Washington, the Smithsonian has some great train stuff, including a Southern Railway Pacific in beautiful green and gold livery.

Sounds like a great trip- you'll be making lots of deposits into the memory bank.

[Rowan]

Thanks wdwray, Pointers appreciated.
The B&O Museum and Smithsonian are already on the list. The Polar Bear Express sounds great and we must see if it can fitted in.
We have a few days on Toronto, and while the days will probably be taken up with train sight-seeing, the evenings are usually free to check out theatres, jazz clubs etc.

Cheers
 

[Emettman]

Adding here rather than anywhere else as the Pizza layout's "first hat" pictures are already here earlier in the thread.
The Pizza has just acquired its "second hat" as a Halloween layout.

It didn't get a "Christmas hat" as I already had Christmas Train shuttle.  Maybe next year.

But I have done an incredibly "quick and dirty" hat for it for a Valentine's display.  The third hat.
Packing foam, funky foam, and some graphics culled from the internet.  A few hours over two days (to let the paint dry between steps.)
The loco chassis is basically there to animate The Yellow Submarine.

And Easter is not that far off...

[Emettman]

The Pizza has a new hat, barely in time for Easter.

This one is even less train-like (the next must be a proper train of some sort, I promise)
Wallace and Gromit in their van, with the were-rabbit.

The van comes out of the garage door, and disappears through the (hinged) fence
The flowers are from plastic labels from pot plants which I have bought for my garden.
The rabbit, acquired second hand, was stiffened and posed by inserting coathanger wire and had over-size teeth added.

The weather has been foul: horizontal hail, today, amongst other things.
I may get to run a train or two in the garden on Sunday, in a predicted brief lull.