NST: Port Dalhousie Sub

Posted byTrevorPosted inLayout Design, Layout Tour, Layouts I have designed or built, Niagara St Catharines & Toronto Railway in 1:64, Operations, Philosophy

In a previous post on building more benchwork for my S scale version of the Niagara St. Catharines & Toronto Railway, I mentioned that I was forced to juggle the relationship between signature scenes in order to make the real railway fit into my space. I thought I’d share some of my design decisions through a series of posts.

Let’s look at what I’ve done to the Port Dalhousie Subdivision.

On the prototype, this division ran from the Geneva Street terminal, along Welland (with a spur to the car barn) and Louisa, through a small but important siding and junction called Woodruff. A spur from here went up Ontario Street to serve McKinnon’s (part of General Motors), while the main track continued across Ontario Street, over 12 Mile Creek, through a junction where a spur accessed Welland Vale, and on to the west side of Port Dalhousie.

For my layout, I’ve focused on three scenes – Woodruff siding, the McKinnon plant, and the car barn.

An aerial photo of the McKinnon plant showing Ontario Street, Carlton Street, Woodruff siding, the line to Port Dalhousie (which continued north along the east edge of the creek before crossing it on a swing bridge), and various spurs serving McKinnon’s.

Woodruff Siding

Woodruff was a short runaround track (P20) located on a private RoW between Louisa Street and Ontario Street. The spur up Ontario Street also connected to the Port Dalhousie Sub here. Up until 1950, it was a place for Port Dalhousie cars to meet and pass. When I was growing up in St. Catharines, CNR crews used this siding to hold cars while switching General Motors – and that’s how I’ll use it on my layout.

In the photo below, a freight motor has two boxcars for McKinnon’s (spot P21), which is around the corner to the right. The tank car is sitting on what would’ve been the line to Port Dalhousie – but I’ll use it as overflow storage when switching Ontario Street. It’ll eventually go to spot P40.

My version of Woodruff Siding – looking from Louisa towards Ontario. Another scene – Geneva Street – is to the left and will be described in a subsequent post.

Ontario Street

When I was growing up, the GM plant was up the street from our house and I frequently watched CNR switch crews working it – so including it on the layout was a priority.

A CNR crew blocks northbound traffic as it turns off Carlton Street and heads south on Ontario Street, having switched the east side of the GM plant. The brick building on the left side of the street is the McKinnon’s plant. The foundry is the green building to the left of the train in the distance.

There were more spots back in the NS&T days – by the time I encountered the line, P21, P32, and P40 were all gone – but I’m bringing them back on my layout.

Looking north on Ontario Street. The two boxcars have been spotted at P21. The two gondolas in the distance are on P32.

On the prototype, P21 ran into the plant perpendicular to Ontario Street but I’ve had to bend it back to run parallel in order to keep it within the confines of the benchwork.

NS&T 17 is shoving a tank car north on Ontario Street to P40. This image is inspired by a photo in “NS&T”, a book about the railway published by Andrew Panko and Peter Bowen in 1983.

Similarly, I could not run P32 – the foundry track, perpendicular to Ontario Street. So, instead of crossing P40 it switches back off P40. This at least keeps the spurs headed in the right direction, relative to each other.

Looking north on Ontario Street. The two closest turnouts are in the pavement. The tank car is on P40. The gondolas are on P32, located on a switchback off P40. The main track curves to the right, onto Carlton Street.

With only a short runaround and a lot of switching at McKinnon’s, crews will have to make several trips up and down Ontario Street.

Car barn

I’ve written extensively on this site about my model of the NS&T car barn. On the prototype, it’s located on a short spur off the Port Dalhousie Subdivision – along Welland Avenue. Try as I might, I could not get it to fit in the proper location. So I’ve moved it on my layout, to the north side of Carlton Street. I’m happy with this decision.

Carlton Street runs along the left side of this scene. The tank car in the distance is on spot P40 at McKinnons.

Welland Vale / Port Dalhousie

I do not have space to model any of the Port Dalhousie Sub beyond Ontario Street, but I can simulate that traffic by staging an inbound train on a track in the street in front of the car barn. It’ll run into downtown St. Catharines early in the session to get it out of the way, and head back to Port Dalhousie near the ned of the session.

NS&T Freight Motor 18 has two refrigerator cars in tow – staged to arrive from Port Dalhousie.

I’ll continue the tour in a future post.

Published by Trevor

Lifelong model railway enthusiast and retired amateur shepherd who trained a border collie to work sheep. Professional writer and editor, with some podcasting and Internet TV presenting work thrown in for good measure.