CNR Pine Street in HO

Posted byTrevorPosted inAchievable Layouts, CNR Pine Street in HO, Layouts I have designed or built
The crew plans its work at the paper mill on Pine Street in Thorold, Ontario. The roadbed is raised to enable me to reproduce the track profiles, which included a descending grade to the mill and multiple elevations within the complex.

I’ve been quiet on this website recently – but for the best of reasons: I’ve been busy, getting a new – third – layout up and running.

This one’s a portable layout, designed to take to shows in my area. It’s based on a real place – the Pine Street spur in Thorold, Ontario. This was originally part of the Niagara St. Catharines & Toronto Railway, and the CNR continue to operate it for several decades after it turned off the overhead power on the NS&T. The spur ran up the middle of Pine Street for several blocks to serve a paper mill. I’m modelling both the mill and a section of the street running, which served as a switch lead.

The complete layout as seen from the staging end, looking north up Pine Street. The layout is a 1:1 slice of reality, including street running and a busy industry with multiple car spots.

I’m modelling it in HO so I can re-use equipment that I originally ran on The Peterboro Project. I’m adapting a number of features I deployed successfully on Port Rowan in 1:64, as well as experimenting with some new ideas.

As the photos suggest, benchwork, track-laying, and wiring are all done and trains are running. I’ll debug the trackwork, then proceed with terrain, structures, and scenery.

The mill is challenging to switch – a real bonus for an exhibition layout. This overview highlights the varied track elevations within the mill: While it looks as if the entire railway is on trestles, I’l built up the terrain to track level once testing is complete.

I won’t be writing about this project in detail here as I’m planning a series of articles related to this layout, which I hope to have published in Railroad Model Craftsman magazine.

Elsewhere, work continues on my NS&T layout in S scale, and I’m building more equipment and prepping additional details for my GWR Bydemill layout in 7mm, so I’ll have plenty to share in the coming year.

If you’re a regular reader, thank you for following along. I hope you’re having a wonderful time as we prepare to put a pin in 2025 (what a year, eh?) – and best wishes for 2026.

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.