HO Gauge - Great Bear Railway - Transfer Pass

[Player of trains]

Good morning everybody, it seems I spend much more time modelling outside topics outside the UK than in it nowadays, and I’ve been collecting HO models as and when for the past year with the intention of some day doing something with them. That some day was yesterday as it turns out, and I’ve finally settled on what to exactly do.

 

Great Bear and it’s railway.

 

Great Bear is a fictional north Canadian island from the survival genre game by Hinterland Studios, a Canadian software developer, the game takes place in the decaying ruins of post industrialised Great Beat following a cataclysmic geomagnetic storm, much like the real Carrington Event of 1859. 
 

The Great Bear Railway is one of the main thoroughfares though this decaying wilderness and is heavily inspired in game by the various railways that once plied Vancouver island.

 

The railway was first laid though this wilderness in the early part of the 20th century to reach timber stocks on the islands mountainous slopes and then blasted into its interior to reach the Far Range mountains and the mineral wealth within. The line is a common carrier and would have begun with steam haulage before moving to diesel, plans were afoot to convert the railway to electric with hydro power but little became of the scheme, by the early 21st century passenger traffic was seasonal for tourists to the natural parks on the island and accomplished with home built speeders. Freight traffic was still running at the courtesy of the Breyerhaus timber company and Langstron mine within the Far Range but it had dribbled to a point the only locomotive seen in use was an old MP15AC switcher. Seismic activity left the railway precarious and its exact working status before the apocalypse is sketchy.
 

I have had designs on modelling the entire railway in more prosperous times and as seen in the game for quite some time, the game world split into various regions with the GBR running though several of them but that will take much more space than I really have especially with a larger layout in the works for my Isle of Alnogg. So I’m settling on modelling a single location, the depot at Transfer Pass.

 

 

Track Plan

 

 

This is the first track plan and bundle of notes I made around September/October 2022 following the sections of track then in the game, I did find the idea rather attractive  effectively being a layout in a landscape but I simply don’t have to e space for it so it’s been shelved for the time being.

 

In December Hinterland Studios released the first section of addon content to the game, that being the Far Range mountains, accessed by the old branch of the GBR that reaches into the mountains and terminating in Transfer Pass its ideal for a small portable HO layout but holding some wonderful scenery being penned in by steep cliffs either side.

 

internal “charcoal” map of Transfer Pass 

 

Transfer Pass is a simple depot, run round/ passing loop and siding with a coal tippler for loading hoppers. It should provide ample operating interest with a few tweaks and really be a good exercise in scenery work. Now with all the context out of the way let’s get on to my actual interpretation.

My track plan is largely the same but I’ve added a kickback siding to a small warehouse to park a boxcar in front of to make shunting a little more interesting much to the chagrin of a Canadian friend in BC who insists the freight siding be the same side as the station! 
 

 

The track will be Peco Code 100 because it’s what I have in stock and the layout is to be split across two 77l Christmas tree boxes for ease of transport and storage, this gives me 240cm to play with length wise so I hope to be able to fit a decent bit of cliff side running in. 
 

the baseboards will be made from foam board sheets cut and laminated together and the scenery carved from a whole lot of black packaging foam I’ve been saving from work for just such an occasion.
 

I’d like to have the buildings (all three!) illuminated internally and I would like to experiment with building a lighting rig for this layout to simulate a day light cycle. 
 

Motive power

 

So far the collection is rather eclectic and could quite easily allow me to represent any time from the 1910s to the 1990s. The current backbone of the fleet is an Athearn MP15DC, Bachmann high driver 4-6-0 and Atlas GP7 

 

 

The MP15 I have finished and began life as a CSX variant, they’re annoyingly rare to get in the UK and while I was looking for an AC version specifically I snapped up this one when it was on Hattons back in July 2022

 

 

The 4-6-0 is a tricky devil bought for a song and I know why, it’s a spectrum sound model but the sound is poorly timed and the dcc cuts out intermittently, I intend to pull the chip and speaker out entirely one day and replace with a proper aftermarket sound setup when funds allow. So far I’ve just begun to modify the tender with the GBR roundel and I intend to finish the locomotive next.

 

 

The GP7 I bought from the Stafford show in October, I intended to repaint it but I’ve been told the Aberdeen and Rockfish variant is a rarer model so I’m reluctant to do so just yet. Is anyone able to confirm that for me? I did find it was only produced in 2005 but no idea of the quantity or if that’s even true.

 

This will do for now because my fingers have gotten rather numb typing on a phone. I do hope this will be a fun project for myself and that everyone else enjoys reading about my progress. The next update will be a little bit of CAD a little bit of woodworking woes and a not so little pile of locomotive parts.

 

Cheers

 

Alec

[Alcanman]

1 hour ago, Player of trains said:

Good morning everybody, it seems I spend much more time modelling outside topics outside the UK than in it nowadays, and I’ve been collecting HO models as and when for the past year with the intention of some day doing something with them. That some day was yesterday as it turns out, and I’ve finally settled on what to exactly do.

 

Great Bear and it’s railway.

 

Great Bear is a fictional north Canadian island from the survival genre game by Hinterland Studios, a Canadian software developer, the game takes place in the decaying ruins of post industrialised Great Beat following a cataclysmic geomagnetic storm, much like the real Carrington Event of 1859. 
 

The Great Bear Railway is one of the main thoroughfares though this decaying wilderness and is heavily inspired in game by the various railways that once plied Vancouver island.

 

The railway was first laid though this wilderness in the early part of the 20th century to reach timber stocks on the islands mountainous slopes and then blasted into its interior to reach the Far Range mountains and the mineral wealth within. The line is a common carrier and would have begun with steam haulage before moving to diesel, plans were afoot to convert the railway to electric with hydro power but little became of the scheme, by the early 21st century passenger traffic was seasonal for tourists to the natural parks on the island and accomplished with home built speeders. Freight traffic was still running at the courtesy of the Breyerhaus timber company and Langstron mine within the Far Range but it had dribbled to a point the only locomotive seen in use was an old MP15AC switcher. Seismic activity left the railway precarious and its exact working status before the apocalypse is sketchy.
 

I have had designs on modelling the entire railway in more prosperous times and as seen in the game for quite some time, the game world split into various regions with the GBR running though several of them but that will take much more space than I really have especially with a larger layout in the works for my Isle of Alnogg. So I’m settling on modelling a single location, the depot at Transfer Pass.

 

 

Track Plan

 

 

This is the first track plan and bundle of notes I made around September/October 2022 following the sections of track then in the game, I did find the idea rather attractive  effectively being a layout in a landscape but I simply don’t have to e space for it so it’s been shelved for the time being.

 

In December Hinterland Studios released the first section of addon content to the game, that being the Far Range mountains, accessed by the old branch of the GBR that reaches into the mountains and terminating in Transfer Pass its ideal for a small portable HO layout but holding some wonderful scenery being penned in by steep cliffs either side.

 

internal “charcoal” map of Transfer Pass 

 

Transfer Pass is a simple depot, run round/ passing loop and siding with a coal tippler for loading hoppers. It should provide ample operating interest with a few tweaks and really be a good exercise in scenery work. Now with all the context out of the way let’s get on to my actual interpretation.

My track plan is largely the same but I’ve added a kickback siding to a small warehouse to park a boxcar in front of to make shunting a little more interesting much to the chagrin of a Canadian friend in BC who insists the freight siding be the same side as the station! 
 

 

The track will be Peco Code 100 because it’s what I have in stock and the layout is to be split across two 77l Christmas tree boxes for ease of transport and storage, this gives me 240cm to play with length wise so I hope to be able to fit a decent bit of cliff side running in. 
 

the baseboards will be made from foam board sheets cut and laminated together and the scenery carved from a whole lot of black packaging foam I’ve been saving from work for just such an occasion.
 

I’d like to have the buildings (all three!) illuminated internally and I would like to experiment with building a lighting rig for this layout to simulate a day light cycle. 
 

Motive power

 

So far the collection is rather eclectic and could quite easily allow me to represent any time from the 1910s to the 1990s. The current backbone of the fleet is an Athearn MP15DC, Bachmann high driver 4-6-0 and Atlas GP7 

 

 

The MP15 I have finished and began life as a CSX variant, they’re annoyingly rare to get in the UK and while I was looking for an AC version specifically I snapped up this one when it was on Hattons back in July 2022

 

 

The 4-6-0 is a tricky devil bought for a song and I know why, it’s a spectrum sound model but the sound is poorly timed and the dcc cuts out intermittently, I intend to pull the chip and speaker out entirely one day and replace with a proper aftermarket sound setup when funds allow. So far I’ve just begun to modify the tender with the GBR roundel and I intend to finish the locomotive next.

 

 

The GP7 I bought from the Stafford show in October, I intended to repaint it but I’ve been told the Aberdeen and Rockfish variant is a rarer model so I’m reluctant to do so just yet. Is anyone able to confirm that for me? I did find it was only produced in 2005 but no idea of the quantity or if that’s even true.

 

This will do for now because my fingers have gotten rather numb typing on a phone. I do hope this will be a fun project for myself and that everyone else enjoys reading about my progress. The next update will be a little bit of CAD a little bit of woodworking woes and a not so little pile of locomotive parts.

 

Cheers

 

Alec

I note you mention that your Athearn switcher is a MP15DC, however, the model made by Athearn is actually a MP15AC.

 

Atlas make the MP15DC.  I have one of each model and they excellent switchers with smooth motors for slow switching.

[Player of trains]

12 minutes ago, Alcanman said:

I note you mention that your Athearn switcher is a MP15DC, however, the model made by Athearn is actually a MP15AC.

 

Atlas make the MP15DC.  I have one of each model and they excellent switchers with smooth motors for slow switching.

thanks, it could be an AC? The differences seem rather trivial visually and mostly concern the machinery cabinet on the bonnet in front of the cab. I’ve no clue if it’s one or the other as I bought it advertised as an AC type and it came in a box from a Walthers hopper car!

[Keith Addenbrooke]

A great concept - I’m not a gamer, so haven’t heard of Hinterland or the Great Bear Pass, but the idea of a North Canadian line appeals anyway.  Have to admit I’d agree with your Canadian Friend that a freight house would usually be on the same side as the Depot in reality, but as a small layout compromise it can also serve as a view block for one of the exits, so I’d stick with it.  Look forwards to seeing more, Keith.

 

(PS: I don’t know for certain, but your Aberdeen & Rockfish loco probably is quite rare - you may have got a real bargain!  Northern Canada is a bit far from home for it to be on loan(North Carolina), but I wouldn’t rush to repaint it too quickly).

[Rich_F]

I have the same Atlas GP7 model as you but mine's in a Burlington (freelanced) scheme. With a good service & oil it'll run faultlessly. 

 

Love the concept & location. That mountainous scenery is going to be worth it in the end!

 

 

Edited March 23, 2023 by Weeny Works

[mdvle]

7 hours ago, Player of trains said:

My track plan is largely the same but I’ve added a kickback siding to a small warehouse to park a boxcar in front of to make shunting a little more interesting much to the chagrin of a Canadian friend in BC who insists the freight siding be the same side as the station!

 

While that would generally be the case, there are exceptions.

 

Example - Brampton Ontario CPR station where the freight shed was on the opposite side of the tracks from the passenger station.

 

 

[Bagpuss]

10 hours ago, Player of trains said:

thanks, it could be an AC? The differences seem rather trivial visually and mostly concern the machinery cabinet on the bonnet in front of the cab. I’ve no clue if it’s one or the other as I bought it advertised as an AC type and it came in a box from a Walthers hopper car!

That's definitely an MP15AC with side intakes for the radiator. MP15DCs have the classic EMD switcher front radiator.

[pH]

12 hours ago, Player of trains said:

 

 

The GP7 I bought from the Stafford show in October, I intended to repaint it but I’ve been told the Aberdeen and Rockfish variant is a rarer model so I’m reluctant to do so just yet. Is anyone able to confirm that for me? I did find it was only produced in 2005 but no idea of the quantity or if that’s even true.

The real Aberdeen and Rockfish #205 is apparently a unique loco:

 

https://www.thedieselshop.us/A&R.HTML

 

I don’t know about the rarity of the model.

[Player of trains]

1 hour ago, Bagpuss said:

That's definitely an MP15AC with side intakes for the radiator. MP15DCs have the classic EMD switcher front radiator.

ahh thanks for clearing that up, the locomotive used in game is modelled after the Southern Pacific’s MP15ACs with their unique headlamp arrangements and square machinery cabinet so that was the model I was trying to track down, I had assumed that the CSX one wasn’t such a model due to the mismatch in those details.

[F-UnitMad]

23 hours ago, Player of trains said:

I’ve added a kickback siding to a small warehouse to park a boxcar in front of to make shunting a little more interesting much to the chagrin of a Canadian friend in BC who insists the freight siding be the same side as the station! 

I'm not surprised he's a bit miffed!! Real railways don't add sidings just to "make shunting more interesting" - shunting time eats into profit margins, and they try & make it as efficient as possible, not as something to give the crew a 'challenge'.

Even the fact it's a kickback off the coal loading spur makes it a pain to switch out. Talking of the coal tippler, that too isn't very workable at the end of a long spur, as only a few hoppers can get to it - better to have it nearer the start of the spur so the whole train can be pushed under it, & drawn back as the hoppers are loaded from the first car onwards.

Part of the challenge of convincingly modelling US/Canadian railroads here in the UK is getting out of a UK 'mindset' when it comes to track plans & operations.

 

Edit:- just to add another reason why the freight shed would be the same side as the Depot - the Railroad didn't want the general public and local businesses traipsing about across the tracks to fetch their goods & supplies. Far easier for everyone if it was all close by the Depot, which would be located on the same side of the tracks as most of the town, which often grew up after the arrival of the railroad - another major and very significant difference between railways here & railroads there.

Edited March 24, 2023 by F-UnitMad

[Player of trains]

12 minutes ago, F-UnitMad said:

I'm not surprised he's a bit miffed!! Real railways don't add sidings just to "make shunting more interesting" - shunting time eats into profit margins, and they try & make it as efficient as possible, not as something to give the crew a 'challenge'.

Even the fact it's a kickback off the coal loading spur makes it a pain to switch out. Talking of the coal tippler, that too isn't very workable at the end of a long spur, as only a few hoppers can get to it - better to have it nearer the start of the spur so the whole train can be pushed under it, & drawn back as the hoppers are loaded from the first car onwards.

Part of the challenge of convincingly modelling US/Canadian railroads here in the UK is getting out of a UK 'mindset' when it comes to track plans & operations.

 

Edit:- just to add another reason why the freight shed would be the same side as the Depot - the Railroad didn't want the general public and local businesses traipsing about across the tracks to fetch their goods & supplies. Far easier for everyone if it was all close by the Depot, which would be located on the same side of the tracks as most of the town, which often grew up after the arrival of the railroad - another major and very significant difference between railways here & railroads there.

 

Ahhh believe me I'm aware that the coal tippler is very awkward where it is, this is only the first version of plan and I'm only copying what I've based it off at the moment. You'll see on the charcoal map half pinched from the game that the tippler is at the end of a siding, I'm assuming as its fed from a road its only having a car load or two loaded at any time.

 

Its a fair enough assumption about the warehouse but another reason why I applied it to its own siding is that this is still a through station. Transfer Pass is a terminus for passenger working but freight continues on to a large opencast mine, I did not think it made much sense to leave pieces of rolling stock on the main running line and making block mineral trains run round it on the loop. I'll tinker with a second design, moving the warehouse to the station side of things. Thanks for the input its greatly appreciated especially for a project like this where I'm not so much starting from scratch but more fixing something that already exists. 

 

[F-UnitMad]

9 hours ago, Player of trains said:

Its a fair enough assumption about the warehouse but another reason why I applied it to its own siding is that this is still a through station..... I did not think it made much sense to leave pieces of rolling stock on the main running line and making block mineral trains run round it on the loop

I think possibly you have slightly misunderstood your friend & myself - by all means have a spur for the freight shed, but put it behind the main, beside the Depot. I don't think either of us envisioned blocking up the main with parked-up boxcars!!

For short coal trains I'd still try & make sure they could all go under & beyond the tippler. If it's a through line that spur could even go into the hidden staging to get the required capacity. 👍

[pH]

Probably more than you need, since it refers to stations on a transcontinental mainline, but here’s a description of the standard depot (and town) layout on the Grand Trunk Pacific (now CN) mainline across the Canadian Prairies:

 

https://www.rmweb.co.uk/topic/173970-the-antioch-branch/?do=findComment&comment=4927944

 

[Player of trains]

4 hours ago, F-UnitMad said:

I think possibly you have slightly misunderstood your friend & myself - by all means have a spur for the freight shed, but put it behind the main, beside the Depot. I don't think either of us envisioned blocking up the main with parked-up boxcars!!

For short coal trains I'd still try & make sure they could all go under & beyond the tippler. If it's a through line that spur could even go into the hidden staging to get the required capacity. 👍

Ah it’s alright I do understand, ideally that is the best solution. My reluctance to add a shed behind the station is because of my space, it’s exceedingly limited width wise due to the limitations for layout storage and I’m trying to stick relatively close to the inspiration. And in any case it’s neither CPR or CN or even BCR haha so I don’t necessarily need to stick to the established practice that exclusively and it is all fiction at the end of the day.

 

The tippler is a conundrum to scratch and I’ll probably just further extend the sidings, the original sketches really shouldn’t be taken as being to the scale and I’ll mock up the boards and scale the layout out this weekend. 
 

This evening though I’ve been tackling some Ambroid kits I’ve had in the kit stash for a while. I managed to get a trio of Boston and Maine cars to build up, the platform passenger car, combine and baggage car, I’m on the lookout for another platform passenger car but these will do very nicely for the passenger needs of the GBR especially up to the isolation of Transfer Pass. My only comment is that the kits were missing several components, either corner blocks or lacking enough strip wood to finish properly, given the age of these kits I can’t complain, not really, and anything missing I can substitute with styrene or print. 
 

 
 

 

 

I suppose I’m pushing the boat out using vehicles of this vintage but suitable passenger vehicles that didn’t cost an arm and a leg are tricky to find, this is the kind of line that definitely doesn’t need big six axle heavyweight cars especially with the timber trestles.

Edited March 25, 2023 by Player of trains

[pH]

8 minutes ago, Player of trains said:

And in any case it’s neither CPR or CN or even BCR …

How about the NAR (Northern Alberta Railways)  then?

 

https://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Northern_Alberta_Railways
 

[Player of trains]

6 hours ago, pH said:

How about the NAR (Northern Alberta Railways)  then?

 

https://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Northern_Alberta_Railways
 

Thanks PH but no thanks, I’m treating it as a private company, the NAR is one of the more fascinating companies though. But Great Bear Island is on the west coast or northwestern coast of Canada nowhere near its operating range. The main inspiration by the game developers was Vancouver island although despite the name is probably not located in Great Bear Lake either.

 

At the end of the day I’m adapting a piece of popular culture into a layout and I’m trying to stick relatively close to what’s already established by it rather than adding heaps onto it. I do this a lot with my pre-grouping inspired Alnogg thread and I think this is a good project where I can just switch off my brain from bothering about backstories and focus more on the technical side of things and experiment with DCC, scenery and lighting.