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| I became interested in model railroading around the age of twelve, with an 027 gauge layout with Louis Marx equipment. It grew from a 4' by 4' to cover two 4' by 8' tables in an "L" shape, in the damp basement of my parents' home in Moncton, N.B. It was named "The Arrow Lines Railroad", but I cannot remember where this name came from. All of the 027 equipment was sold off and I converted to HO scale around 1960, while in high school. This was the beginning of the "Fundy Northern Railroad", a name I picked to be both unique and descriptive of our area. It started on a 4' by 8' with a later added 2', making it 6' by 8'. Not having much money, I scratchbuilt most of the structures out of cardboard, with balsa wood trim. The layout was highly detailed, with continuous running of trains possible, two cab controls, and many industries with switching opportunities, using a card order system. When the 027 equipment was sold, some of the proceeds went towards the purchase of a small hand operated printing press, in partnership with two friends. We used it after school to print stationery, earning some money for ourselves. This income and a paper route helped me finance the railroad. I was able to purchase a brass Shay and a 2-6-0 steam engine for a few dollars a week. |
| I used the press to print professional quality passes and stationery for the Fundy Northern, my main goal in buying it. I began exchanging passes with other hobbyists; my pass collection now has just under 1000 passes from all over the world. I was quite proud when one of my homemade passes won First Place in a National Model Railroad Association contest at the 1986 National Convention in Boston. I still have the press and some additional styles of type and equipment I purchased later, and used it to make my own stationery. Nowadays this is all done on the computer, but I still have the printing equipment. See my web page on pass collecting. After one year of university, other interests, marriage, a move to Saint John, and starting a family, I abandoned the hobby for some twenty years, with most of the equipment sold off. Photography became my main creative interest, taking photos at car races, and participating in local camera clubs. I also hand painted T-shirts at car shows, drawing cars on them with an airbrush, hand lettered race cars and trucks, and carried out wedding photography. Looking for an additional outlet for my photography, I searched for model railroads that I could photograph and submit to magazines. I couldn't find anything suitable locally, so I made some dioramas for photography. Next was a 2' by 4' module, which resulted in a renewed interest in model railroading. The Fundy Northern was reborn around 1981. An 18" by 6' shelf layout was made with photography in mind, and it appeared as "Mansfield Junction" in the October 1984 "Model Railroader" magazine. |
| As a founding member of the Saint John Society of Model Railroaders, I made a pair of 2' by 4' modules in 1983. These portable modules have a 13-stall roundhouse, a logging stream with a covered bridge, a sawmill, and a small mountain. These and the rest of our club modules were featured in my article on the cover of the July 1986 "Model Railroader". I also completed a single 2' by 8' module that is used as a "filler" when we have an odd number of modules set up. It is mostly scenery, with one track going through a long tunnel, and the other main line skirting a quiet stream. As I am mostly interested in building models, I built yet another pair of modules. This pair is 30" wide, giving an additional 6" in the front for modeling. Features include a small backwoods engine facility, a lumberyard, a swamp, a lighthouse, a fishing wharf, a barrel factory, and a model of an actual sawmill that exploded. These structures are all scratchbuilt or modified kits. My modules are operated several times a year with our club, at local shows and conventions around the Maritimes. The other pair of modules is kept boxed up in a nearby closet. Another pair of modules has been started, and will feature a city, an intermodal scene, and a train wreck in the water. This pair has been sidelined for a while due to other interests. I hope to get back to them in the future. In the meantime, I have developed and interest in On30 modeling. I have acquired several engines and some rolling stock and am thinking about making a portable display layout in this scale. I won a Broadway Limited On30 C-16 2-8-0 steam engine in a photo contest held in "O Scale Trains Magazine". My first engine with sound! It joins engines by Bachmann - a Shay, a 2-6-0, 0-4-0 and 0-4-2 Porters and a Davenport 0-4-0 diesel. My latest acquisition is a Bachmann Climax steamer. Time will tell which direction this new scale will take me! I have a growing collection of over 300 pieces of rolling stock that I've assembled, painted, decorated, kitbashed, or scratchbuilt. Early models were of steam engines, logging equipment and maintenance of way (MOW) equipment. More recently all types of diesels from Canadian railways (about 100 models) have been completed, and an occasional piece of MOW equipment is modeled. Such models as a 6-truck, 120-foot CN depressed center flat car, various snowplows, a complete CP Auxiliary Train, and others. I have an interest in Budd RDC's, having made models of each type - the RDC-1, 2,3,4, and 9, as well as an experimental jet powered one, and one with a cab. I've also modeled quite a few snow plows, featured in some of my magazine articles. I have done a fair amount of railfanning on local and regional prototype railroads, and have an extensive collection of personal photos and ones collected from others. Many of these are put to a good use when modeling specific pieces of rolling stock or structures. Over 6000 color slides of model and prototype railroads are often used in my magazine articles. All of my black and white photo enlarging is done in my own darkroom, making it very convenient. A recent addition to my photographic facilities has been a spare room being used as a photo studio. One wall has been painted sky blue, with clouds airbrushed on it, making it easier to take photos of finished models. Previously scenic and cloud backdrops were used, but they always seemed to be too small. There is a 6-foot long diorama made to pose models on, as well as several smaller ones for various uses. While rolling stock lettered for the Fundy Northern has been done with individual dry transfers, I do have some factory decorated FN boxcars. The Eastern Maine Model Railroad Club of Brewer, Maine, has been selling factory-decorated cars as a fund raising project for quite some time. In 1990 they honored me by having a run of 300 Fundy Northern boxcars produced by Accurate Finishing on Athearn models. They quickly sold out. Since returning to the hobby, attending model railroad conventions and shows in the Maritimes and New England has been a big part of my enjoyment. It's been had fun entering models and photos in contests, as I believe contests are a great way to improve modeling skills, and allow you to share your efforts with others. I've been very fortunate in these contests earning awards, including "Best in Show" several times locally and in NMRA NER contests. I no longer participate in photo contests, having won so many times. A great thrill was winning four First Place Awards at the 1986 NMRA National Convention in Boston. Two were for models, and one each in the photo and pass contests. I belong to the National Model Railroad Association (NMRA), and the Maritime Federation of Model Railroaders (MFMR). For five years I was Chairman of the NMRA Achievement Program for their North Eastern Region (NER), and have personally earned five awards in the program. Our local Saint John Society of Model Railroaders (SJSMR) is very informal, and I had been acting as a coordinator in the group until recently elected as President. Accepting a position with the Canadian Coast Guard in 1967, I moved to Saint John from Moncton, N. B. I had several different positions in the Aids to Marine Navigation Section that maintains lighthouses and buoys in the Bay of Fundy. I was the Navigable Waters Protection Officer for New Brunswick and Prince Edward Island during my last 8 years with the CG. My job was to ensure the public right to navigate by approving all construction in the waters of the two provinces. Our Coast Guard is a civil service, and not a military service as in the U.S., and I retired after 35 years in April 2001. Part of my past work involved the scheduling of Coast Guard helicopters; this developed into an interest in helicopters and aviation, and I've flown in CG helicopters since I started. A collection of helicopter, aircraft and other model kits are waiting to be built - someday? Wife Judy and I were married in 1967 after I moved to Saint John. She tolerates my various hobbies, as they keep me around most of the time! Judy works at an area hospital as a ward clerk; she's the gardener of the family, keeping both the inside and outside of our home alive with colorful plants. Neither of our two sons have shared the hobby, but Robin is a railfan, and hopes to make photography his career while he currently works at the same hospital as his mother in various positions. Eldest son Michael is a mechanical engineer, and is the manager of a local branch of an industrial supply firm. Both sons are married, Michael for the second time. Michael and his first wife had a son who lives with his dad and visits us regularly, brightening up our lives considerably! Photographing and writing articles on my hobby pursuits has been a big part of my enjoyment, as I can combine the two hobbies in one activity. I have been fortunate in my submissions to the hobby magazines, being especially proud of my articles with cover photos. These include four covers on "Model Railroader", ten on "Model Railroading", two on "Railroad Model Craftsman", three on "Canadian Railway Modeller", and ten on the NMRA "Bulletin". My luck continued with wins in the "Model Railroader" annual photo contests over the years, including First, Second, Third (twice), and Honorable Mention (three times). My photos won 1st and 2nd in Black & White Model, a 3rd in Color Models at the National Narrow Gauge Convention held in Denver, Co. in September of 2003. The NMRA convention held in Seattle, WA in July of 2004 saw one of my photos win 1st in the Model Black & White category and a 3rd in the Color Model contest. A complete list of my published photo is on this web page. Model Railroading really is FUN! And interesting, challenging, diverse, educational, and best of all has some of the nicest people! Have fun! |
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| Bob at the controls of the 027 layout in 1958 |
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| The original HO scale Fundy Northern in Moncton, composed of a 4' by 8' with an added 2' section, making it 6' by 8'. These photos were taken with my fathers' simple roll film camera and flashbulbs. |
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| Fundy Northern brass 2-6-0 I bought as a teenager model railroader. With friend Jack Chisholm's camera we did some close up photos of my models such as this one, using primitive equipment. |
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| Updated 17 December 2004 |
| Photos (c) 2005 by Bob Boudreau |
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