The CP Rail Manitoba and Minnesota Subdivision is a fictitious line based in fact. (Or, as I like to call it, "faction.") Unlike the real CP line, which goes south to the U.S. via Portal, SK, I’m actually following the route of the CN-owned Duluth, Winnipeg & Pacific. This requires a bit of suspension of belief, since you need to imagine that the DW&P line actually belongs to the CP (not so hard, since you also have to imagine that the line has tunnels and an over-under loop!). CLICK ON PICTURES TO ENLARGE.

A trio of SD40-2s leads a train on the upper level of the M & M Sub.  The trees in the background are photocopies of photos of trees taken near my home.  The upper level bench work is made of 2 inch thick Styrofoam.

A short VIA train is led by a Walther's FP40.  Ron Einerson photo.

Construction began in November, 1994, when I knocked out a wall to make one large train room. The layout is point-to-point, although there is a loop on the lower level. Scenery-wise, it represents a transition from the Canadian shield to the prairies. The room size is 20 feet long by 17 feet wide at the west side and 12 feet on the east. A five foot by 11 foot storage room contains the helix and hidden staging yards.

Track is all code 100. Switches are by Atlas. The lower level sub roadbed is a mix of 2 foot by four foot ceiling tiles on 3/8 inch plywood, as well as some sections with 2 inch Styrofoam. The upper level sub roadbed is entirely made of 2 inch Styrofoam. The roadbed itself is cut from 1/4 inch cork bought in rolled sheets from a local lumber store. Control is conventional DC; trains are controlled by walk-around throttles made by a local modeller. Up to four trains can run at one time. Mainline trains are given clearance by the dispatcher, who has a panel in the staging track area; all yard trackage is controlled by the Yard Master.

There are two six-track staging yards. The top level staging represents Winnipeg. Leaving Winnipeg, trains enter a typical prairie town, complete with elevators. As trains proceed east, the scenery changes from flat prairie to rolling prairie. Trains then arrive in a small town, with an interchange with the fictitious Peace River Northern, before entering the helix. They emerge on a peninsula in rugged shield territory, round a broad curve and enter the main town, which is modelled after Fort Frances, Ont. Since this is a division point, all trains stop here to change crews. Trains then proceed out of town to lower level staging, which represents Thunder Bay and Duluth, Minn.-Superior, Wisc..

CP Rail #5417 (ex-KCS #672) and #5419 lead a train upgrade.  The "rocks" are made from tree bark, collected along the banks of the Red River after spring runoff.

A couple of Proto 2000 SD60s owned by Larry Leavens make an appearance on the M & M Sub.  Ron Einarson photo.

Operations consist of mainline freights traveling from Duluth-Superior and Thunder Bay to Winnipeg and vice versa.. There are unit coal, grain, pigs, double stack and forest product trains, mixed freights and VIA’s The Canadian. All of the unit trains run through, only stopping to change crews in Fort Frances (except for the pig train, which drops off and picks up a couple of cars in Fort Frances). Four mixed freights also stop in Fort Frances to have cars taken off and added. When these trains leave staging, they are divided into blocks; for example, the Duluth-Winnipeg train has cars for Winnipeg, Thunder Bay, Peace River Northern, Manitoba Southern (the latter two are short lines that connect to the M & M Sub.) and local industries. After having cars taken off, cars for Winnipeg are added and the train departs for upper staging.

The road behind #6027 is a photo cut out of a coffee table picture book; more trees will be added to hide the edges.

The Canadian still runs on the CPR line in northwestern Ontario--well, in my world, at least.  The locomotives are by Spectrum.

Additional operational interest is provided by the Peace River Paper mill, which has its own switcher; it receives cars to spot in the five mill tracks. There is also a local which serves 10 industries in Fort Frances.

My operations are governed by sequence and a type of wheel report car movement system. Although I enjoy operating on layouts that use fast clock and car cards, I am not as interested in using those on my layout. My version of the wheel report system tells the yard master which blocks of cars go where when a train arrives in Fort Frances.

At Fort Frances, the yard master will put cars into their respective tracks (one track or portion of a track per destination). He will also make up the local and mill switch list, based on the cars that have arrived in the yard.

Setting up the wheel reports takes about 20 to 30 minutes. Since I usually operate the layout alone, it can take me several days or several weeks to run a sequence of 12 trains from upper to lower staging yards (depending on how much time I have). Thus, when I want to run a train, I can–I just pick up where I left off in the sequence and start operating.

#5865 and #6023 lead a train upgrade.  This photo provides a closer look at the tree bark "rocks."

Another shot of #5865 and #6023.  Christmas tree lights are used under the fascia to provide additional light for the lower level.  Since this photo was taken, the river has been painted a more appropriate shade of green.

Scenery is made from extruded Styrofoam. I carve it with a handsaw to achieve the basic shape, then use a surform to do the final carving. I use one and two inch thick Styrofoam; I use the traditional sandwich method in some areas, but mostly place the Styrofoam in place vertically, either leaning it against the backdrop or gluing it to the layout base. I use cheap drywall compound to fill the cracks between the pieces of Styrofoam, but do not cover the it in any other modelling material (e.g. Hydrocal or Sculptamold). I find that this is unnecessary. I simply apply various shades of brown, grey and black paint to make my earth colour and sprinkle on fine ground foam. Later, I can add additional cover such as polyfibre and medium ground foam to represent bushes and undergrowth.

Wouldn't that be a great place to live?  The barn in the background is cut out of a coffee table picture book.

The Canadian exits a tunnel on the lower level.  This is the same photo that appeared on the cover of the issue of Canadian Railway Modeller that featured my layout, although it looked better there--the designer was able to add the headlights and put blue sky on the left hand side (where you can see a bit of the layout in the background).

The chief advantage of using Styrofoam as a layout base is that you can create below-track profiles and undulating scenery. You can also carve in creeks, rivers, ditches, etc. Plus, it helps when track planning–no need to use a jig saw to cut a track profile, only to decide later you don’t like it and have to cut another piece of plywood. With Styrofoam, if you don’t like where the track is just pull it up and put it somewhere else.

Thanks for visiting the CP Rail Manitoba and Minnesota Sub! If you have any questions, e-mail me at jclong@mts.net

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Page created by Bill Taylor of Winnipeg January 22, 2003 and updated March. 23, 2007

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