Modelrailroader.ca

Despite best efforts, its been a struggle to get to the basement to ‘play’ with trains. With the holidays upon us, all trips to the train room are to retrieve lights or hide presents. Despite this, I did manage to retrieve two more videos of the WHRC that I had forgotten about.

Here are some more videos of the WHRC in action. I’ve also updated the earlier post to include preview images of the videos.

The WGR is progressing slowly – and that which is being done isn’t really worth a feature here. In an effort to maintain some sort of publishing regime, I’m going to start uploading a series of videos of the Windsor Hantsport Railway Company.

I want to extend a huge thank you to Kim “Grizzz” Little – an operator on the WHRC for sharing these videos with me. Grizzz is a class act, and I’d like to consider him a friend.

Enjoy!

Kim “Grizzz” Little of WHR fame, has been good enough to share his collection of images with me. With hundreds of images to choose from, I’ve decided to focus primarily on the Windsor Yard. I was particularly pleased to find a few images of WHR’s GMD1 #1423, as well as the photos that tie the yard office to the maintenance shed.

Thanks Grizzz!

In my never-ending quest to find more information about the WHR, I happened upon a few videos on YouTube. It never ceases to amaze me what you can find when you look hard enough. As well, I met some great people on the nScale.net message board who have offered to assist me in my research. Thanks to all!

The Windsor and Hantsport Railway is a 56 mile railway operating in Nova Scotia, Canada between Windsor Junction and New Minas with a spur at Windsor serving two gypsum quarries at Wentworth Creek and Mantua. The WHRC’s primary commodities include gypsum, rock, grain, vegetable oil and lumber. The majority of WHRC traffic originates at the two gypsum quarries on the spur running east of Windsor, whereby the gypsum is hauled by unit trains to the port at Hantsport. The WHRC offered a seasonal tourist excursion train, the Evangeline Express, offering passenger service between Windsor and Wolfville.

Formerly owned by Canadian Pacific Railway, the mainline and spurs were sold to Iron Road Railways and officially started operations as the WHRC in August 1994. At the time of purchase, WHRC acquired a small fleet of Alco/MLW RS23 units from CP, which until 2005 were the primary motive power for the railway.

I first encountered the WHR a few years ago while visiting family in Nova Scotia. I distinctly remember driving down the highway alongside a pair of ALCOs pulling hoppers filled with gypsum – spitting black smoke into the air as they laboured along the rails. I was smitten with the railroad and spent the evening researching it. There were only a few resources available online, but it was enough to learn the railway’s general history, the customers they served, and their locomotive roster.

Until recently I had forgotten about the WHR, as my interests had turned to the Ontario Southland Railway, and their Guelph Junction Railway operations. In researching the OSR, I found many references to WHR’s fleet of RS23′s ‘ as both the OSR and the WHR had several of these engines, and my interest was rekindled.

As such, I am planning to build a small layout based on the WHR ‘ likely focusing on their Windsor yard operations. This shortline is a perfect candidate for modeling as their limited industries etc. allow for reasonable selective compression. On the other hand, I have struggled to find decent information online, as the small compliments of sites that refer to the WHR are generally railfan sites ‘ which are a great references for locos of the WHR, but offer very little information about yard configurations, trackside structures etc. Likewise, Google Maps doesn’t have images that are a high enough resolution to be of use.

As such, I will attempt to design a layout based on what I can find. I hoping to secure the rights to feature some of the photos other sites are currently hosting, as well a feature a small compliment of videos I’ve come across. If anyone has any information that I might be able to use, I would certainly appreciate speaking with you!