The CN Dash 8s assigned to Illinois Central after the purchase of that railroad in 1999 were actually former Conrail/LMS units that have a unique history. LMS was a joint Conrail/General Electric leasing company that would lease locomotives in the US and Canada. LMS locomotives such as your blue one were leased half of the year to Conrail during peak traffic periods around the late fall to mid spring and then leased to other railroads for the balance of the year. You can read more about them in Conrail Power in Color Volume 3 and Conrail The Final Years 1992 - 1997 by Withers publishing. We also write about them from time to time in the Conrail Historical Society's publication, The Conrail Quarterly. The station is looking great man and your scenery is also looking fantastic. As a fan of the CP since I was a kid I have seen images of Banff for almost 3 decades and I cannot wait to see this whole scene completed and running smoothly! Oh and that thing you pretended didn't happen outside last night, we got almost three feet of it in a two day period a few weeks back and then got a few inches more a week later! I hate snow officially anymore here in the rockies...
I live in Maryland and I've been to Calgary/Banff 4 times. I never go without spending a few hours at the Banff train station parking lot waiting on trains to run through town. You've captured the area well my friend. If any of you guys have never been to Banff/The Canadian Rockies you have to go to railfan. The scenery is jawdropping and Canadian's are like the friendliest people - EVER! So many great memories of Canada. I can't wait for it to open up again.
One of my favourite places on earth to stand! The entire Laggan sub is amazing with the stunning scenery and historical significance to Canada as a country.
A couple of good finds Ben. Blue Devil looks good with the patch. Looks like piles of work on the station to get the shadows to line up. Spent many an evening at that station. As a Safeway driver way back when we use to split up Rocky Mountain Doubles in the parking lot. If there was a tour bus present we became an attraction ourselves as they hadn't seen equipment that big back home. I shudder to think how many pics of me smiling with curious tourists there are back in Korea...... Cheers!
Haha thanks for sharing that story Grant! The thing I love about Banff is everyone has their own personal connection to it. A couple years ago I was hanging out at the station, waiting for another train when suddenly I could hear the distinct sound of jet engines approaching. I jumped off the bench and ran out onto the platform to get a better view and two CF-18s went roaring by overhead then banked towards Lake Louise. Seems even the airforce pilots like to take a leisurely drive to Banff when they have a chance : ) I want to find a couple HO scale CF18s and hang them up in the lighting valence above the station to commemorate that day.
Oh boy, look at that snow. We're wearing shorts here in Ottawa now. Hope you get some nicer weather soon that stays! I love the look of the blue CN/IC unit too. Atlas is really underrated...those master line models are very crisp, and Loksound is always great too :) Take care.
I think the prototype of 2455 has been taken away for scrap. Appeared on a long train with a bunch of other dash 8s (mainly dash 8-40 CMs) on a few Vids here on TH-cam.
Nice progress! The grade crossing is looking good, nice Blue Devil too. When they were brand new they were under a lease agreement which saw them run on Conrail for half of the year, and on CN for the other half. That is why they were built to Conrail spec and painted CR blue. When CN bought them out, they put the IC reporting marks on - probably for accounting reasons, it seems like that's what most things seem to boil down to. The one unique thing about the Blue Devils is they had the same radiator as the later Dash 9s, which were just about to start coming out. It is thicker than a Dash 8 radiator. So if you are feeling really brave and know where to find a Kato or Blue Box Dash 9, you could take the rad wings off and fit them onto the Atlas unit and have a 100% correct model ;)
Gosh you're right about the radiators! Had seen so many photos of these bluebird locos and never even noticed the radiators were different to their other dash 8 sisters...
Love your process & attention to detail. I wish we were neighbors here in South Carolina...I could use your help. Age has brought dexterity and vision issues. Keep up the good work.
@@tedvdw1975 I've still got my late 1980's era Tyco stuff from when I was a kid. We ran them around our Christmas tree this past year! Still work after all this time and now my kids get to enjoy them : )
I like the CN/ ILLINOIS CENTRAL (IC) engine looks like nee ex- CONRAIL colors or the leased engines of CR. First time I've seen this particular version.Wow now I want to get one & the classic BC RAIL colors awesome as well. The model building is great looking 100%! Thanks for presenting this video. 😀
Hey Ben, looking great still, hopefullly you get that station figured out eventually. With the 2455 maybe take a link or two out and add a spring centered on the chain to hold the rest up. Shouldn't be too difficult to do and would be a real nice touch to the locomotive.
@@BArailsystem Yeah you will!! Ha ha! It might take a little digging but typically they have two springs on the real deal however CN's might have a different setup
Nice update! An idea for the station pictures, have you though about going out at night and using long exposure and light painting to light the building? That's the best way to get even lighting throughout.
Whoa that's a super good idea. Might be difficult to do though without trespassing so I will just have to stick to what I got from a safe distance with my telephoto.
The station is, coming along nicely. Have you given thought to possibly have it 3d printed instead, in sections. Or having someone with great Photoshop skills perfect your photo mask for the styrene structure.
Thanks Peter. I've mulled the idea but the amount of time it would take to design the CAD file and then print this 4'x1' building in sections and then paint would be immense. Going with my tried and true wall paper method first to see if I can pull it off.
I got the atlas cn painted version of that unit recently (blue devil repaint 2461) and it's great thought it needs DCC and sound. Also it's great to see that BCOL cowl with it.
Hey Ben, If you're familiar with SketchUp or equivalent, maybe you should consider augmenting your photo mapping approach with a more conventional material mapping strategy for certain elements that you may need to isolate or model. It's a very interesting strategy you're attempting especially with a more complex building form. In any case, great to see the effort and the progress.
That's a good idea Patrick, I actually have built a model of it in SketchUp that I use to determine the dimensions for the physical pieces. The proof of this technique will be in the pudding when it gets closer to being finished.
Evening Ben from the uk 🇬🇧 I always look forward to seeing your videos. Making a layout on a real place is an art in itself and you seemed to have mastered it 100 % Great you've used your wife's work matts lol 😂 Hope all you're family are well? Cheers Stevie 😎🇬🇧
Hi Stevie! Thank you so much for the kind words. Yep she kindly lends me her sewing tools, benefits of being married to another hobbyist : ) All are well, healthy and happy just waiting our turns for a vaccine so we can get back to normal. Hope you and yours are doing well. Cheers and take care my friend! -Ben
I may have to try a different approach with the station because it is so large but in all the buildings I've done to date, the photo printed walls are my favorite. They look the most realistic to my eye.
@@BArailsystem I would like to build this as a project for the NRA. I live to far away to get good shots and measurements to build it. Where would you start? So that I might get some information to build one.
Looks amazing! I noticed on your BC rail unit that I believe you change the flag and was wondering what decals you used as well as how did you weather the grills on it?
Thanks! Wow, good eye. Yes I did change the flag. I got the decals from PDC.CA and the grills are weathered with a "black wash" of black acrylic paint + water.
Pretty sure that IC unit is from the most recent run of dash8s. They came out about last year or maybe 2 years ago? So they really aren't that old... Haha
@@BArailsystem I have one of the Master line Gold CN ex Santa Fe series(?) Engines, 2172. Beautiful loco. Also bought at Hobbytech when I was over from scotland. Kind of fancy getting a bluebird like yours too!
Cool stuff! I really liked seeing the process you go through for making the building in that style. The locomotive was just a lucky find I guess and sounds like it needed a good home too, along with the battery acid car, haha. Yikes. How do you like the Kadee 158 versus 148? Do you go with all 158's on everything for scale look?
Thanks! We'll see how it goes, the smaller builds I've done it has worked very well. This building is enormous in HO scale. Yep I like the scale Kadee's the best, the smaller the coupler the more realistic it looks to my eye.
I do NOT recommend using the wife's fabric cutting tools (especially scissors) on paper. Why? The blades are designed for fabric, paper dulls them really quick and really bad. Fortunately the solution is easy, you take the old set and buy her a new set. great stuff as always!
The CN Dash 8s assigned to Illinois Central after the purchase of that railroad in 1999 were actually former Conrail/LMS units that have a unique history. LMS was a joint Conrail/General Electric leasing company that would lease locomotives in the US and Canada. LMS locomotives such as your blue one were leased half of the year to Conrail during peak traffic periods around the late fall to mid spring and then leased to other railroads for the balance of the year. You can read more about them in Conrail Power in Color Volume 3 and Conrail The Final Years 1992 - 1997 by Withers publishing. We also write about them from time to time in the Conrail Historical Society's publication, The Conrail Quarterly. The station is looking great man and your scenery is also looking fantastic. As a fan of the CP since I was a kid I have seen images of Banff for almost 3 decades and I cannot wait to see this whole scene completed and running smoothly! Oh and that thing you pretended didn't happen outside last night, we got almost three feet of it in a two day period a few weeks back and then got a few inches more a week later! I hate snow officially anymore here in the rockies...
Fascinating stuff Zach, thanks for sharing. They sure had an interesting backstory and were well travelled!
Ben you are doing an amazing job! you have come so far from that little layout at your old place!! your backdrops are perfect keep it up!!
Thanks so much!
I live in Maryland and I've been to Calgary/Banff 4 times. I never go without spending a few hours at the Banff train station parking lot waiting on trains to run through town. You've captured the area well my friend. If any of you guys have never been to Banff/The Canadian Rockies you have to go to railfan. The scenery is jawdropping and Canadian's are like the friendliest people - EVER! So many great memories of Canada. I can't wait for it to open up again.
One of my favourite places on earth to stand! The entire Laggan sub is amazing with the stunning scenery and historical significance to Canada as a country.
@@BArailsystem Agree. And you model it well. Good stuff!
@@PaulMichael-z4g Thank you Paul!
A couple of good finds Ben. Blue Devil looks good with the patch. Looks like piles of work on the station to get the shadows to line up. Spent many an evening at that station. As a Safeway driver way back when we use to split up Rocky Mountain Doubles in the parking lot. If there was a tour bus present we became an attraction ourselves as they hadn't seen equipment that big back home. I shudder to think how many pics of me smiling with curious tourists there are back in Korea...... Cheers!
Haha thanks for sharing that story Grant! The thing I love about Banff is everyone has their own personal connection to it. A couple years ago I was hanging out at the station, waiting for another train when suddenly I could hear the distinct sound of jet engines approaching. I jumped off the bench and ran out onto the platform to get a better view and two CF-18s went roaring by overhead then banked towards Lake Louise. Seems even the airforce pilots like to take a leisurely drive to Banff when they have a chance : ) I want to find a couple HO scale CF18s and hang them up in the lighting valence above the station to commemorate that day.
Sounds awesome Ben. Would have been cool to see! I have a pair of 1/144 scale CF188's to do the same with. Cheers!
Nice Video! Love it when you find gems at the hobby shop for a good price! Cheers! 👍
You and me both!
@@BArailsystem Found some sweet HO CP/BC locomotives in eBay ca from 'soeasydeal' just in case you are interested!
Just need a yellow sill stripe to 'Canadianize' the 2455 and you're golden! Nice find!
Good idea! I have some yellow vinyl sticker I use exactly for that purpose!
I thought that the thumbnail is a picture of real engines, no kidding!
Mission accomplished! Thanks!
Wow that station looks like a lot of work. It will be well worth it when it's done.
Great video. 473 trees? Wow! The station is very cool and your craftsmanship is excellent. Well done.
Thank you Syl!
Really great progress there Ben!
Thanks Al!
MURIA! that red one and blue one is mint! Thanks for sharing
Thanks for watching!
Oh boy, look at that snow. We're wearing shorts here in Ottawa now. Hope you get some nicer weather soon that stays!
I love the look of the blue CN/IC unit too. Atlas is really underrated...those master line models are very crisp, and Loksound is always great too :) Take care.
Snowing again today : (
Agreed, super nice models and they run like a swiss watch.
Looks awesome! That station is going to be a beast when its done! Can't wait for the next update!
Thank you!
I think the prototype of 2455 has been taken away for scrap. Appeared on a long train with a bunch of other dash 8s (mainly dash 8-40 CMs) on a few Vids here on TH-cam.
Nice progress! The grade crossing is looking good, nice Blue Devil too. When they were brand new they were under a lease agreement which saw them run on Conrail for half of the year, and on CN for the other half. That is why they were built to Conrail spec and painted CR blue. When CN bought them out, they put the IC reporting marks on - probably for accounting reasons, it seems like that's what most things seem to boil down to. The one unique thing about the Blue Devils is they had the same radiator as the later Dash 9s, which were just about to start coming out. It is thicker than a Dash 8 radiator. So if you are feeling really brave and know where to find a Kato or Blue Box Dash 9, you could take the rad wings off and fit them onto the Atlas unit and have a 100% correct model ;)
Gosh you're right about the radiators! Had seen so many photos of these bluebird locos and never even noticed the radiators were different to their other dash 8 sisters...
I've actually got a couple Kato unpainted dash 9 shells kicking around. That would be a super cool project I will keep that in mind thank you!
Love your process & attention to detail. I wish we were neighbors here in South Carolina...I could use your help. Age has brought dexterity and vision issues. Keep up the good work.
Thanks! Oh man I'd certainly enjoy your weather more if we were neighbors.
2008 is ancient? Man, I'm getting old.
There was a touch of exaggeration there, better choose my words more carefully lol
@@BArailsystem Haha. I'm still running some Athearn blue box diesels that I bought circa 1990.
@@tedvdw1975 I've still got my late 1980's era Tyco stuff from when I was a kid. We ran them around our Christmas tree this past year! Still work after all this time and now my kids get to enjoy them : )
Wow...as always..freakin awesome detail..and nice find at hobby shop..thanks for sharing and keep up the great work...Lance
Thanks Lance!
Atlas is awesome.i run o scale and love their products.i wish they would make engines.they so great work regardless of scale
Agreed!
I actually thought it was the real thing. Awesome 👏🏼
Thanks!
Love what your doing with the station, great work
Thanks!
Another great month of progress. So jealous on the CN/IC dash 8 Ben.
Haha I’ve got 2 of them
Thank you David!
Nice work Ben
Thank you Tyler.
So cool to see the method you use to do buildings dude! So stoked to see how you finish this one up bud!
Thanks man
Great video, enjoyed watching
Thank you 👍
As always, another great video Ben! Can’t wait to visit one of these days!
Thanks! Things are looking up.
I like the CN/ ILLINOIS CENTRAL (IC) engine looks like nee ex- CONRAIL colors or the leased engines of CR. First time I've seen this particular version.Wow now I want to get one & the classic BC RAIL colors awesome as well. The model building is great looking 100%! Thanks for presenting this video. 😀
Thanks Harold!
Hey Ben, looking great still, hopefullly you get that station figured out eventually. With the 2455 maybe take a link or two out and add a spring centered on the chain to hold the rest up. Shouldn't be too difficult to do and would be a real nice touch to the locomotive.
Thanks Josh! Oh man that is a super good idea, I am going to do that!
@@BArailsystem Yeah you will!! Ha ha! It might take a little digging but typically they have two springs on the real deal however CN's might have a different setup
Sounds like your local hobby store is a really good one.
Hobbytech is awesome, I confirm.
Absolutely!
Excellent! Love those models!
Agreed!
Love the Conrail blue CN loco.
Love the new loco it looks great. I do like how you do your buildings cant wait to see the full 3d version on the layout atb Andy
Thank you Andy!
Nice update! An idea for the station pictures, have you though about going out at night and using long exposure and light painting to light the building? That's the best way to get even lighting throughout.
Whoa that's a super good idea. Might be difficult to do though without trespassing so I will just have to stick to what I got from a safe distance with my telephoto.
AWESOME!!!🧧🧧🧧🧧🧧🧧🧧🧧🧧🧧🧧🧧🧧🧧🧧🧧🧧
The station is, coming along nicely. Have you given thought to possibly have it 3d printed instead, in sections. Or having someone with great Photoshop skills perfect your photo mask for the styrene structure.
Thanks Peter. I've mulled the idea but the amount of time it would take to design the CAD file and then print this 4'x1' building in sections and then paint would be immense. Going with my tried and true wall paper method first to see if I can pull it off.
I got the atlas cn painted version of that unit recently (blue devil repaint 2461) and it's great thought it needs DCC and sound.
Also it's great to see that BCOL cowl with it.
Nice! Yeah I thought it would be an interesting pair.
@@BArailsystem they sure do!
I have the same locomotive the real 2455 was scrapped in October
Nice! It's shall live on in 1:87 plastic on our layouts.
Super cool! Funny, I just found a master 2457 early last week.
The stars have aligned!
Hey Ben, If you're familiar with SketchUp or equivalent, maybe you should consider augmenting your photo mapping approach with a more conventional material mapping strategy for certain elements that you may need to isolate or model. It's a very interesting strategy you're attempting especially with a more complex building form. In any case, great to see the effort and the progress.
That's a good idea Patrick, I actually have built a model of it in SketchUp that I use to determine the dimensions for the physical pieces. The proof of this technique will be in the pudding when it gets closer to being finished.
Evening Ben from the uk 🇬🇧 I always look forward to seeing your videos. Making a layout on a real place is an art in itself and you seemed to have mastered it 100 % Great you've used your wife's work matts lol 😂 Hope all you're family are well? Cheers Stevie 😎🇬🇧
Hi Stevie! Thank you so much for the kind words. Yep she kindly lends me her sewing tools, benefits of being married to another hobbyist : ) All are well, healthy and happy just waiting our turns for a vaccine so we can get back to normal. Hope you and yours are doing well. Cheers and take care my friend! -Ben
I think the station is neat but I'm not a fan of the paper over actually building everything. Great update video. Stay well. -Wil 👍
I agree. I began an "N" scale build of Banff station many years ago but never finished it when I changed scales . . . lol. Wish I did though. Cheer.
Thanks Wil!
Kinda wish I was in N scale right now haha a 2' building would be much less daunting than a 4' building.
CN! I was beginning to wonder if you still modelled them
I need a time machine to give me more hours in a day!
How do you make your ground cover look so real, it's a beautiful layout.
Sifted dirt from outside : ) Thank you!
hello, did they have any more blue cn ex ic locos
They didn't have any more blue ex-IC but they did have one in CN paint.
Wow I love that Blue Devil and a BCRAIL coupled together. Awesome layout to. But unfortunately 2455 in real life was scrapped recently
Thanks! It will continue to ply the high iron in 1:87 form on my layout.
Nice!
Might be the last video of it here weeks before scrapping:
th-cam.com/video/X6zN2dZBoFw/w-d-xo.html
Yep. Thanks for sharing
Wow do you have enough shots to just build it in HO? I am very tempted to want to build it.
I would love to build it in HO as well. The photo-shop "wall paper" routine will never do it justice. ~ Boomer.
I think so, vertical walls are the hardest as they have the most detail. Roof is easy.
I may have to try a different approach with the station because it is so large but in all the buildings I've done to date, the photo printed walls are my favorite. They look the most realistic to my eye.
@@BArailsystem I would like to build this as a project for the NRA. I live to far away to get good shots and measurements to build it. Where would you start? So that I might get some information to build one.
@@BArailsystem Not me.
Where did you get the backdrop?
I made them using my own photographs and a HP Designjet 500 printer.
an Ode to Big Blue, Canadian style...
Long live big blue! In 1:87 plastic form on my layout : )
Nice video!
Thanks!
Looks amazing! I noticed on your BC rail unit that I believe you change the flag and was wondering what decals you used as well as how did you weather the grills on it?
Thanks! Wow, good eye. Yes I did change the flag. I got the decals from PDC.CA and the grills are weathered with a "black wash" of black acrylic paint + water.
I have the blue cn 2463 in N scale. I love it, but i've still never seen it in real life. on my bucket list
Well all I can say is good luck because I have a feeling that some of the “blue devils” are gonna start disappearing
@@ns_guy5149 all the more reason to weather the snot out of mine since I model 2010 onward
Yes and gotta have the classic CN coffee pot dumping stains coming out of the conductors window!
@@BArailsystem haha but it’s gotta be Tim Horton’s 🤣
Nice! Too bad the latest run only came as repaints
I like the grey panel on it : )
Got your work cutout for ya!...hehe, no pun intended. :)
😁 you could definitely say that again!
Pretty sure that IC unit is from the most recent run of dash8s. They came out about last year or maybe 2 years ago? So they really aren't that old... Haha
Yeah Otter Valley Railway store in Ontario have a video of one from only 2 years ago. So probably actually a recent run. Theirs was 2457 though.
I looked it up after I flapped my gums on the video, from what I can tell, this one was part of the 2016 run.
@@BArailsystem I have one of the Master line Gold CN ex Santa Fe series(?) Engines, 2172. Beautiful loco. Also bought at Hobbytech when I was over from scotland. Kind of fancy getting a bluebird like yours too!
Have you tried Google Earth station and you can scale the building
No need, I've got the original 1910 plans. But you are absolutely right, Google Earth is a very powerful tool, especially the ruler.
Great stuff
Thanks!
Cool stuff! I really liked seeing the process you go through for making the building in that style. The locomotive was just a lucky find I guess and sounds like it needed a good home too, along with the battery acid car, haha. Yikes.
How do you like the Kadee 158 versus 148? Do you go with all 158's on everything for scale look?
Thanks! We'll see how it goes, the smaller builds I've done it has worked very well. This building is enormous in HO scale.
Yep I like the scale Kadee's the best, the smaller the coupler the more realistic it looks to my eye.
I do NOT recommend using the wife's fabric cutting tools (especially scissors) on paper. Why? The blades are designed for fabric, paper dulls them really quick and really bad. Fortunately the solution is easy, you take the old set and buy her a new set.
great stuff as always!
: O I think I owe her a new set of blades
Hey Ben how are you doing buddy I got my camera tripod I also been Railfan a lot got my engines I did preorder my Sd70m in the Union Pacific scheme
Thanks Taylor!
Awesome
Thanks!
😊
Nice
Thanks!
There is a Comment Spam Bots link.
Please don’t click it link, and please delete comment spam bots, says language China.
Removed. Thanks!
Some of them usually say von. Something
Lol maybe people should comment more on what you're missing! Seems like when it happens, you find stuff your looking for/want.
haha! OK I am missing a 3 full sets of OMI Brass CP plows, Jordan spreaders and the Royal Canadian Pacific heavy weight passenger car fleet.
Hey who knows you might just find a Walthers proto CP Jordan spreader at the local hobby shop or a cp Passenger car fleet on brass trains!