THE FOUNDING LAYOUT (1950 - 1973)

During the 50's and 60's, materials needed to build a miniature railroad were very primitive by today's standards and quantities were limited. The means to finance such an Association were also in short supply. It was as if in a pioneer era, the members had to rely heavily on their ingenuity and imagination to build their layout. Plans and layout construction books were not as advanced as they are today.

After 1950, the layout gradually started to take shape, and by 1970 it had amassed 1250 feet of track and more than 100 switches, all in a 30' x 40' area of the small apartment building's basement.
 

The construction of such a layout, spread over more than 20 years, with only very basic materials. This was made possible by a succession of member-groups sharing the same goals, and similar ideas, sometimes having to retrace and modify the layout, all the while attempting to overcome new challenges and problems.

GROWTH (1973 - 1997)

The timely move in 1973 to the new location on St-Paul St. W., provided the Association with opportunities to start "fresh from ground-zero" by constructing a larger layout, with innovative ideas, involving new standards and techniques, and using new materials to fill the cavernous available area.

The new layout had been intentionally developed like a real-life, prototype railroad, starting at one eastern point, and expanding its mainline trackage as it moved toward western terminal point. All the while making allowances for secondary-line expansions to accomodate service to in "new business markets" in future towns and industries.

The rejuvinated Canada Central planners had to think BIG.

Their primary objective was again to develop a miniaturized concept of the original QMO&O railroad link between Georgian Bay,on Lake Huron, and the regions suround Montreal. Once that concept was established, the primary benchwork and trackage appeared dwarfed in the remaining emptiness of the new room. Then the concept was modified to accomodate busier networks between East and West; Atlantic and Pacific with interchanges to branchlines and other primary carriers, that might occur across Canada.

This network developed into using mostly double mainlines for all traffic with single mainline over trestles and through tunnels of mountainous regions. Cities and towns sprouted around large yards that supported increased freight and passenger traffic. Operating trains, controlling where they switched to improved immensely. Maincabs and Localcabs had control panels which clearly mapped out the mainlines and showed the different block sections and switches, and who controlled them. Even then there was still room to expand further.
 

In 1982, another model railroading Association, the "Lower Canada & Western" Club joined our Association. Their layout was setup in proximity to Canada Central, and barely connected to it by a single track, at one interchange. They specialized in hand-laid trackwork, and were able to salvage much of their old layout and integrate that into their new system. Their locomotive and railcar modelists were equally talented.

By 1990 the two networks merged together as the "Lower Canada Central & Western", a trans continental railroad with more than 5000 feet of track, almost 500 switches, a principal circuit about 750 feet long, with double mainlines on 80% of its route. This allowed for numerous secondary junctions, 18 stations and a dozen workable yards, and the overall layout had expanded to 3200 square feet, in the layout's of 128' x 40' room.

This large layout, is probably the largest in Canada, utilising 25 operators to properly control the function of the entire layout, with a minimum of 10 to permit basic realistic operations; it is operated from 15 principal automated control panels, as well as 5 mobile "walk-around" controls, and numerous secondary control panels; all of this relies on an assembly of 10s of thousands of feet of wiring, and hundreds of relays and other electrical parts all connected together.
 

On the evenings of operations, the number of operators is generally between 12 to15 or 18, rarely more, with the result being that this beautiful big layout is not, except on very rare occasions, operated in its entirety.

With the development of the layout, and the usage over time, maintenance is heavy and the problems are multiplied, particularly in the area of electronics, were the number of members who possess the required skills is very limited.

With the times, important sections of the layout, including numerous hundreds of feet of track (principal and secondary), are being used on a more and more occasional bases if not totally abandonned.

RATIONALIZATION (1997 - Today)

Beginning in 1997, a modernisation of the layout has been undertaken, notably with the implementation of a new control system for the trains, permitting the operator to follow his train, thus eliminating a large part of the complexity of the electronics of the layout.

The arrangement of the layout, as previously developed, did not allow for the operator to physically follow his train (passageways were too narrow, dead ends, etc.)

As with the larger railroads, the layout was faced with rationalization, starting with the elimination of non-profitable sections of track.

This rationalization, which was shyly undertaken years earlier, litterally exploded in the spring of 1999: at that time over 400 square feet of layout was eliminated, over 1000 feet of rail were dismanteled, the central control system was removed, one wall liberated, corridors permitting circulation for the operators were enlarged to a minimum of 3 feet, and new ones added, the layout now litterally separated into 3 sections.

Since, these sections have been joined together by the addition of new sections (rezoned for future development), the tracks linked together by new lines, a new operating system put in place (Digital Command Control) in conjunction with electronic decoders installed in each locomotive allowing for individual control.

Now it is possible to operate trains on the layout in a more realistic and interesting manner, with just 2 or 3 persons as well as with 15 or 20 operators or more. With the addition of electronic decoders in the locomotives it is now possible to incorporate a more realistic sound system, which adds greatly to the pleasure of operations.
 

The layout has retained its original name "Canada Central" in 1996 with the goose logo, its principal route has been adjusted to stretch from the Georgian Bay in the west to Mont-Joli in the east, with numerous secondary lines under development from this point in the direction of the Gaspe and the Maritimes.
 

The contributing factor to making this large realisation possible in such a short period of time, is the phenomenon of retirement. In effect, since 1995, more and more members of the Association are active retiree's (50% in the spring of 2000) also other dedicated members regularly log 15, 20 or even more hours each week to the activities of the Association. Without this new availability, no major changes of the layout would be possible, since it could not be completed within a reasonable delay of time, considering that over the last 45 years of the Association's existance, the period of activity of the members can be summerized into one evening per week, from september to june.

THE FUTURE

Parallel with the development of our layout, the Association has developed contacts with other model railroad associations, principally in Quebec, but also in Ontario and the United States, this will permit us eventually to add a new facet of operations, with the implementation of joint inter-association days of operation.