Modeling the
Cape Breton & Central Nova Scotia Railway

By Robert Chant

TRAFFIC LEVELS:
Traffic on the modeled portion of the CB&CNS consist of three daily mainline freights in each direction, and two locals: the daily, except Sunday, Sydport Turn and the daily Northside Local. On Sundays, the Northside Local handles all local deliveries.

This was based on the traffic volume of the prototype Cape Breton and Central Nova Scotia Railway, plus allowances for the customers I added. On the real CB&CNS there is only one daily freight in each direction and one, as needed, local. The two mainline trains generally run about sixty cars long, the local usually consists of about five.

To reduce the prototype train length to something more manageable on the layout, I would need three trains of about twenty cars in each direction (actually a bonus). Since I also increased the number of on-line customers and the frequency of deliveries, there is also a need to increase local service levels (another bonus).

So what I end up with is about 75 cars in each direction, per day. This is equivalent to traffic levels of the CB&CNS, plus about 15 cars (allowances for increased traffic). Therefore, I will have three mainline train of about 25 car long and two locals of about 10 cars each. And since I plan to operate the layout by myself, this seems about the right amount of business to keep me occupied for quite a few hours.

SCHEDULING THE TRAINS:
Once the number of trains was determined, I then had to figure out some kind of schedule. As I did with the traffic level, I looked to the prototype again for my answer. When the Canadian National owned this line, there were three schedule frieghts on the time table, although only one time slot was used. Under CN’s timetable, practices and train numbering, the three eastbound freights (940, 942, 944) operate as scheduled trains and all westbound trains operated as extras. The eastbound trains were dispatched from Havre Boucher (HR) at about the same time each day and traveled eastward according to the following:

At Sydney, the yard crew usually had the westbound trains waiting for the arrival of the eastbound. Once in Sydney, the eastbound crew turn their train over to the yard crew and boarded the lead engine of the westbound. The westbound train generally departed Sydney within an hour of the eastbound’s arrival and would then head to Havre Bouchre as an extra.

THE MODELED TIMETABLE:
So this gave me the starting point for my modeled timetable. I used (stole?) CN’s numbering scheme and times for my eastbound trains. But instead of operating the westbounds as extras, I preferred for these trains to be on the timetable as well. So what I finally ended up with was the following schedule for the mainline trains on the modeled portion of the Cape Breton and Central Nova Scotia Railway:

THE MODELED ROSTER:
The prototype CB&CNS uses only ALCO/MLW (C-630M’s and RS-18’s). To run the six mainline trains on my layout, four sets of the 630’s will be required. Since each mainline train will be assigned three units, I will need 12 C-630M’s. The real CB&CNS only has eight of these beasts on its roster, so I had to add a few. Yard and local chores are performed by RS-18’s on the real road and as well as on my version. But, I will only need to model two of these work horses, since that's all I nedd to handle these operations on the layout. So the final roster is as follows: (the 630's without names are the ones I added to the roster.)

DETAILED DAILY OPERATIONS (MODELED PORTION ONLY):
Once I had this back ground information, it was time to plan the daily operations of the layout. I did this to see if the timetable was "workable" and if I could in fact handled all required work myself. This would be a typical day of operations:

TRACK PLAN OF THE TWO LEVEL LAYOUT:

Level One - On The CB&CNS Railway

Level Two - On The CB&CNS Railway

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©1998 Robert A. Chant, all rights reserved.