East Toronto Trams, Trains & Ships

07/25/2026

I just built a tender (tenders carried coal and water for the locomotive's operation) for my 1840s era scratch-built locomotive. At some point I may add a passenger car to complete this set. I also built railway tracks for this and a number of my other locomotives, which until now, were just sitting on shelf surfaces.

05/20/2026

Photos of my completed locomotive model. This is the pacific 231, an iconic French locomotive of the early to mid twntieth century.

05/20/2026

Presenting the Pacific 231 locomotive, the latest of my projects. This iconic locomotive became famous in France, pulling many of the express passenger trains, from the early 1900s right up to the 1960s.There is even a symphony, Pacific 231, that was composed by the Swiss composer Arthur Honegger to celebrate the locomotive.

This was one of the most detailed and complicated of my projects. Much of the locomotive and its tender (before and after photos) are covered with brass plates, attached by hundreds of "rivets" (actually very small nails). The complexity of the various pipes and wires was a challenge to shape, place and glue into the correct positions. While this 3 month project was challenging, it was also quite satisfying. It is in 1:32 scale.

04/25/2026

I finished this tram a while back but forgot about posting it. It's a old style tram that still operates a number of routes in Milan, Italy. The tram is in 1:24 scale and came in a kit. I made some alterations, such as adding my own adverts on the sides The kit does not include these, but a photo of the real tram, included below, does have various adverts.

11/24/2025

This is an American Civil War era model of a horse-drawn ambulance wagon. This was one of the first wagons that was specifically designed for battlefield casualties. The seats could be adjusted to lie flat for stretcher casualties or kept in the upright position for ambulatory cases. I completed this model a few years ago. The model is 1:16 scale and was from a kit. Notice that the kit has the Red Cross insignia, which in fact, was not added to ambulances until some years after the Civil War. So while it is not authentic to the era, I like the look of it just the same.

10/20/2025

Here is a streetcar model I built a couple of years ago, but am only now getting around to posting here. It is an late 19th - early 20th century Toronto tram. This is actually from a kit that is supposed to be a Madrid tram, but it was similar enough to what carried passengers on the streets of Toronto, so I adapted it as Toronto Railway Comapny's number 14 tram. I also added lighting.

10/10/2025

10/10/2025

I completed the Hjejlen, the Danish paddle steamer. Unlike some of the more recent scratch-build projects, this is a kit, so all the parts and pieces are included. Still, hundreds of parts needed measuring, cutting, sanding, and fitting. It did take me about 9 weeks, working a few hours a day. I am also entitled to a free ticket on the actual boat, which provides excursions in Denmark. A good incentive to visit the country?

09/05/2025

Because the Hjejlen kit is a new product for the Billing Boats company, they have included a free excursion ticket for a ride on the boat. Only the first 100 kits sold have this, so it looks as though I will have to travel to Denmark to take advantage of my free ticket.

09/04/2025

For my next project, I will be constructing a model of a Danish excursion paddle-wheeler, the Hjejlen (pronounced Yi-len). This boat was originally launched in 1861 and continues to operate today as the world's oldest coal-fired sidewheeler. This will be a kit as opposed to a scratch-build. It is quite a complicated model and will take me some time to complete. So stay tuned for updates.