Branch Line Railways Co.

01/09/2026

Menacing Monday!

Ancient BLR GP9 #44 runs slow with bell ringing in an ominous fog while switching the yard near the RDK shop in Goldfield on our Canadian prairies Meridian Subdivision.

*AI enhanced effects.

19/08/2026

Shortly after the x CN van was shoved into the shop the RDK DMCX loco brought in yet another odd piece of equipment. This one is ours. It will get a refurb, a little bit of paint and then be assigned to either w**d spraying and/or Fire crew service.

19/08/2026

RDK has a new project in the shop. CN dropped this today via Otter Valley Railroad.

17/08/2026

The summer students did a great job cleaning up the shop pad and washing locomotives today.

17/08/2026

Something a little different tonight. A group photo of retired and semi-retired WBL & BLR motive power in their display slots.

Top to bottom left to right.
WBL SW1 21
BLR GP9 44
BLR GS12rm ‘Sweep’ 70
BLR GP40 61
BLR GE 70t 9 (semi retired)
BLR GP9 42 (semi retired)
BLR GP40 64 (semi retired)

14/08/2026

🤔 hmmm

MONTREAL — Canadian National will add two more units to its hybrid locomotive development program, the railroad said today (Aug. 14), which will bring its fleet to five. The railroad currently has three hybrid locomotives in testing and plans to transform two more into AC-traction hybrid-electric ...

24/07/2026

FEF!

BLR MP15 82 and BLR (xCN) SW1200RS 1375 tied down on the elevator track while they await their call to the shop for repairs.
Desque elevator row.
BLR Meridian Subdivision

18/07/2026

Added some auxiliary lights to the corporate wheels for those late night drives in the country. LED driving lights with Amber fog/emergency capability.

11/07/2026

An interesting and expected car showed up at interchange today. We got a smokin deal on a restored/refitted fire tanker car that was slated for asset disposal by BN just a few hundred miles over the border from us so we snagged it. CN brought it in to Goldfield and it was caught being moved to storage by BLR MP15 #82.
BN did such a nice job on the SF restoration paint it will be a shame to black it out and renumber it. But we are not the SF and so it will become BL #241 fitting in with out MoW tank car number series and then be assigned to our existing Fire Service train that stands ready for grass fires spring to fall each year.

18/05/2026

Making some slow progress on the GP20c Eco. Cab is ready for semigloss but airbrush trigger started sticking while attempting the nose on the main body.
Time for a thorough cleaning and mask some tiny lights at the base of the rear nose.

Did we mention we are fast becoming non-fans of Tamiya mask tape?
Well we are. Starting to hate the stuff. It doesn’t like to stay stuck and doesn’t conform near as well as regular old green or blue painters tape. Not real impressed at all.

Time for some other activities before getting back to this. Have a good Victoria day! 🇬🇧