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N-Scale NOVA Hiawatha District

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N-Scale NOVA Hiawatha District

The current NOVA layout is set on the Whitefish Falls (ex-CP Little Current) subdivision in early spring, 1996. INCO and Sherman Mines taconite ore, E.B.

The Nipissing, Ottawa Valley & Algoma (NOVA) Railway is an n-scale proto-freelance class-2 regional operating extensive trackage in Northeastern Ontario, Michigan and Wisconsin. Starting in 1978 as the Mattawa Railway (MATT) running the ex-Canadian Pacific Temiscaming Subdivision, the railway has expanded their operations with a focus on industrial resource transportation (such as taconite and copper concentrate), renewal and development of struggling branch and secondary lines, and building a reputation of individualized customer service, high employee satisfaction and job safety. The NOVA, through purchases completed over 14 years, is compromised of 4 subsidiaries; Lake Superior and Ishpeming, Algoma Central, Detroit and Mackinac, and The Green Bay and Western Railways(roads), each being assigned a specific division or region of the railway. Sold to the NOVA precursor MATT and operated as the Goat Island and Lacloche Railway (GOAT) in 1979, the previously struggling branchline is thriving under the NOVA. Eddy pulp and paper, Falconbridge Inc. Raven Lake Mine cooper concentrate, and Lafarge cement traffic making up the bulk of revenue on the subdivision. The layout presents the 36 miles that makeup with Whitefish Falls Sub., from Little Current, ON to the junction with the NOVA North Shore Sub. at McKerrow, ON.

09/13/2026

Been a long time since a railfanning post!

Had some time to spend next to my favourite signal bridge, at m.p. 297 of the CN Kingston sub.

Hope this is the start of my return back trackside!

07/24/2026

Gas station is finally finished, minus the large sign that will adorn the top of the building.

Lights will eventually be wired into the layout, but for now Taylor’s Automotive is complete. The last photo shows an ex-D&M hopper, used in restricted ballast service, is passed by an old
Square body pickup.

07/21/2026

As I’ve said before, summer is peak baseball, motorcycle and trip time, so the layout becomes a side hobby.

However, that doesn’t mean progress stops. I’ve been on a 3 week kick building Taylor’s Automotive.

Located in the corner Hiawatha and 42nd Ave, the business is now apartments. However, in my 2011 timeframe the shop was still kicking.

Just need to recreate the company sign that goes around the top of the building, add lights and finish up the plethora of cars that will surround the shop. It’s been a fun project and I can’t wait to see the finished product!

07/02/2026

Hello friends!

A current summer project is the Minneapolis Public Works Storage that was moved to E34th St. On the layout.

As seen in the photos, I have finished the drainage ditch between the rails, The storage facility and Taylor’s Automotive. Like most industrial area ditches, this one is of trash.

The container you see here is an 3ex-Sante Fe piggy back box trailer (you can barely make out “Sante Fe” on the one side. This will be up against the fence and used for storage by city works. An Evergreen 20’ container will join it.

Last but not least, an old Chevy flatbed pickup is used by the city for lawn moving services. Currently it has a skidsteer in the trailer, soon to be replaced by a lawn mower.

06/17/2026

Storage project. I love how the loose cars look like in the foam!

06/04/2026

Hello friends,

I’m so sorry for the lack of updates. I’m terrible at this 😭 It also doesn’t help that baseball season as started and im playing or coaching 3-5 nights a week, so there is little time at the layout/on the bench.

I’ve attached a grouping of current projects below.

04/20/2026

MEQ 7005 is back in the Twin Cities and sporting some new additions. A new horn, logos and AC have been installed.

MEQ 7005 is seen here moving a BNSF covered hopper into a staging track waiting for room at the ADM Atkinson mill. It will then move the 60” EH boxcar (brand new and shiny!) full of paper towel over to the Aldi distribution warehouse.

04/10/2026

Please welcome GBW 320 to the NOVA roster.

She’s part of the brand new ALCO C424 release by Atlas, using the tooling they received from Life Like with a whole new DCC/sound equipped chassis.

In NOVA lore, 320 joins the NOVA during the 1993 purchase and stays on the GBW subsidiary roster instead of being sold to the LAL. 320 will stay in its red paint heavy weathered and patched for the NOVA. She will also have AC, ditch lights (have to figure out how to wire those to the decoder!) and an appropriate plow installed eventually.

C424 are my fav 4-axle and the were noticeably absent from modern n-scale, so I’m stoked to have it. There are a few small “detail” issues with it, such as the wrong colour number boards, mis-location of the GBW on the long hood, no plow, etc. These are all “errors” I expect from Atlas releases, and don’t really affect me as a proto-freelancer. With that said, for the price you would think a quick peak at the prototypes photo would help solve these small unit-specific details.

Ultimately I have another one on order and love the new addition to the lineup. Glad to finally have a C424 crawling around the Hiawatha District!

03/26/2026

The latest work on the NOVA.

03/17/2026

One of the cool parts about proto-freelancing is you can incorporate parts of railroading you love but may not exist on your prototype. Signals fill that spot for me.

Although this signal does not exist at E45th street, its inclusion is based on the line being a through line until the mid-50s. Seeing as 45th marks the end of the line, which trains only using the crossing periodically to access the nearby turnout, it’s plausible a signal from the lines through-line days would be left to age. Turned away from the view of the line to indicate its OOS status, its second, lower signal head lies on the ground, knocked off by vandals and left to decay.

I used AI to play around with the last photo. The backdrop gives a simple example of the future aspects coming to the layout!

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445 Oak Street E
North Bay, ON
P1B1A3

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