Come see our new Thomas the Tank Engine layout at our spring train show and open house

The newest attraction at our spring train show and open house is our Thomas the Tank Engine layout. Every year at our show we hold a draw for an HO Thomas set. Now you can see what can be done with it! A instruction sheet will be available for free for those who want to build one. And kids can operate it at the show!

The 40" X 60" layout was constructed on braced 1/2" plywood with banquet table legs. All structures are lighted with 12 volt bulbs mounted on styrene tube pedestals and power by a 12 volt one amp power supply. Two inch styrofoam was used to construct the land contours. Sculptamold was used for the final contours. The roads were made with 1/4" foam core. They were painted yellow, then masked down the centre line and painted grey. Scenery was made with various shades of ground foam and ballast. 

The layout was designed so kids can operate it at the open house. 

The project was spearheaded by WMRC secretary Brent Karr with help from past president Larry Leavens and Gino Kost. Special thanks go to Joanne Stempnick, who donated the banquet table legs, and to Sandra Mulholland, the wife of our part president, the late Ed Mulholland, who donated some of the structures from his layout. 

The WMRC's annual spring train show and open house will be held in the Tank Room at the Charleswood Legion, 6003 Roblin Boulevard on Saturday, April 18 from 10AM to 5PM and on Sunday, April 19 from 10 PM to 4PM.

The WMRC's 2026 spring open house to be held on April 18 and 19

The WMRC's annual spring train show and open house is happening next month! We'll have some new features and surprises that will make this one of our best shows ever! Some of these features will be posted on this site and on Facebook as we get closer to the event. We'll be at the Charleswood Legion Saturday, April 18 from 10 to 5 and on Sunday, April 19 from 10 to 4. Admission by donation, proceeds to support St. Amant. Mark your calendars!

 

Check out Rob Sarna's Alco S3 unit

Rob Sarna submitted this Alco S3 unit to the WMRC’s March monthly model display. It started out as a Life-Like Proto 2000 Alco S3 unit. The model originally came painted as Canadian Pacific #6515 in the Tuscan and Gray Scheme.

The cab and long hood were stripped of paint using 99% isopropyl alcohol. The four lift rings on the long hood were scratch built from brass wire to replace the missing ones. Both the cab and long hood were primed and painted with Tamiya paints (primer and yellow colours). Decals are Microscale black stencil lettering. Tamiya and Vallejo clear sealed the decals. 

The handrails, grab irons, and other details were painted using black and yellow Tamiya paints. The walkway paint was kept as is to give the completed model a simple, but visible, industrial look.The model’s open framed motor had to be rebuilt before the Soundtraxx Tsunami2 1100 decoder and a single ESU “sugar cube” speaker were installed. To fit the new electronics and LED headlights the top frame cap had to be left off and a speaker shelf fabricated out of sheet styrene and attached to the frame using one of the frame plate screws.