Winnipeg Model Railroad's annual open house is on this weekend

The WMRC's main event, the big Kahuna of train shows, is happening this coming weekend, April 2nd and 3rd! It's being held in the Tank Room at the Charleswood Legion, 6003 Roblin Boulevard, on the west side of the building. There will be some great layouts and displays, our annual photo and model contest, trains, trains and more trains! The canteen will be open, with coffee, donuts, chips and hot dogs are on the menu! Admission by donation. A portion of the proceeds will be donated to St. Amant. Hours are from 11AM to 4PM both days, handicap accessible. Hope to see you all there!

Lloyd Smith's layout featured on Shaw TV

WMRC Program Director Morgan Turney took this photo of Lloyd Smith being interviewed by Shaw TV reporter Kevin Hirschfield, literally surrounded by Lloyd's spectacular layout!

The third video segment on the layouts of WMRC members produced by Shaw TV features Lloyd Smith's massive basement layout. Lloyd, a long time member of the WMRC, has a layout that gradually expanded until it took over most of the basement. As you can see, there's some fine modelling work done here! To view the video, click here.

These features were produced in promotion for the club's annual open house, which is happening this coming weekend, April 2nd and 3rd, at the Charleswood Legion, 6003 Roblin Boulevard. There will be some great layouts and displays, our annual photo and model contest, trains, trains and more trains! The canteen will be open, and hot dogs are on the menu! Hours are from 11AM to 4PM both days, handicap accessible. Hope to see you all there!

A BCR diesel in classic dual green colours rounds a curve on Lloyd Smiths' layout.

Norm Leathers' layout featured on Shaw TV

Norm Leathers shows visitor Glenn Klassen his Pennsylvania Railroad layout.

The second video produced by Shaw TV features Norm Leathers' Pennsylvania Railroad layout. Norm has long been the backbone of the club. He first became a member of the WMRC in 1957.  He has recently served as president of the club in the 2009-2010 season. He was awarded the president's shield in 2014 for his efforts in bringing the WMRC and the Winnipeg Railway Museum together to rebuild the Gateway Western in the museum.

Before his long and distinguished career as an educator, he was a pilot for the RCAF. This year he celebrated his 80th birthday. Long may he and his railroad run!

You can view the video of Norm's layout by clicking here. 

Winnipeg Model Railroad Club layouts featured on Shaw TV

The club's gateway Western Railway has been featured on Shaw TV's Go! program.

We are delighted to report that Shaw TV Winnipeg has featured three of our club's layouts on their Go! program, which is available to subscribers of Shaw TV. The program was broadcast yesterday at 7:00PM, and will be broadcast today at 7:00AM, 10:00AM, at noon and at 7:00PM.

Three segments were done by Shaw TV's reporter/producer Kevin Hirschfield. He covered the club's Gateway Western layout at the Winnipeg Railway Museum, Norm Leather's Pennsylvania Railroad layout, and Lloyd Smith's massive home layout.

These are very high quality videos with excellent production standards, and they serve as the perfect showcase to promote our upcoming open house, which will be held on April 2nd and 3rd  at the Charleswood Legion, 6003 Roblin Boulevard, from 11AM to 4PM.

If you missed the program, or if you don't subscribe to Shaw cable, they've been posted on You Tube. During the next few days, we'll be posting their links, starting with the Gateway Western, which you can view by clicking here. 

Much thanks to Shaw TV's Kevin Hirschfeld, and to Morgan Turney for coordinating the taping of the video segments, and especially to WMRC's public relations director Margaret Ullrich, for alerting Shaw TV and other media outlets about our upcoming show!

Winnipeg Model Railroad Club mourns passing of telegraph operator Dan Kollesavich

Dan Kollesavich demonstrates Morse Code at the WMRC's meeting on November  8, 2013 

Our good friend Dan Kollesavich has died. Dan will always be remembered as Winnipeg's "Morse Code Guy". He often held Morse Code and telegraph demonstrations at the Winnipeg Railway Museum's Railway Days, The WMRC's Great Canadian Train Show and the Manitoba Mega Train Show. 

He will be fondly remembered at the WMRC for his excellent presentation on the history and usage of the telegraph at the club's meeting on November 8, 2013. Dan, who started working for CP Rail in the 1950's, also regaled us with his experiences of working for CP Rail as a station master in various rural communities in Manitoba and northern Ontario.  Dan also delighted the audience by clicking out "Winnipeg Model Railroad Club" in morse code!

It's not going to be the same going to Railway Days and the Manitoba Mega Train Show and not seeing Dan happily clicking away at his telegraph.

The sky's the limit for the Winnipeg Model Railroad Club's annual photo contest

Look up! Look way up! The theme for the WMRC's photo contest special event is "The sky's the limit", which means that we want to see some weather along with the trains in the photos you submit! When we go rail fanning, we can't avoid the sky, no matter how hard we try, so why not embrace the challenge of integrating it as a background that compliments the photo of the train that you're taking?

This theme presents a unique challenge for all of us railway photographers, who usually are concerned with taking pictures of trains, trains,  and only trains. Why not try stepping back an composing the photo in the environment?

The deadline for submission for the special event and all other photo categories is April 1, 2016. Please bring your submissions at that date to the Tank Room at the Charleswood Legion, 6003 Roblin Boulevard, after 6:00 PM. And don't forget to bring your paperwork!

Winnipeg Model Railroad Club's annual model contest deadline is just over two weeks away

With the WMRC annual model contest deadline looming, contest chair Morgan Turney has "shake-a-box" fever! For the club's monthly model display in March, he brought in this Athearn undecorated GP-7, which he's decorating in the colours of his beloved TH&B railway.

He's been building "shake-a-box" kits at a frantic pace, while his iPod plays a continuous loop of  "Shakin' all Over", "Shake it up Baby", "Shake, Rattle and Roll", and both the Sam Cooke and Otis Redding versions of "Shake". Every one in a while he stops to nourish himself with a plate of Shake N' Bake chicken, washed down with (wait for it) a milk shake!

He's so dedicated to "shake-a-box" kits that he takes real to run cars, removes their protective packaging, puts them back in the box and shakes them just so he can put back together all the broken pieces!

But seriously, folks - the special event for our annual model contest is to construct a "shake-a-box" kit, and you'll get an extra ten points if you include the 60th anniversary WMRC decal somewhere on the kit. We also have other contest categories, such as steam locomotives, diesels and others, passenger cars, freight cars, non-revenue, structures and displays. So be sure to bring your models down to the Tank Room at the Charleswood Legion on Friday, April 1, after 6:00PM!  And don't forget your paperwork!

Vector Garden Trains to hold meeting on a prospective new group

Vector Garden Trains, the organization behind the Manitoba Mega Train Show, the Holiday Express Ride-On Train  and Trains n' Treasures, is holding a meeting on Wednesday, March 16, to discuss the possibility of forming a model railroad group, titled Vector Model Association. The meeting will be held at their Trains N' Treasures location at 3059 Ness Avenue. The construction of an HO layout at this location, and a monthly investment will be the main topics of discussion.  Please pre-register at   204-837-4776.

John Sinclair displays his G scale models at Winnipeg Model Railroad Club's March meeting

Long time WMRC member John Sinclair brought down some of the G gauge models he's been working on for the club's monthly model display this month. This Plymouth style switcher is John's smallest engine, but it towers above the HO gauge models of most of our other members!

John painted this model after he found a prototype photo for this switcher's primer red paint scheme. He also brought a collection of logging flat cars and a wooden gondola that he assembled from a kit.

John has been a model railroader in HO, N, and O gauge, but he's been devoted solely to G gauge for over 30 years. The WMRC welcomes and warmly accepts model railroaders in every gauge of our wonderful hobby!

John's G gauge logging train was so massive that it barely fit into the frame of the photo! It took up the length of an entire banquet table!

Two great programs on top for Winnipeg Model Railroad Club's March meeting

Peter Mitchell took this photo of a CP RDC pulling into a station.

For our first program, we have Peter Mitchell presenting a wonderful slide presentation of photos taken from Newfoundland to Manitoba from the early to mid-1970s. Peter's slides have been digitized by WMRC Vice President Dave Downie, and many are quite dramatic! 

After a short coke break, we'll go railfanning with Cliff Davidson in California to Caliente, the Tehachapi Loop and to the Napa Valley on the Napa Valley Wine Train. 

The fun starts at 7:30PM on Friday, March 11 in the Tank Room at the Charleswood Legion Hall, 6003 Roblin Boulevard. The canteen will be open, and we'll also be holding our monthly model display and a 50-50 draw.

CP's Canadian pulls out of Kenora's train station on a rainy day.

Winnipeg Model Railroad Club member’s design gets national attention

Paul Ullrich's design for the NMRA's LCC system has been used in full page ads in NMRA Magazine.

WMRC blog editor Paul Ullrich designed a logo for the National Model Railroad Association that has been subject to a national campaign by the NMRA. The logo was for a microchip for the organization’s new Layout Command Control System (LCC). The logo has been used in full page ads in NMRA Magazine and displayed prominently at the NMRA’s national convention in Portland, Oregon last year. 

“I thought that the logo was going to be embedded onto a tiny microchip inside a locomotive, and no one would ever see it.” Says Paul, “Imagine my surprise to see full page ads and huge posters showcasing the design.

Paul has also designed the 60th anniversary logo for the WMRC, and the logo for the Kildonan Short Lines modular railway. He also draws a cartoon for  NMRA Magazine every month. 

Paul's design was showcased prominently at the NMRA nation convention in Portland, Oregon last year. Photo by Gerry Leone. 

Aaron Woloshyn models a jobsite trailer

Aaron Woloshyn brought in a unique model to the club's February model display. He scratch built a job site trailer using Evergreen brand sheet styrene. He added an air conditioner and a custom made decal of a major Winnipeg company.

Aaron was able to get accurate measurements for his model, as he spends a lot of time in and around these types of trailers,which are often used as site offices, meeting areas, or lunch rooms. Sometimes up to a dozen of them may be joined together to create large offices or dorms.

We would like to remind our members that our Spring show is fast approaching, and we'll accepting submissions in all categories for our annual model contest, including the structure category for building like the one Aaron submitted.

The special event category this year is to build a "shake a box" kit from Athearn or any other kit manufacturer. Extra points will be rewarded if you add a WMRC 60th anniversary decal to your model!