Send your submissions for The Lantern's photo contest by Tuesday

The Lantern, the official publication of the WMRC, is looking for images of the end view of a train, which will be published on the cover of next month's edition. The photo above, taken by long time member Felix Lesiuk earlier this month, is a fine example of what we're looking for.

There a just a few days remaining until the close of The Lantern's photo contest. The Lantern is the official publication of the Winnipeg Model Railroad Club. It is published nines time a year. The winner will have their photo printed on the cover of The Lantern and will also receive a small cash prize.

The deadline is midnight, February 28. This month's contest theme is an end view profile of a train.  That may be a dome car, caboose, business car, a "pusher" locomotive, a freight car, an RDC, a wrecking crane, a speeder or some other object rolling on the rails. Please send your submissions to Lantern editor Robert Weaver at weaverflowers@gmail.com

Winter rail fanning with Felix Lesiuk

The prairie winter landscape is beautifully caught by Felix lesion's lens as Via Rail's Canadian barrels down the countryside.

At least once a month, long time member Felix Lesiuk sends us somewhere between 5,000 and 10,00 photos of his rail fanning adventures. He's usually accompanied on these journeys by Louis Lenz, another long time WMRC member. We have been using them as filler when there's nothing else to post, but they've proven to be extremely popular. Two of these posts have made the all time top ten most popular posts on the WMRC blog! So we're gonna give the customers what they want and post this most recent entry, which he took near Meadows, Manitoba.

By Felix Lesiuk

I got up real early last Thursday, as one of my military friends used to say, at OH dark hundred. It was worth my trip out to Meadows to catch the sunrise by the old elevator. The sun came up on cue pretty much at the end of the tracks. The only drawback was the temperature, minus 25 degrees! After bundling myself back into my truck, I went out to pick up Lou. Even though I was around CP for about 2 hours, here were no trains. 

We went out along Wilkes Ave and caught a CN train almost immediately. Then we decided to go back to CP as the snow banks along Wilkes block the view of the tracks. We followed CP out to Portage, but there were still no trains. We travelled west out on Hwy 1 and saw two CN trains. We saw a CP train sitting parked by Austin. We waited for a while but it just sat there so we headed west. After piking up our Subway lunch at Austin we headed out west to Moffat.  

I stuck to the main roads as there was a lot of drifts on the roads from the previous night. At Moffat we caught a parade of trains some using a distributed air car and two with distributed air containers. The real catch of the day was a freshly painted BCOL cowl unit into the current CN paint scheme. I am really glad they are going to keep some. We did see two other BC units that perhaps soon will be run through the paint booth.  

The day started off nice and bright and sunny, but as the day wore on it became overcast.  VIA showed up on time but after the sun went away. At around 4:00 we had to start heading back home.  We did see the CP train still sitting by Austin. It now had two units tied on to it now. The new Eco unit was smoking heavily. We waited a bit but it was not going anywhere so we headed home.  We caught a CN train in Portage, but the light now is fading fast. All in all, a great day to be outside, even though we had to keep the truck running often to keep us cozy.

Winnipeg Model Railroad Club announces release of a new button

Coming soon to a button near you: The WMRC has come up with this spiffy button design! These buttons are currently being manufactured, and they will be handed out to the kiddies at our next train show! 

Our annual train show and open house will be held on Saturday, April 1 and Sunday April 2 at the Charleswood Legion, 6003 Roblin Boulevard, from 11AM to 4PM. Admission by donation. A portion of the proceeds will go to St. Amant.

Spend the Louis Riel weekend with WinNtrak at Grant Park Shopping Centre

The friendly folk at WinNtrak (which includes several WMRC members) are displaying their spectacular N gauge modular railway this coming weekend at Grant Park Shopping Centre, from Friday, February 17 to Sunday, February 20. They'll be running trains from 9:00AM to closing.

They'll also be selling raffle tickets to win an N gauge layout. They will be displaying outside the Landmark Cinema, next to the Bell kiosk. Proceeds from the raffle will go to the Children's Hospital Foundation. 

Gateway Western Railway featured on Shaw TV series

Former WMRC President Larry Leavens is seen running a passenger train at a recent operating session at the Gateway Western Railway in the Winnipeg Railway Museum.

Shaw TV Winnipeg has started an exciting new series called Train Town, and the WMRC's Gateway Western Railway has been featured in the very first episode. The episode, which runs just under five minutes, is available for Shaw cable subscribers, but it is also available for viewing on You Tube.

The first episode features our own Gino Kost, the man who literally built the Gateway Western from the ground up, building and all, with a small group of dedicated volunteers from the WMRC and the Winnipeg Railway Museum. 

This high quality, professionally produced episode is available for viewing by clicking here. 

It's movie night at the Winnipeg Model Railroad Club!

It's movie and popcorn night at our next meeting,and we've got some dandies for you!

WMRC member Neil Carlton has supplied us with a CD with some footage on it that he shot when he worked as a cameraman for the CBC. On the CD is a short clip on the 1983 NMRA Winnipeg Jamboree National Convention and a clip featuring the late Paul Schuff as he discusses the trials and tribulations of VIA Rail while on The Canadian travelling on CP tracks from Winnipeg to Kenora. There's also a piece shot on the Prairie Dog Central out of their old St. James Street Station, with Peter Jordan travelling to Grosse Isle for Thanksgiving dinner. 

After a short break for more popcorn and donuts, you'll watch the IMAX movie Rocky Mountain Express featuring Canadian Pacific's 2816 Empress. This movie is very highly acclaimed and up until last year, could only be seen at an IMAX theater. 

Our meeting starts on Friday, February 10 at 7:30PM at the Charleswood Legion, 6003 Roblin Boulevard. We'll have our model display, a 50-50 draw and the canteen will be open! Not a member? Not a problem! Guests are always warmly welcomed. So come on out to movie night at the WMRC!

Big model railroad convention coming to Ames, Iowa

The Thousand Lakes Region of the NMRA is holding a joint convention with the Mid-Continent Region in Ames, Iowa from May 18th-21st, 2017. This is the first time these regions have joined forces to hold a convention, and it’s definitely going to be worth the trip!

The convention will be held at the Quality Inn, situated on the east side of Ames, with easy access to Interstate 35 and Highway 30.

There will be a train show that will be open to the general public and convention attendees on Saturday. The train show will include over 70 dealer tables, a silent auction, and display layouts. This is a great opportunity to share the NMRA with others who have not yet joined.

There will be clinics on a wide range of topics, including:

•Creating Realistic and Enjoyable Passenger Operations by Drake Hokanson

•Grade Crossings by Fred Headon, MMR

•Custom Decals for Model RR by Dave Roeder, MMR

•Evaluation and Documentation by Ryan Moats, MMR

•Son of Imagineering by Ryan Moats, MMR and Whit Johnson

•Computers in Model Railroading by Dr. John Bate

•Scratch-building Board-by-board and more by Mike Engler

•Bridges by John Hotvet, MMR

For more information about this exciting convention, go to: 

http://www.thousandlakesregion.org/tlrames17