Winnipeg Model Railroad Club mourns passing of Norm Leathers

Norm Leathers is seen receiving the WMRC's President's shield award from President Larry Leavens. Norm won the award for his work in bringing the Gateway Western Railway to its permanent home at the Winnipeg Railway Museum.

Norm Leathers passed away at 5:00 AM today. On February 11 he suffered a cardiac episode and never recovered. 

Norm was a member of the club since its second meeting in October 1955 when he was still la teenager. Norm, being a stickler for accuracy in all things, always maintained that because he joined a month after the club’s first meeting that he was not a founding member. 

Norm served several positions during his nearly 70 years with the club, including secretary and one year as President in the early 2000’s. He was also a long term member of the Midwestern Rail Association, proprietors of the Winnipeg Railway Museum. In 2014 he was awarded the President’s shield, the WMRC’s highest award, for his work in bringing the Gateway Western to the Winnipeg Railway Museum.

Norm had a long and rewarding career as a science teacher, and he also served as a high school  audio technician. While earning his teaching degree he met fellow model railroader Nick Andrusiak, and they became lifelong friends.

Norm also was a jet fighter pilot for the RCAF. He was fond of telling the tale of when his commanding officer brought his young son to see a real jet fighter pilot, expecting some like John Wayne, and being so disappointed upon meeting Norm.

In his younger days, Norm was an avid cyclist. In the 70’s he took his sons Graham and Gord on a bike hike through the Rockies.

Norm’s model railroading passion was the Pennsylvania Railroad, and he constructed a beautiful, work class railroad that was the highlight of many layout hops for many conventions, including the NMRA’s national convention held in Winnipeg in 1983. 

If there ever was a person who epitomized the heart and soul of the Winnipeg Model Railroad Club, it would’ve been Norm. It can be truly said without the slightest doubt that everybody loved Norm. He had a gentle way about him, and he was also very clever, with a mischievous sense of humour. His puns were the stuff of legend, and he could create them at a moments notice in a dizzying rapid fire succession. 

Norm loved model railroading, and he loved the WMRC. No one has been a member longer than him. He contributed to the club’s monthly model display well into his eighties, bringing models he was working on in 2019 and 2022. Even though his health was failing, he still came to a many meetings as he could, his last one being November of 2024. He was an enduring presence, a person whom we alway looked forward to seeing at every meeting, and he will be sorely missed.

Norm is seen cutting the cake for the club's 60th anniversary with Moe Smith, Dave Downey, and Roger Kiendl.

Although incapacitated with a recent hip injury, Norm, accompanied by Gary Stempnick, still managed to view the Canadian Pacific 2018 when it came to Winnipeg last summer. 

 

Larry Leavens models a load for a bulkhead flat car

For our model display at our February meeting, Larry Leavens brought in a Walthers bulkhead flat car that he customized by adding a lumber load. Wood blocks were cut to size to fit the car and painted to seal the wood. A Tolko logo was found by Larry on their website. 

Using the freeware graphics program Inkscape, the logo was added to blocks to represent eight foot long wrapped lumber bundles. The graphic pieces were copied and aligned to make the lumber load. Lines with squares at the ends were added to represent tie downs and clips at the top of the load. He printed it on an ink jet printer and cut it slightly oversized. He glued it to the wood block and the paper wrap was trimmed to size with a razor blade. A second was made for the other side. 

 

Warehouse Hobbies has closed

Warehouse Hobbies, one of Winnipeg’s oldest model railroad hobby shops, has shuttered its doors. It was founded by Ken Martin in 1983, after he closed his Ye Old Hobby Shop stores, which had locations in Polo Park, Garden City Shopping Centre, and at 365 Portage Avenue.  

Warehouse Hobbies first location was actually in a warehouse on Kensington St. in the block immediately east of the Winnipeg Transit garage on Route 90, near Polo Park. He later moved to a smaller location on Portage Avenue at Woodlands Crescent just west of Sturgeon Road. 

 

In 1995 Ken retired to Nanaimo and sold Warehouse Hobbies to Jim and Beverly Iredale. Jim was an accountant by profession and an avid model railroader who had always dreamed about owning his own hobby shop. Tragically, his dream was cut short when he suffered a fatal heart attack in at the age of 39 on July 31, 1997.

 

Bev continued to run the shop for 30 years. The store had two other locations. It first moved to the intersection of Ferry Road and Portage Avenue. When the rent was increased at that location, she moved the shop to its present location 265 Rouge Road. 

 

Bev has had three model railroaders assist her in running the shop through the years, the most significant being MMR Fred Headon. Fred joined Warehouse Hobbies in August 1997 shortly after retiring from a long career as a high school teacher. Fred worked there for 27 ½ years, and was there on the last weekend that the store was open. 

 

Warehouse Hobbies was a cherished institution in Winnipeg’s vibrant and thriving model railroad community. If offered personal service in these days of faceless on-line U.S. based mail order hobby shops, and it will be sorely missed. 

Canadian model railroad community mourns passing of WMRC past president Morgan Turney

Morgan Turney, seen at the WMRC's 60th anniversary celebration in 2015, passed away on February 6.

Former WMRC president and published of Canadian Railway Modeller Morgan Turney passed away on Thursday, February 6.

Morgan was a club member for 27 years, and served a varied array of positions.  He served for two terms as president, from 1995 to 1996 and from 2005 to 2007. He was the club’s program director from 2009 to 2016, the annual contest chair from 2007 to 2016, ran the monthly model display from 2013 to 2016 and the 50/50 draw from 2013 to 2016.

Morgan was born and raised in Hamilton, Ontario. He worked for Maple Leaf Mills as a grocery store representative, and was transferred to Winnipeg in 1987. After Maple Leaf Mils closed, he decided to create a model railroading magazine for Canadians. 

He published the first issue of Canadian Railway Modeller in May of 1990 using the money he received from his severance pay as collateral after he sold 600 subscriptions at the Toronto Train Show. At the magazine’s peak, he had over 3,800 subscriptions. The magazine ran for 27 years. The last issue was published in 2017.

Morgan’s publishing company, titled North Kildonan Publications, also published Canadian railway themed Christmas cards, collector cards, the Canadian Railway Heritage Guide, art prints, lapel pins, HO scale Canadian Railway Modeller boxcars and Railfan Canada, a prototype magazine that ran for 12 issues. 

Morgan’s contributions to the hobby left an indelible mark not only on the Winnipeg Model Railroad Club, but on the entire Canadian model railroading community. He was an enthusiastic and tireless promoter of the club and of the hobby.

 

Buy Canadian! Buy from Canadian hobby shops and model railroad equipment manufacturers!

Our good friend Jason Schron of Canadian based Rapido Trains manufactures excellent model railroad equipment such as this Via Rail E-Unit.

In these troubled political times we urge you to BUY CANADIAN when it comes to model railroad equipment. Support our local hobby shops. Amazon and Train World doesn't need your money, but Warehouse Hobbies and the Frog and Diamond do. Bachmann and Atlas doesn't need your support, but our good friend Jason Schron of Rapido, who has made several presentations for the WMRC, does!

Learn how to make custom billboards for your layout with Dave Ackmann at the WMRC's February meeting

 

At our next meeting Dave Ackmann of the NMRA Gateway Division will show how he has created billboards for his Baden, Vogt & DeSmet layout. Learn how to secure artwork from the Internet, how to turn images into decals, standardize billboard sizes, building support structures for billboards both from styrene and using 3D printing, and the utility of gauge blocks and assembly fixtures. 

The fun starts at 7:30 PM on Friday, February 7th in the Tank Room at the Charleswood Legion, 6003 Roblin Boulevard. Please note that the date of the meeting has been moved up from its usually scheduled time of the second week of the month. The canteen will be open, and we will have out usual model and photo displays and our 50/50 draw.