Everyone had a great time at Railway Day at the Via Vail Station

WMRC President John Bate hands out stickers and brochures in the lobby of the Via Rail station at Railway Day last Sunday. 

Last Sunday's Railway Day in the lobby of the Via Rail station was well attended, and everyone had great time! The WMRC was in full force at the event. President John Bate and past president Larry Leavens manned the John Allen Timesaver switching layout. Past WMRC treasurer and current Winnipeg Railway Museum President Gary Stempnick brought along his portable N Gauge layout. 

WMRC secretary Brent Karr and Vice President Marvin Fetch displayed tour newest attraction, the Thomas the Tank Engine interactive layout, WMRC secretary Brent Karr and Vice president Marvin Fetch displayed our newest attraction, the Thomas the Tank Engine interactive layout, which was Brent's idea, and built by Brent, Gino Kost and Larry Leavens. WMRC spring program chair and webmaster Murray Brown brought along his Z scale layout in a steamer trunk and took pictures of everything!

 

Thanks to everyone who came to our 2026 spring open house!

The Winnipeg Model Railroad Club wishes to extend a big THANK YOU to all of the happy people who attended our 2026 train show and open house this past weekend. We had great attendance and crowds right up to our 4:00 Sunday closing time. When our new spring show chair Murray Brown announced that it was closing time, we were applauded by our remaining guests. That's never happened before!

Our new interactive Thomas the Tank Engine layout, created by WMRC Secretary Brent Karr, was a big hit among the youngsters!

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.