Master Model Railroader Stafford Swain has passed away

Stafford Swain is seen to the right of Frank Gerry and Paul Ullrich at his home in Winnipeg in 2010 during the TLR regional convention. This was the last public display of his layout, which was taken down shortly after the convention.

We are very saddened to report that long time WMRC member and legendary model railroader Stafford Swain passed away on April 11. He was 73 years old.

Stafford was a Master Model Railroader (MMR #98),  former President of the WMRC, and past Chairman of the 1983 NMRA National convention held in Winnipeg. At the time, the 1983 convention was the most profitable in the history of the NMRA.

He's had over 80 articles published in magazines such as Model Railroader, Mainline Modeller and Railroad Model Craftsman.

Stafford had a huge impact on bringing down the cost of model railroading to all Canadians by working to eliminate the Federal Duty levied on imported model railroad supplies. Until Stafford won his argument with the Customs Canada, there was a 20% duty levied on all imported model railroad supplies.

Stafford was a loyal CN fan and a devoted member and co-founder of the Canadian National Railways Historical Association (formerly CN Lines SIG). Stafford did just about everything for the organization, including stuffing envelopes on a regular basis at Nick Andrusiak's place whenever another issue of CN Lines was fresh from the printers and ready to ship.

 A glowing tribute to Stafford and his many accomplishments has been published in Canadian Railway Modeller, Train 17, Track 3. You can also read about Stafford at WMRC member John Longhurst's Manitoba and Minnesota Subdivision blog at http://cprailmmsub.blogspot.com/

Stafford Swain and CN

   Another view of Stafford Swain's spectacular layout. The clouds were digitally added by WMRC Blog Editor Paul Ullrich.

   Readers of this blog site might've noticed that on previous posts about Stafford Swain's layout, there have been nothing but CN motive power and rolling stock on the tracks. Stafford was a loyal CN fan and a devoted member of the Canadian National Railways Historical Association (formerly CN Lines SIG). Stafford did just about everything for that organization that he could, including stuffing envelopes  on a regular basis at Nick Andrusiak's place whenever another issue of CN Lines was fresh from the printers and ready to ship.

    Stafford was a virtual encyclopedia of anything related to CN. Several years ago, a local man purchased an old CN caboose, intending to renovate it as a cottage while keeping the exterior as close to prototype as he could. Someone suggested that he call Stafford. When he did, Stafford asked him what type of caboose it was. The man didn't know, so he started describing it to him.

     "Is that the one with the white windows?" Asked Stafford.

     The man said yes, and Stafford gave him about 20 minutes of the most intricate details describing the make, model and manufacturing of the caboose, all off the top of his head.

      That was Stafford. Knowledgeable, kind, and extremely generous with the wealth of information he possessed.