Paul Newsome’s book on the history of the Prairie Dog Central Railway is now available

Paul Newsome, the General Manager of the Prairie Dog Central Railway, a written a book about its history, titled “Prairie Dog Central - The Story”. It is published by the Vintage Locomotive Society.

Paul has been a member of the Vintage Locomotive Society since July 12, 1970, just 11 days after the train’s historic first run, and one day after it was open to the public. He started with the group sweeping the floors and cleaning the windows. He is now responsible for the operation and maintenance of the group’s classic #3 steamer as well as the operation of the group’s commercial company, Prairie Rail Solutions.
 
The book costs $35.00, plus GST. To order a copy,  call the Vintage Locomotive Society at (204) 832-5259  or by email at info@pdcrailway.com. If you wish to have your copy mailed, a representative will let you know the cost of shipping and handling. Please leave your contact information, and they will get back to you.  

 

Prairie Dog Central cancels the rest of their 2020 season

The remainder of the season for the Prairie Dog Central has been cancelled due to concerns over COVID-19. This is the first time in 21 years that their season has been completely cancelled. The last time one of their seasons was cancelled was when they relocated to their present location on Inkster Boulevard.


Paul Newsome, general manager of the Vintage Locomotive Society which operates the train, stated that they felt that they could not live up to social distancing inside the train coaches without putting families and passengers at risk. 

All events planned for May, June and July for the Prairie Dog Central had already been cancelled. The fall season brought such popular events such as the fall supper diner train and the Halloween train.

The railway's remaining source of revenue is a commercial train car storage business, where the trackage is used to store rolling stock from other railroads.

A magical night of trains and song held at the Winnipeg Model Railroad Club

 Paul Newsome from the Vintage Locomotive Society gave the Winnipeg Model Railroad Club a presentation about the transporting of the CP G5's from Virginia to Winnipeg at our last meeting.

What a night we had at our October meeting! First we had Paul Newsome from the Vintage Locomotive Society, who gave us a great  presentation on the two G5 steam locomotives that were recently delivered to the Prairie Dog Central last month. Then we had the Audayo Brothers, fresh from their gig on the Prairie Dog Central, to entertain us with folk songs about railroading!

If you missed the meeting, you can still listen to the Audayo Brothers, as we made a video of their performance at the club! You can see them right now by going to this link:

https://youtu.be/rP6_GxqI1rY

 Here they are, folks! The Audayo Brothers, as they performed at the WMRC's last meeting.

Joins us for the Winnipeg Model Railroad Club's next meeting on October 16

 WMRC Program Director Morgan Turney took this great photo of the two G5s at the Prairie Dog Central's Inkster Junction last month.

Paul Newsome from the Vintage Locomotive Society will give us a presentation on the two G5 steam locomotives that were recently delivered to the Prairie Dog Central last month. Paul was instrumental in arranging the logistics and move from Virginia to Winnipeg, and he has a very good presentation showing how the locomotives and their tenders were taken from their flat decks and on to the rails.

Then we'll have something completely different! Former WMRC member and past president Terry Penner and a friend of his has formed a band called The Audayo Brothers, which has played all summer long on the Prairie Dog Central! They will appear for us at the October meeting. And yes, they will play a few train songs. You won't want to miss this meeting!

The fun starts at 7:30 at the Charleswood Legion ,which is located at 6003 Roblin Boulevard. The canteen will be open, and we'll be holding the ever popular 50-50 draw and the monthly model display.

 If you've been modelling anything, by all means bring it down! Each entry must include your name and a short write up describing the work that has been accomplished to date. Each entrant will have but one entry for the monthly prize of a $15 voucher from a local hobby store.

Exclusive photos: The CPR G5's engines arrive at the Prairie Dog Central

 The cranes are getting ready to lift the locomotive. All photos by Morgan Turney.

By Morgan Turney 

After arriving at the Prairie Dog Central on September 15th, operations began for unloading the G5s and their tenders two days later. Able Crane Services did the lifting and Ranger Enterprises looked after the preparatory work, such as removing the cables which secured the engines and tenders to the flats, installing the blocking for the lifts and cleaning the flat car decks of all the welded wheel guides and cable eyelets.

Members of the Vintage Locomotive Society handled the moving duties once the engines and tenders were safely on the rails. Great team work, you guys!

Operations began about 7:30 am and it took about eight or nine hours to complete. Ex-CPR G5s 1238 and 1286 are now safely back in Canada and will be stored at the Prairie Dog Central's Inkster Junction station. Thanks to everyone at the Vintage Locomotive Society and especially to Vintage Locomotive Society General Manager, Paul Newsome, who arranged for me to be there for the day. It was quite an experience watching these guys at work!

 Lift off! The G5 is lifted into the air!

 Touchdown! The engine lands onto the rails!

On the move! The G5 gets rolling slowly down the rails.