Noted railroad author and blogger Steve Boyko to make a special presentation at WMRC's April Meeting

Our good friend Steve Boyko, noted railroading author and creator of the popular Confessions of a Train Geek website will make a special presentation at our April meeting. Steve hasn't made a presentation for our club for over ten years, and his presentations have always been a treat! 

The fun begins on Friday, April 11 at 7:30 PM in the Tank Room at the Charleswood Legion, 6003 Robiln Boulevard. The canteen will be open and we will have our usual model and photo displays and out 50/50 draw. 

Take a ride on the Tshiuetin railway in Northern Quebec

Looking for a unique rail fanning experience? Want to get away from it all? Then take a ride on the Tshiuetin railway in Northern Quebec!

Tshiuetin Rail Transportation runs Canada’s only privately owned passenger rail service. It is owned by three First Nations in the region. Tshiuetin means “north wind”. They run a twice weekly passenger train from Sept-Îles to Schefferville, Quebec. The head end crew and track for the 132.5 mile trip are provided by the Quebec North Shore and Labrador Railway, which is owned by the Iron Ore Company of Canada.

You find more about them by going to their web site at https://www.tshiuetin.net/?lang=en. There is a good thread about the train on trainorders.com and a CBC documentary on YouTube.

 Our good friend Steve Boyko, author of the popular rail fanning blog, Confessions of a Train Geek, also has an excellent post about long time WMRC member Alan Graham's journey on the train, which he rode in 2017. You can read all about his adventures in Northern Quebec by going to https://blog.traingeek.ca/2017/07/three-passenger-trains-in-northern-quebec.html

Steve Boyko asks Morgan Turney ten questions (and he gets them all right!)

Our own Morgan Turney, sporting one of his endless supply of pink hats, poses at his Canadian Railway Modeller booth at a convention.

Steve Boyko is one of our favourite bloggers. His blog, "Confessions of a Train Geek" has a wide readership, and he gave us an excellent presentation about Manitoba's grain elevators at one of our meetings.

One of the features of his blog is his "10 questions" series, modelled after the "Interesting Railfan" series in Railroad magazine. He asks each railfan 10 questions, some standard and some customized for the particular person. He's interviewed many prominent rail fans and model railroaders, including our own John Longhurst. 

Last week,  Steve interviewed WMRC Program Director Morgan Turney for this series, and it's an interesting read! Who knew that Morgan also builds bird houses? You can read Steve's interview with Morgan by going to http://blog.traingeek.ca/2016/02/10-questions-for-morgan-turney.html.

All aboard for another Assiniboine Valley Railway open house

Our good friend Steve Boyko, who does the popular railfanning blog, Confessions of a train geek, is seen here with his family enjoying a ride on the AVR in July.

The AVR is having another open house this weekend! The fun starts at 11:00AM today and runs until 5:00PM. Sunday's hours are from 1:00PM to 5:00PM. It's only two bucks for a ride, and you can buy a rail pass, which will give you 12 rides for only twenty bucks! Children under two ride for free, and all minors must be accompanied by an adult. Join the fun at 3001 Roblin Boulevard, just west of Assiniboine Park!

There's still time to make your reservations for their popular Fall Dinner Train, which will be held on Saturday, September 19 & Sunday, September 20. The cost is $15 for adults and $12 for kids. Reservations must be made for the specific times listed below, and must be prepaid to confirm. Payment is preferably by credit card, but arrangements can be made to pay by cheque or cash.  

Participants will eat on the train, 2 people to a car, up to 16 people per train.  Family groups can reserve a full train.  The meal lasts four loops around the track. The meal starts with refreshments (coffee, tea, soft drink or water), snacks and a fresh tossed salad for the first loop around the track. The main course is a deluxe hamburger platter (or a hot dog platter for kids), which will be eaten over 2 loops.  Dessert is pie with ice cream or whipped cream or a dish of ice cream for the fourth loop. Each meal lasts about an hour.

To make a reservation, phone Len LaRue at (204) 832-3448.  Messages can be left on voice mail, but please just leave a name & return phone number and be prepared with your credit card in hand.  Reservations are first come first served. This is a very popular event, so please make your reservations as soon as possible! The cut off date for making reservations is September 17, but don't wait until the last minute! They're sure to have been filled up by then!

Dinner train times are as follows:

Saturday, September 19:  12:00, 1:30, 3:00, 4:30 (Members only:  6:00, 7:30, BYOB)
Sunday, September 20:  1:00, 2:30, 4:00 (Members only:  5:30, BYOB).

Mark Perry to make presentation on the Greater Winnipeg Water District Railway at Winnipeg Model Railroad Club's January meeting

   This image, taken by our good friend Steve Boyko for his blog, "Confessions of a Train Geek" shows the GWWD RS-23 switching tank cars outside their yard on Dawson Road in the rain. The switcher was built in 1960 by MLW and purchased by the GWWD in 1985 from Devco.

    January's WMRC meeting features a special presentation about the Greater Winnipeg Water District Railway given by Mark Perry. The GWWD is a unique short line owned by the City Of Winnipeg. It is a 167 kilometer long line that runs from St. Boniface to Shoal Lake, which is the source of Winnipeg's water supply. It was built 100 years ago to assist in the construction of the aqueduct running from Shoal Lake to Winnipeg.

     The railway has been the subject of a book by our good friend Peter Lacey of the Winnipeg Railway Museum. An article in Trains magazine was written about the railway by former WMRC member Jeff Keddy for their March 2013 issue.

    Many of our members will fondly remember passenger service on the line, and the many excursion trains that ran on the weekends until 1982. They ran a special excursion train of the very last time in 1983 for the attendants of Railway Jamboree '83, the 1983 NMRA national convention that was held in Winnipeg.

     The meeting is on Friday, January 9 at 7:30 at the Charleswood Legion at 6003 Roblin Boulevard.
Guests are always welcome!

Watch Steve Boyko's video of the CN Christmas train

That's right. There is a CN Christmas train. 

Our good friend Steve Boyko, author of the popular blog, "Confessions of a Train Geek" took this great video. Steve also gave the WMRC one of the finest shows we've ever had at our November meeting when he made his presentation about Manitoba's vanishing grain elevators.

Capturing the CN Christmas train is a rare find indeed. It's not publicized at all, and it doesn't do the cross country charity route that rival CP does with their annual holiday train. But it does exist! However, it's only for CN employees and their families. WMRC member (and CN employee) Dwight Kjartanson even took a ride on it!

Steve caught the train at night at the Waverley crossing (which is a great place for rail fans, but absolute hell for commuters in the south end of town). Fans of vintage first generation diesel power F-units (and who isn't) will love the sight of the perfectly restored CN 103 leading the way, literally lit up just like a Christmas tree!

Our thanks to Ian Lisakowski for sending this video our way. Watch it by clicking here.

Steve Boyko to give presentation about grain elevators at Winnipeg Model Railroad Club's November meeting

   The dapper and erudite Steve Boyko, creator of the popular rail fanning blog, "Confessions of a Train Geek" (which has had over 725,000 views), will be giving a special presentation about grain elevators at the WMRC's November meeting, which will be held on Friday, November 14.

   If you're a rail fan living in Western Canada, you know all too well about the importance of these "prairie giants" that dotted the landscape from the Whiteshell to the Rockies. Grain was king in the prairies, and the railroads served every community that had a grain elevator. Sadly, these landmarks have been disappearing at an alarming rate, as grain is now stored in massive concrete silos.


   Besides our usual business meeting ,we'll also have our monthly model display, the ever popular 50-50 draw, and the canteen will be open! After the meeting, there's always pizza at Santa Lucia's on St. Mary's Road!

   The meeting starts at 7:30 PM at the Charleswood Legion, 6003 Roblin Boulevard. You can't miss the place - it's the one with the tank in front of it! Please enter on the west side of the building.

Steve Boyko and John Morris visit the Winnipeg Model Railroad Club's open house

We were pleased and honoured to be graced with some very special guests at our last open house. Steve Boyko, author of the excellent blog, Confessions of a Train Geek, came by and bought a whole bunch of model railroad magazines from our own Bob Shawcross. Steve runs an excellent blog, with some really good reporting. By all means check it out!

Our old friend John Morris also paid us a visit. John is not to be confused with the Olympian of the same name, but his modelling skills are truly Olympic! John keeps busy running John R. Morris Railway Model Service, and his services are always in great demand! John also ran an excellent clinic on decal application at our last Klinic Karnival. Always good to see you, John!

What? Who let those two guys in? Maybe we should hire a bouncer for our next open house!