Come celebrate Tony Prud'homme's 60th birthday at the Frog and Diamond Hobbyworks on July 4

Our good friend Tony Prud'homme over at the Frog and Diamond Hobbyworks is having his birthday blowout and the shop's first annual swap meet this Saturday, July 4! Tony's reached the big 6-0, and the handsome devil sure doesn't look it! Come on down to the Frog and Diamond Hobbyworks this Saturday from 10AM to 2PM and join in on the celebration! 

There will be FREE hot dogs, drinks and popcorn and huge discounts in the store! The Manitoba Transit Heritage Association will be bringing one of their vintage buses for you to explore. Come on down to 301 Bowman Avenue this Saturday and join in on all the fun!

Winnipeg Model Railroad Club holds another great clinic carnival and Christmas hot dog banquet

WMRC President John Bate conducts a clinic on Arduino animation and all of the fun things you can do with it, while Murray Brown and Bart Hasselfield look on.

What a great Christmas party we had on Friday the 13th! Rod Sarna, John Bate, Larry Leaven, Ian Plett and Marvin Fetch put on five great clinics for our annual clinic carnival while our members and distinguished guests feasted on expertly prepared gourmet hot dogs prepared by our master chef Mark McLellan! We even had a few former members, such as Ian and Zenon Lisakowski, drop by and join in on the fun!

The two Ians meet at last! Former member Ian Lisakowski watches WMRC program director Ian Plett conduct his model weathering clinic. 

Rob Sarna conducts his clinic on how to install a NixTrainz Decoder Buddy replacement board, a Soundtraxx decoder and speaker into an Atlas HO locomotive. Tony Prud'homme, owner of the Frog and Diamond Hobbyworks shows off his spiffy hoodie as he watches.

Long time members Tommy Kuchera (R)  and Marcel Blair watch Larry Leavens conduct a clinic on how to control a Tortoise switch machine from opposite sides of a layout with a simple circuit.

Marvellous and well seasoned Marvin Fetch conducted a clinic on how a seasoned model railroader constucts a building.

Frog and Diamond Hobby Works opens the Rail City Joiners Club in their basement

There was another great event for model railroaders on Saturday, July 6 besides the viewing of the CPKC 2816 Empress steam engine, and that was at the Frog and Diamond Hobby Works! Owner Tony Prud’homme fixed up his basement, which will house four layouts.

Tony has organized an in-house club, and those who join will be able to operate any one of the layouts. He held a contest to name the club. The winning name was the Peg City Rail Joiners Club.

To celebrate the opening (which was also on his birthday) Tony pulled out all the stops and served up hot dogs, chips, drinks and other snacks. He also had a 1950’s Winnipeg Transit bus courtesy of the Manitoba Transit Heritage Association decked out in classic orange and yellow colours parked outside for public viewing.

Customers received a 10% discount on all purchases. They could also take their chance by spinning the “Turntable of Temptations” (an N scale turntable with a engine attached to it) to get a greater, or possibly a smaller discount. Judging by Tony’s groans every time someone spun the turntable, a lot of folks got a bigger discount! 

 

One of  the layouts currently set up in the basement of the Frog and Diamond.

Other layouts are still under construction. There's plenty of space for four layouts!

 

Frog and Diamond Hobbyworks to hold grand opening of ther train room on July 6

If you’re going out to the Weston yards to see the CPKC 2816 on July 6, then why not make it a complete train day and stop over to the Frog and Diamond Hobbyworks too! They’ll be holding the grand opening their train room in their basement, featuring several operating layouts in various scales, ranging from HO to N to T-track!

The shop is also creating a special group independent of the store where members will be able to operate the layouts. Owner Tony Prud’homme also plans to hold clinics for the members. A contest has been held to name the group, and the name will be announced on July 6.

Everything in the store will be 10% off on July 6. You also have the option of spinning the turntable of temptation, where you try your luck and might get an even bigger discount!

Tony’s birthday is also on July 6, so be sure to say (or sing) happy birthday to him. You can even bring him a card!

The Frog and Diamond is located at 301 Bowman Avenue. They're open from 10AM to 5PM from Tuesday to Saturday, and from 10AM to 8PM on Mondays.