Joh Bate builds an N scale mine

WMRC president John Bate brought in this N scale model of a mine to the club's monthly model display at our last meeting, which was held at the Charleswood Legion on March 14. The structure, which John says is a work in progress, was a Walthers kit which he painted a flat aluminum with an airbrush. 

Larry Leavens models a load for a bulkhead flat car

For our model display at our February meeting, Larry Leavens brought in a Walthers bulkhead flat car that he customized by adding a lumber load. Wood blocks were cut to size to fit the car and painted to seal the wood. A Tolko logo was found by Larry on their website. 

Using the freeware graphics program Inkscape, the logo was added to blocks to represent eight foot long wrapped lumber bundles. The graphic pieces were copied and aligned to make the lumber load. Lines with squares at the ends were added to represent tie downs and clips at the top of the load. He printed it on an ink jet printer and cut it slightly oversized. He glued it to the wood block and the paper wrap was trimmed to size with a razor blade. A second was made for the other side. 

 

Richard Mikolayenko builds a cold storage warehouse

Long time WMRC member and prolific modeller Richard Mikolayenko submitted this model of a cold storage warehouse to the clubs monthly model display at our February meeting.

Richard modified a Walthers N scale kit. The second floor was added and the windows, roof, trim and vents were painted. A scratch-built roof sign was added, the foundation was raised to accommodate the entry of a low box car and lights were applied at the roof level.


 

Argyle museum needs modeler to build an HO grain elevator

The Argyle Museum Settlers, Rails & Trails Inc. is looking for someone to build an HO scale grain elevator, modeled after the Federal Grain Limited elevator in Argyle, from a Walthers kit. If anyone is interested, please contact them at argylemuseum@gmail.com

Raffle prizes galore at the Winnipeg Model Railroad Club's annual banquet

    WMRC President Larry Leavens reads out the winning ticket number for the Walthers brick freight house that WMRC model contest chair is holding up. Check out the stash behind Larry! What a haul of model railroading goodies!

    One of the best things about our annual banquet are prizes, prizes and more prizes! We first hold a raffle for several door prizes. Each person attending gets a ticket when they enter. The prizes not only include model railroad stuff, but several of what we call "non-rail" prizes, which include gift cards to such retailers as Home Depot!

    Next comes the elimination draw. Tickets were sold for five dollars for the sole prize of a very nifty HO locomotive, fully equipped with DCC. But in the elimination draw, it's not the first ticket that wins - it's the last! Everyone had lots of fun watching ticket after ticket drawn, waiting in anticipation as to whose name was going to be on that very last ticket!

   Our last draw used "arm's length" tickets. A roll of tickets were sold, the amount of tickets you received for five bucks was measured from the tips of your finger to the bridge of your nose when you turned your head. Yes, you could use a taller friend to substitute for you if you happened to be height challenged. 

    Just about everybody walked away with some sort of prize that night. Some had more prizes than others, but that's the luck of the draw!

One of our youngest members, the lovely Frances South, won this solar mosaic stick light as a door prize. It's going to look just great in her parent's garden!

Ron Einarson's other old time coal conveyor models

   For reasons that can't be explained, the WMRC blog post about Ron Einarson's old time coal conveyor has consistently been one of the top posts of this site. Hoping that lighting will strike twice, this post features his latest effort in modeling a few more old time coal conveyors, submitted at the model display at November's meeting.

    Ron found three more Walthers kits hanging around in his place (also for reasons that can't be explained). He painted them right on the sprues so he could easily clamp in an upright position to dry. Then he trimmed the sprues and touched up any areas that were missing paint.

    He used "Krazy" Glue (Cyanoacrylate), as it dries much faster than styrene glue. After letting everything dry fro a day or two, he gave the models a dusting of black chalk dust to give them a used appearance. They're a perfect compliment to the coal trestle display he exhibited at last year's model contest at the WMRC open house last March!

Layout in a crawl space - Part 2

  This is the second part of Dennis Rietze's article about his model railroad, the Silver Springs Railway and transportation Company, which was written for Canadian Railway Modeller magazine. Reprinted with the permission of the publisher. 

 Another aspect of DCC is the option available through a stationary decoder which will allow the remote control of turnouts. With limitations in moving around in the layout room, the remote control option is a big bonus. At present I am still in the connection and wiring stage and once they are all installed, throwing switches will be done from the throttle.

  The layout scenes are that of basic flat prairie due to the low ceiling, with yards and industries for switching. Most all of the structures are Walthers kits along with others that I have kitbashed to my liking.

As I proceeded with construction and operating trains I discovered that there needed to be more double track sections to allow for better operation and interest; I therefore added extra sidings and plan on adding more as needed. The track is code 100 Atlas with Peco switches.

  The most recent work on the layout was the completion of the backdrops. After looking at different methods and ready made products, I chose to use backdrops from SceniKing. The company produces backdrops in a variety of scenes which match up with each other and can form a continuous scene with no duplication. One can choose the scenes that suit an era, too. Each backdrop is 16 x 72 inches and they piece together nicely. It takes two

people to install the backdrops and my wife kindly helped me hang the nine sections I needed to complete the backdrop. I am extremely pleased with the effect of the product – the layout has come alive with the use of this type of backdrop product.

  As my father had worked for the CPR, it made the choice of roads to operate on the layout easy. Initially I ran with Union Pacific and CPR but have changed to CPR as my main road with some SSR&T “clones.” I began with just DCC with no sound on my locomotives but as sound has become more common and the quality of the decoders has improved, I have begun to change more of my locomotives to sound equipped. I favour new locos with Soundtraxx Tsunami Systems decoders.

  Prior to dealing with other aspects of the layout, it is my intention this year to complete the ballasting of all the track. Then I want to proceed with planning and building a staging yard and additional industries that will require sidings and switching opportunities. Future plans on the SSR&T also include the installation of the remaining stationary decoders to permit remote control of turnouts – maneuvering in a crawl space to change turnouts is not quick and easy, even on a wheeled mechanic’s stool! 

  

  Signalling on the layout is not really in the plans at this point but, with my somewhat fascination for the electronics end of operation, I’m sure it will happen once all other aspects of the layout are complete. Yes, the SSR&T is a fun work in progress!

    Using his laptop, Dennis programs a locomotive on his isolated program track.

Ron Einarson's old time coal conveyor

   Ron Einarson has done it again! Is there no stopping this man? For the sake of the hobby, we hope not! Pictured above is his second of three entries he submitted for the Winnipeg Model Railroad Club's February model display. God bless him, he even provided his own copy on how he built it, saving the blog editor a bit of time and effort!

By Ron Einarson

   The model started out as Old Time Coal Conveyors kit # 933-3520 from Walthers. I painted the parts flat green right on the sprues. I was able to clamp them in an upright position to dry. After trimming the parts from the sprues, I touched up the areas that were missing paint.

   I followed the instructions included in the kit and the construction went well. The only thing I would suggest is to use “Krazy” Gel Glue to put it together, as I found styrene glue took to long to dry. I find “Krazy” Gel Glue sets up faster and harder, and my hand doesn’t cramp holding it in line!

   A couple of days after it had dried, I dusted the pieces with black chalk dust to give it a well used appearance. This new addition will look great with the coal trestle display I constructed and displayed at a recent model display at the WMRC.

Larry Leaven's January model display entry

   Winnipeg Model Railroad Club President Larry Leavens also had an entry in the monthly model display. He built a Walthers Ontario Carbonate tank car and added a few extra finishing touches.

   To weight the model, he added lead shot in a white glue matrix, according to NMRA recommended practice. He replaced the horn hook couplers with Kadees and replaced the plastic wheels with metal ones from Intermountain Railway.

   Plastic stanchions were replaced with metal ones from an Athearn diesel. The end railings had a stand-off support added to the middle, as per the prototype.  The safety bar along the side had standoffs added mid-way between the end sill and the ladder. The safety rails were brush painted with stencil white.

   The faces of the wheels were painted a dirty rust colour and the side frames were painted with grimy black.

    The Winnipeg Model Railroad Club's monthly model display is held at every meeting by the No. 1 Northern Division of the NMRA. To qualify for the monthly prize, you must show that you've done some assembly or weathering. Each entry must include a short write-up describing the work that has been finished to date.

December meeting's model display

The Winnipeg Model Railroad Club's monthly model display is held at every meeting by the No. 1 Northern Division of the NMRA. To qualify for the monthly prize, you must show that you've done some assembly or weathering. Each entry must include a short write-up describing the work that has been finished to date.

 Ron Einarson, the modeller's modeller, displayed an L&N coal unloading trestle.

 Ron also displayed some steel drums which he hand-painted in prototype colours. Is he going

 to put them on his layout, or is he going to start a miniature Caribbean steel drum band?

 Ron displayed a Walthers logging truck, which was a resin kit that he assembled mostly at 

Gooch's open house in November.

 Gino Kost displayed a 50' Canstock car. This type of car was designed specifically to
 haul aluminum or steel coils for the manufacturing of canned food products. 

Virginia Braun displayed this well detailed hen house, complete with chickens!