John Longhurst's layout featured at Winnipeg Model Railroad Club's layout hop

John Longhurst oversees operations on his "downsized" Manitoba and Minnesota Subdivision.

   Long time WMRC member John Longhurst graciously opened his doors to club members to view his CP Rail Manitoba and Minnesota Subdivision railway at last weekend's layout hop. John had "downsized" his operation, and all who viewed it agreed that his changes were an improvement!

   Gone is "Mount Longhurst", which was in the middle of the room. John completely rebuilt that area and flattened it out, which gives the room a more spacious feeling, but didn't decrease the trackage. John says that it's nice not to have to peer over that mountain anymore. Now he can see his entire layout from anywhere in the room!

Here's where John flattened out "Mount Longhurst". If this image was taken before this massive excavation had taken place, you wouldn't have been able to see any of our members from this angle!

John employs multi-level model railroading. Those tunnels lead to a helix in the laundry room!

Highlights of Winnipeg Model Railroad Club's layout hop: Dennis Rietze's layout in a crawl space

    Dennis Rietze tells Glenn Klassen how he built his layout in the crawl space of his home.

    Last weekend the WMRC held a layout hop for its members. Five layouts were showcased on both Saturday and Sunday from noon to 4PM around the city. Four of these layouts will be featured on this site in the next few days.

  By far one of the most unique layouts in Winnipeg, or anywhere else, is Dennis Rietze's layout in a crawlspace. With only four feet of clearance, Dennis has managed to build a great looking layout in a most unusual space! He has proved without a doubt that you can build a layout anywhere! WMRC members new and old have always been fascinated the location of his layout and they've also been very impressed with the quality of his craftsmanship!

   Note that Dennis moves about his layout on a neat little work stool, which has castors and a tool tray underneath the seat. He has a few more of these stools for visitors, and it makes getting around his layout a lot of fun!

    Dennis Rietze explains to Glenn Klassen how DCC works on his layout.

   There's plenty of great railroading going on in this crawlspace!

  

A special image from the Winnipeg Model Railroad Club's special event model contest

   WMRC model contest chair Morgan Turney managed to get all of the HO scale special event model contest entries in single photo during our annual spring open house by placing them all on one module of the Kildonan Short Lines display.

    Thanks to the magic of Photoshop, WMRC Blog Editor Paul Ullrich replaced the background (which featured a blank wall, a bunch of boxes, jackets and two of our member's stomachs) with a very nice backdrop of a prairie sky. Enjoy!