Anyone want a free HO model railroad layout?

    WMRC Program Director Morgan Turney was contacted by a Winnipeg woman who has an apartment-sized layout that she wishes to give away.

   The buildings and rolling stock have been temporarily removed from the layout, and it will need to be dismantled for moving purposes. The layout is an odd shape, but it will come apart in three manageable sections with no disturbance of the track other than where it will need to be cut to accommodate the removal.

 It comes with a DC power pack, and once it is reassembled it will work fine. The layout is about 12 feet long on one side while the other side is about seven feet long. It's a basic over/under single track in HO scale.

For further information contact Morgan Turney at morgant@cdnrwymod.com or Tessa Denton at dentons2@shaw.ca

Two themes for Winnipeg Model Railroad club's photo contests announced

    Felix Lesiuk contributed this image of CN freight 8829, an SD70M-2 hauling a container freight, for the cover of The Lantern Extra, a special summer edition of the WMRC's official publication.

     Two themes have been announced for the WMRC's photo contests in The Lantern Extra, a special summer publication of the club's official newsletter.

     For the special event for the club's annual photo contest, WMRC photo contest chair Suzanne Lemon has announced that the theme will be "The sky's the limit". Even the immense size of a train can be dwarfed by the sky and seemingly endless landscape around it. Show us your best shot of a train or other railway-related subject with a big sky around it!
   
    It could be a beautiful summer day, with a perfectly clear blue sky, or even one with a few puffy white clouds. It could also be a dark and ominous stormy sky, or a beautiful evening sunset. The possibilities are endless and the summer is the perfect time to capture images like these, so get out there and give it your best shot!

    For The Lantern's photo contest, the theme for the September issue will be "green" (the interpretation of this theme is entirely up to you). The winning entry will have their image published on the cover of the September issue of The Lantern. Submissions are to be sent to Lantern Editor Robert Weaver no later then midnight Tuesday, September 2. You must supply a caption, and if possible, note the camera settings.

   

Miniatur Wunderland - the world's largest model railway

   WMRC Vice-President Dave Downie sent us this link about Miniatur Wunderland (German for miniature wonderland), heralded as the world's largest model railway. Located in Hamburg, Germany, it was built by twins Gerrit and Frederik Braun.

    By January 2011 the railway consisted of 39,370 feet of track in HO scale. It's divided into seven sections, including the Alps, Austria, Hamburg, America, Scandinavia, and Switzerland. The layout is still under construction, and new sections are constantly in development. Ten new sections have been planned, and their newest sections in the works include Italy and Monaco. They expect the railway to be complete in five years, but why would they ever stop?

    The exhibit includes a staggering 890 trains made up of over 11,000 cars, 300,000 lights, 215,000 trees, and 200,000 figurines. Not surprisingly, it has become one of Hamburg's biggest tourist attractions. Over 12 million people have visited the railway. Their scale model version the airport alone cost 3,500,000 Euros.

    To watch their latest video, click here.
    To download a PDF their press kit, click here.
    To visit their website, click here.