Canadian Museum for Human Rights honours Canada's black sleeping car porters

In honour of Black History month, the Canadian Museum for Human Rights has posted a moving article about Canada's black sleeping car porters who worked for the CPR and the CNR. Although the position was considered a good job for black Canadians, they were subject to various hardships such as not having a place to sleep during a grueling 72 hour run. You can read the post by clicking here. 

There is also a short animation posted on You Tube concerning the organization of the Brotherhood of Sleeping Car Porters, produced by Historica Canada, which you can view by clicking here.
 

Two great clinics on tap for Winnipeg Model Railroad Club's February Zoom meeting

The WMRC will present two great clinics at their next virtual meeting in February. First, Tommy Kucera will present "A CPR supervisor's journal book", which is an artifact from the 1930s used by at least 3 CPR supervisors in the Western region. It is neither a log book or a diary, but a compendium of odds-and-ends that the supervisors found interesting, useful and important. 

After that, WMRC Secretary Marvin Fetch will present "The Carson & Cobourg Railroad". Marvin and his good friend Vern Gibson have been building one of Winnipeg's finest model railroads with unsurpassed levels of detail. He will describe the construction and operation of this masterpiece while showing photos of the layout. 

The club will still be holding their monthly Photo Contest. Members can send in their photos (model or prototype) to Bart Hasselfield at wmrcphotocontest@gmail.com. The photos will be shown at the meeting during the break. One lucky entry will win a $20 gift certificate. The deadline for submissions is 5:00pm on Friday, Feb 12.

The meeting starts on-line at 7:30 PM on Friday, February 12. Members have already received the Zoom link. If you are not a member and wish to attend the virtual meeting, please contact us at wmrc.trainclub@gmail.com. Guests (even virtual ones) are always warmly welcomed!

Winnipeg Model Railroad Club mourns passing of Kerry Fingler of Cellar Dweller Hobby Supply

Kerry Fingler of Cellar Dweller Hobby Supply Limited passed away on January 7, 2021 after a brief illness.

Kerry Fingler was the son of Cellar Dweller Supply owner Gerry Fingler, who founded the shop in 1972. He had been around the hobby of model building all his life. He worked at Cellar Dweller since 1976, first part-time while attending school and then full-time after attending Red River College.
 
Kerry’s hobbies and interests comprised almost everything they sold in the store, including scale modelling, R/C planes, cars, model rockets and stunt kites. His outgoing personality and enjoyment in dealing with people was an important part of Cellar Dweller.

He is survived by his wife Brenda, daughter Lauren and son-in-law Ken, grandson Logan, parents Gerry and Anita and his brother Randy. A private family service will take place at a later date.