Winnipeg Model Railroad Club mourns passing of Karl Purchase

 Karl Purchase (right) is seen here with his son Matt in a scene from a CBC news story that was broadcast nationally last April.

Former WMRC member Karl Purchase passed away on June 14, 2019. Karl was born in Corner Brook, Newfoundland served with the RCMP for 30 years in Manitoba. He will always be remembered in the model railroading community for his love for the Newfoundland Railway and his home town of Corner Brook, which he modeled with such astounding and painstaking accuracy.

The layout, with scenes that he made entirely from memory, fills two rooms and spans two different levels. It took him 20 years to complete it. Karl’s layout was featured prominently in Railroad Model Craftsman in 1983, prior to the NMRA national convention held in Winnipeg.

Karl was just featured in the national media in April of this year when his family used his layout to help reignite his failing memory Karl hadn’t seen his layout in over a year, and was living in a personal care home after breaking two hips. You can access this story by going to:
https://www.cbc.ca/radio/nowornever/for-this-newfoundlander-a-trip-down-memory-lane-in-a-model-train-1.5084309

Read MMR Lester Breuer's great model railroading blog

Lester Breuer of Plymouth, Minnesota is an NMRA master model railroader (MMR) who writes a terrific model railroading blog. It's titled the Minneapolis and Northland Railroad Company Modeling, which is named after his layout which he started in 1973.

In his posts, Lester takes you step by step on all of his model building projects, and the tools he uses to build them. He has been making two to three posts a week since January 2018. There are 30 different categories to choose from, all in alphabetical order, from boxcars to upgrades.

All of Lester's posts are an indispensable "how to" journey into the world of model railroading and modeling, and he has an incredible eye for detail. You can check it out by clicking here.

Winnipeg Railway Museum will reopen on June 17

This just in! We are pleased to announce that the Winnipeg Railway Museum will reopen on Monday, June 17. The structural concerns that caused Via Rail to close the platform that houses the museum have been taken care of. This means that Tuesday nights are once again Gateway Western nights for the WMRC!