trendy train model

   If there's any such thing as a Winnipeg tradition, then Gooch's Bicycle and Hobby Shop certainly fits the bill! They've been in business since 1927 and has had four generations of the Gooch family running the store.

   Veteran model railroaders have seen their shop move from Portage Avenue to Sherbrook Street and back to Portage Avenue again. Their present location is at 1046 Portage Avenue, by Garfield Street.

   They're now located in what used to be a video store - now there's a business trend that's come and gone! But the demand for bicycles and hobbies supplies goes on and on!

    This weekend they're holding their 13th annual open house. There will be plenty to see, including a few stalwarts from the Winnipeg Model Railroad Club holding demonstrations. Our friends from WinNtrak will also be there, as well as representatives from the Manitoba Rocketry Group, the International Plastic Modeller's Society. There will also be a Meccano display, a model shipbuilders display, an ho sectional layout, and an HO Thomas the Tank Engine layout for the kiddies.

    Whew! That's quite a show! And it's free!

    Hours are from 10:00 to 5:00 on Saturday, and from 12:00 to 4:00 on Sunday. Call 204-956-6571 for more details or email gooch@mymts.net.

 

A CN freight lumbers through a typical prairie town in Stafford Swain's exquisite Whiteshell subdivision layout. Stafford's 12' x 30' layout might be considered small by today's standards, but it was packed with amazing detail. It was a perimeter layout, which meant that the larger scenes were in the corners. That's where this painstakingly accurate model of a typical prairie town was found. The building of Stafford's fictional town of Forsyth, Manitoba was featured in a cover story of Railroad Model Craftsman in the early 1980's.

    Our good friend Joe Krolik of Comics America had been a staunch supporter of the Winnipeg Model Railroad Club for several years, including the 2013 Manitoba Mega Train Show. Whenever we've had a show he's always put a poster up in his shop and stuffed flyers we've given him in the bags of his regular customers.  He's always made every effort to attend our shows whenever possible.

    Joe has caught the train bug. But he's not building a layout.

    He's selling trains.

    Yes, that's right! In his store, among all of those wonderful comics, are three Lionel Train sets! Right from the 2013 Lionel Christmas catalog are the Polar Express and the Peanuts Christmas set. He's also carrying the Harry Potter Hogwarts Express set. All sets have locomotives with smoke and whistle, transformers and an oval of track.

    Considering that Winnipeg has just lost Elmwood Hobbies, and hobby shops are vanishing throughout the land, it's mighty encouraging to find someone new whose willing to sell train sets! Let's hear it for Joe!

    Comics America is located at 552 Academy Road in Winnipeg. Call 204-489-0580, email comics_america@mts.net, or like Comics America on Facebook!

It was a battle royal, a fight to the finish, a no holds barred, winner-take-all royal rumble in the basement of Whyte Ridge Baptist Church! Not since the WWE came to town has there been such a cataclysmic clash! There hasn't been such a brutal dogfight since Richthofen and Brown!

On November 2, 2013, the city's top John Allen Timesaver competitors squared off at the No. 1 Northern Division's third annual train meet. Their goal was to win the coveted gift certificate from a local hobby shop and a semi-valuable trophy. Each contestant had to shunt freight cars from one section of track to another through a maze of switches. The one who could do it in the shortest time won the prize!

First up was mighty Morgan Turney, Publisher of Canadian Railway Modeller and Acting Program Director for the WMRC. He threw in the towel after seven minutes and 50 seconds. Next up was Michael Leader, who finished in just under four minutes! Ian Plett was next, tying Michael's time.
WMRC Blog Editor Paul Ullrich was next, coming from way behind with a score for 12 minutes (and he was the one who designed the configuration for the competition).

Ian and Michael faced off in the finals. Michael picked up speed in the second round, edging out Ian with a new record time of just over three minutes! The semi-coveted trophy and the gift certificate was awarded to Michael by No. 1 Northern Superintendent Dennis Rietze.

Some of you might've noticed that we now have an image from a model railroad on our site's masthead.  We surely needed a visual presence there. After all, this is a blog about the Winnipeg Model Railroad Club!

When it came to selecting an image, the choice was obvious - it had to be from Stafford Swain's layout!
Stafford was a true model railroading pioneer. His layout of the CNR Whiteshell Division was a museum quality creation of the real thing. He started building his layout in 1975, when prototype modelling was a rarity, and scenery techniques were pretty basic.

He's had over 80 articles published in magazines such as Model Railroader, Mainline Modeller and Railroad Model Craftsman. He's MMR #98. He helped found the CN Lines SIG (now the Canadian National Railway Historical Association), was president of the Winnipeg Model Railroad Club and the TLR, and was the Convention Director for the 1983 NMRA national convention held in Winnipeg.

Sadly, his layout is no more. The layout was dismantled shortly after it's last public showing in 2010 for the TLR's Steam on the Prairies convention in Winnipeg. A glowing tribute to Stafford and his many accomplishments has been published in Canadian railway Modeller, Train 17, Track 3. Besides this site, you can also read about Stafford at WMRC member John Longhurst's Manitoba and Minnesota Subdivision blog at http://cprailmmsub.blogspot.com/ 

This site will continue to post further images of Stafford's layout in the future.

Morgan Turney, Publisher of Canadian Railway Modeller and Winnipeg Model Railroad Club acting program director put on a great clinic on how to make realistic rock cuts using ceiling tiles at the No. 1 Northern's third annual train meet. Below are some images of Morgan showing how it's done.

For more information about the NMRA's No. 1 Northern Division go to: http://pullrich.wix.com/numberonenorthern

   CP veteran Dan Kollesavich gave an excellent presentation on the history and usage of the telegraph at the Winnipeg Model Railroad club's meeting on November 8. Dan started working for the railroad in the 50's, when the telegraph was still in use. Both CN and CP Rail finally stopped using the telegraph in 1970. By then, it was only used for communication with rural stations. Dan also gave a demonstration on how it worked by clicking out "Winnipeg Model Railroad Club" in lightning speed!

   Before Dan's presentation, Suzanne Lemon demonstrated how to dry brush a laser cut wooden kit.

    There were also some very fine models shown for our monthly display run by the NMRA's No. 1 Northern Division. WMRC members Ron Einarson, Ron Lundy, Morgan Turney, Larry Leavens and Suzanne Lemon all exhibited their latest creations.

   The NMRA's No. 1 Northern Division held their third annual train meet on Saturday, November 2 at Whyte Ridge Baptist Church in Winnipeg. This year, the group focused on "hands-on" clinics and demonstrations. Winnipeg Model Railroad Club President Larry Leavens showed how to make static grass by using an improvised hand held bug zapper that you could buy at any home improvement store for under ten dollars (genuine static grass makers usually sell for well over ten times that much).

   WMRC acting program director and Canadian Railway Modeller publisher Morgan Turney demonstrated how to make realistic rock faces with ceiling tile. No. 1 Northern superintendent Dennis Rietze conducted a clinic on DCC. A workshop on how to ballast a track was conducted, with a prize of a gift certificate from a local hobby shop for who did the best job.

   Members could also compete for a hobby shop gift certificate using a John Allen Style "time-saver" module to see who could shunt freight cars to their assigned destination the fastest. The winner was the No.1 Northern's youngest member, 10 year old Michael leader, who beat most of our veteran members by a very wide margin!

    Below is the first in a series of photos taken at this event. Others will be published in future posts.