trendy train model

   We've had an unusual amount of response when our last post about Chris Burden's model railroad sculpture was posted on the WMRC's Facebook page. But the best reply came from our own John Longhurst, who made a post on his own blog, the Manitoba and Minnesota Subdivision, about an Canadian visual artist named Kim Adams who also uses model railroading equipment in his art, which was displayed in the Art Gallery of Ontario.

    Whether you agree with his approach or not, he might be on to something, because he was awarded the Gershon Iskowitz prize of $50,000 for his efforts! You can buy a lot of ground foam for that kind of money!

    To see John's post on Kim Adams, click here.  To read more about Kim Adam's 2013 exhibit at the Art Gallery of Ontario, click here.

   One of our readers sent this image in of a massive sculpture with a model railroad theme, which was displayed at New York City's famed Museum of Modern Art. It's titled Medusa's Head, and it's the work of the sculptor Chris Burden, who passed away last May.

    We'll never know what prompted him to incorporate model railroad equipment into this sculpture. He was also fond of incorporating Meccano and Erector Set parts into his sculptures. Needless to say, it's not an operating layout. Perhaps a more suitable title would've been "Meltdown at the Gateway after the DCC went haywire".

Bill Brown, the chairman of the Achievement Program for the NER/NMRA, recently mailed a package to me that was a pleasure to receive. It was a plaque for the Master Model Railroader designation.

Knowing that this was the closest I would ever get to one of these, I allowed myself a moment to fantasize. I had not applied for the prestigious award, but perhaps in our everybody-gets-a-trophy world, mine was a watered-down version based on the NMRA's overly optimistic interpretation of my potential... or maybe it was for this blog... Nah, I don't think so. And what about the inscribed name? Tough to make a case that it was just badly misspelled. "Boy, did spell-check do a number on this," I could say to visitors to my basement.

In truth, I am to present this to the newly elected president of the Garden State Division, Bruce DeYoung, at our board meeting this weekend. Bruce received recognition last month at our joint meet with the New Jersey Division along with their Tom Griffiths. Now the actual plaque is available.
?

    Our good friend Chuck Huard sent us this link to this amazing video of a freight train rumbling on the Napoleon, Defiance and Western Railroad (formerly the Maumee and Western Railroad), one of the many railroads owned and operated by Pioneer Railcorp. This railroad runs a short line from Liberty Center, Ohio to Woodburn, Indiana, and boy is it ever a bumpy ride! Check it out by clicking here.

    Most modellers wouldn't even dream of recreating a big city like Toronto on their layout, but it has been done! Our good friend Chuck Huard, a long time member of the WMRC and a past president, sent us this link that was originally shown on CTV News. This HO scale railroad has scale models of the CN tower, the Skydome, and everything else in between! It has to be seen to be believed! Check it out by clicking here.

Please note that the Prairie Dog Central's popular Father's Day excursion train has been sold out.

The Prairie Dog Central railway has many special events and excursions from May to October every year, and many of them sell out in advance. You can purchase tickets at the station before any scheduled ride, but it's always best to go to their website to buy advance tickets and to see if the train you wish to ride on is sold out.

For more information about the Prairie Dog Central, go to their website at: http://pdcrailway.com/

Childhood BFFs Randy Laframboise and Mike Sparks have been layout collaborators in one way or another for more than 40 years. Their current Rutland Road is their second iteration of the popular Vermont railroad.

Begun in 1999, after the demolition of their first 15-year effort, the new-and-improved multi-deck prototype sits in a 16' x 36' finished space in Randy's basement. It features many of the small towns along the mainline between Rutland and Burlington and is set during late summer in the early 1950s.

Entry to the main layout room is through a nicely finished support space decorated with vintage signs and posters. The room features a well-appointed workshop, generous staging and an attractive helix. The helix adheres to the layout's 36" minimum radius and is graded at 2% yielding a run of 100'. The layout itself provides a satisfying 285' of run through the rolling countryside.

The shallow, muddy Otter Creek is beautifully modeled in this scene at bridge 219, just south of Florence. One can almost hear the rumble and clickety-clack of the northbound local as it rolls by headed to Burlington.

Even cows railfan in Vermont, no doubt excited to see some Western Maryland variety coming 'round the bend into Brandon. Right state, wrong railroad, guys!

The massive Elias-Lyman Coal Company serves as a backdrop to engine facilities at Burlington. The scratch built replication of the now-demolished structure is spot-on.

Mike and Randy enjoy researching and scratch building structures like this creamery at Vergennes. They believe that such rigor is required to successfully depict  any prototype and its surroundings.

Randy is adamant that proto layouts demand just as much creativity as free-lanced ones because specific scenes and structures can be very difficult to re-create in a given space. Some imagination is required to compress and possibly re-orient a key component, while maintaining an accurate representation like the Sheffield Creamery at Florence.

What good are all of those creameries without milk trains to haul product through the rolling fields of the Green Mountain State? Randy is quite proficient with a static grass gun and will offer demonstrations with little prodding.

There is no shortage of  trees, rivers, creeks, bridges and trestles along the mainline that is being modeled. Each scene is painstakingly textured and weathered to depict the prototype.

Code 70 flex-track was used on the upper level while the more forgiving code 83 flex-track was used on the lower one. The rationale was based upon the desire for maximum realism tempered with practicality and viewer proximity.

Mike and Randy forced perspective at the end of the peninsula on the upper deck by scratch building a typical Vermont farm in N scale.

The two decks sit at 40" and 60" respectively above the floor, yielding an overall viewing separation of about 16". To enhance that, the upper deck stays at about 16" deep while the lower one averages about 24" in depth.

?

   What better way to celebrate Father's Day than a trip with dad on the Prairie Dog Central? Steam locomotive No. 3 will be operating on that day! Listen for it's unmistakable whistle, along with the conductor�s "all aboard", which indicates it�s time to be on our way.

    Enjoy the company of family and friends as you ride across the prairie. Tap your feet to the live on board Blue Grass music and immerse yourself in the presentation by our 1911 passenger agent. During the stopover at Grosse Isle, savor the goodies freshly prepared by the vendors, or just kick back and enjoy more Blue Grass tunes.

    Tickets are $28.00 for adults (14 years old and up), tickets for children (ages 2-13) are $21.95. Children two years old and under ride for free when seated on the knee. If you require a seat for a child two and under, please purchase a children's ticket.

    The train departs at 11:00 AM  at the Prairie Dog Central's Inkster Station, and returns at 2:45 PM.You can buy tickets two hours prior to departure at the station, but they might be sold out by then, so it's preferable to buy the tickets online on their website. Go to http://pdcrailway.com for more information.

    WMRC Program Director Morgan Turney took these images of Aaron Woloshyn laying some scenery at the gateway Western. He's using the modeller's best friend, the Topside Creeper, which is available from Micro-Mark. For a big layout like the Gateway, the Topside Creeper is an indispensable tool for getting into those hard to reach spots!

     Tuesday nights are now, still, and always will be Gateway nights. It's a great opportunity for fun, fellowship, and working on the railroad! The crew meets around 7:00 PM at the Winnipeg Railway Museum, located on the second level of the Via Rail station at 123 Main Street.

    Aaron Woloshyn is seen from the outside window of the Gateway, working on the landscaping.

    WMRC members Tommy and James South ride the rails at the AVR's Fun Run Day, which was held last month. This weekend there will be other engineers and gondolas that you can ride in!

     What better way to celebrate the start of summer than to ride the AVR? They're having their very first open house of the season this weekend, June 13 and 14. Hours are from 11:00AM to 5:00PM on Saturdays, and from 1:00PM to 5:00PM on Sundays.

   A ticket for one ride is two bucks. A twelve ride pass is only $20! Kids two years old and under can ride for free (All minors must be accompanied by an adult). They're at 3001 Roblin Boulevard, just past Assiniboine Park!

   For more information, please go to their blog site at: http://assiniboinevalleyrailway.org/blog/

Now, now...  calm down. This isn't that kind of site. But a few of the more conscientious readers of this blog emailed me after I referenced the peninsula's legs in a photo of my helix frame. They say that I never really covered that aspect of construction. Apologies, so here goes.

The leg assemblies were based on the struts that supported the around-the-wall bench work and designed to be unobtrusive, but still rock solid. Each assembly utilized a leg and an angled support, but contrary to traditional methods, I reversed the application and placed the angled support in front of the leg to provide greater clearance for wayward feet and to mimic the wall struts.

The photos below should explain things better than my words ever could.
?

The end of the peninsula is supported with a tripod of sorts as three leg assemblies are tied together with 1" x 4" horizontal bracing which really tightens everything up significantly.

The origin of the leg assembly is evident here when compared to the wall strut at the rear of this photo. The leg assembly supporting the middle of the peninsula is narrower than that at the wider end. Brilliant stuff.

Screw-in adjustable feet do the trick for leveling and help minimize the absorption of any floor moisture. All connections are done with simple sheet rock screws and either painted over, or countersunk considerably.

The 5/4" x 2" struts are anchored into the wall's baseplate through the molding thereby eliminating the need to locate wall studs that are allegedly every 16", but never really are.

   You won't be selling lemonade in Times Square. You won't have to deal with the villainous Omarosa or any of the Baldwin Brothers, you won't get hauled into the board room, and you won't get fired.

     But what you will get is an opportunity to learn how to be the Program Director for the WMRC by an expert! Morgan has been doing a stellar job as program director for many, many years. He's been wanting to step down from the position for some time now, but there have been no takers for the job.

   Morgan believes that there have been no volunteers that have stepped forward because the job might seem overwhelming to a novice. This has been a problem with getting people to volunteer in every organization. People are afraid that they'll be thrown into a job where they have no experience or training, and find themselves in a situation that's way over their heads.

  So Morgan has come up with a unique solution: taking on an apprentice for the job!

  If you chose to volunteer for this position, Morgan will train you every step of the way, and he'll make sure that you'll be more than ready and able to take over the reins when the time comes!

   If you're interested, please contact Morgan Turney at morgant@cdnrwymod.com

   We are saddened to report the passing of long time WMRC member Larry Ziffle. Larry passed away on May 23, after a long and courageous battle with cancer. Larry worked for 40 years at MTS before retiring just last year. He was just 61 years old.

   Larry was also an active member of the Selkirk Model Railroad Association, where he served as their Public Relations Representative.  He was also a longstanding member of the Manitoba Lacrosse Association, where he served as a player, a coach, a referee, and a board member of the Manitoba Lacrosse Hall of Fame.

    Larry loved to play the guitar, and he had also taken up painting. He was an enthusiastic photographer, capturing Lacrosse talent in Manitoba with his camera. His photos can be viewed on his Flickr account at https://www.flickr.com/photos/larry-ziffle/.


 

   WMRC blog editor Paul Ullrich has had his third article published the "Tips and Techniques" section of Kalmbach's Classic Toy Trains magazine. His article appears in the September 2015 issue.

   The article, which describes how to install a bridge rectifier onto a Lionel reversing unit, makes the fifth time he has been published in the magazine. He has also had two articles published in Trains magazine, and an article published in O Gauge Railroading, and an illustration published in Railfan Canada.