new design train model

   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.

   Long time WMRC member supervises the running of the trains of the No. 1 Northern Division's Free-Mo group at the WMRC's annual spring open house.

 The WMRC would like to extend a very big THANK YOU  to everyone who attended our spring open house this weekend at the Charleswood Legion! We had a lot of very happy folks who love trains drop by. A lot of them stayed for hours, but that's okay - it's even encouraged!

    There sure was plenty to see! All of the popular gauges, from Z to G were on display, and there was even a display of rolling stock from the Assiniboine Valley Railway! Two big modular railways - the No. 1 Northern Division's Free-Mo group and the Kildonan Short Lines were up and running at the show. There were also two N gauge layouts, the ever popular Lionel "giraffe car" layout, plus the displays of the WMRC model and photo contest winners. Our charity of choice, our good friends at St. Amant, were also there with a big display.

    The good folks at the Kildonan Short Lines modular railway had lots of trains up and running!
   Frances South and her brother James were on hand to help volunteer with their mom running the canteen, and to help run the Lionel giraffe car layout!

Saturday, November 1 is the big day! The NMRA is holding it's first ever train show in Winnipeg, and it's open to the public! You don't have to be an NMRA member to attend! They're going to have lots of layouts, including the No. 1 Northern Division's Free-Mo layout, the Lionel 027 "Giraffe Car" layout, a portable N scale layout, and a G scale layout! There will be clinics and a demonstration on how to run a layout with a cell phone. Try your hand at runing a miniature switching yard with the John Allen Timesaver module!

The fun starts at 10:00 AM this Saturday at Whyte Ridge Baptist Church, 201 Scurfield Road! Admission by donation. Handicap accessible! Portions of the proceeds will be donated to St. Amant.

   One of the best known celebrity model railroaders was the late Tom Snyder, host of Tomorrow and The Late Late Show. He had a Lionel standard gauge layout in his home and regularly discussed his love of trains quite often on the air. On the Late Late Show he once had actor Mandy Patinkin as a guest. Mandy, who has starred in The Princess Bride, Alien Nation, Chicago Hope and Criminal Minds, is also a model railroader who has a large Lionel layout in the basement of his home in Connecticut.

    So what do you think they talked about on the show? Trains, of course! Mandy did have a few other things to plug, but the discussion of their mutual love of model railroading took first priority!

    You can see the segment of that chow by clicking here. Thanks to WMRC Vice president Dave Downey for finding this!

    Model Power, one of the oldest and largest model railroad and hobby manufacturers in North America, has announced that they are going out of business. As of April 24, they have stopped accepting new retail orders and customer service requests. The corporations stated that they will do their best to resolve all existing issues, returns and repairs that are currently in house.

     Their closing is a reflection of the sad state of the hobby industry, which has been gradually losing its client base over the past decades. As fewer and fewer people have taken up model railroading as a hobby, the once strong base of customers companies like Model Power depended on to sustain their business has been steadily eroding away.  As hobby shops continue to close, their distribution base has crumbled.

    Many model railroaders think of manufacturers of model railroad equipment as big businesses, but they are no more than cottage industries. As the actual manufacturing is now done overseas, companies like Model Power have been reduced to being small staffed distributors with extremely small profit margins.

     If Model Power can go out of business, who's next? Atlas? Athearn? Bachmann? Lionel?

     For more information on the closing of Model Power, please go to their link by clicking here.