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.

   WMRC members Neil Carleton, Paul Ullrich and Ian Plett show off their spiffy T-shirts (designed by Paul Ullrich) in front of the Richardson grain elevator in Thunder Bay, Ontario at the TLR's 2015 convention. 

   Several WMRC members, who are also NMRA members, left a lasting impression on the rest of attendees at the TLR's annual convention in Thunder Bay, Ontario this year.

    Ian Plett towed the No. 1 Northern Division's Free-Mo layout to the convention in his own trailer. The layout was set up at the location of the old Thom Thumb Hobby Shop in the Fort William area of town. He was assisted in set-up and operation by Neil Carleton, Dennis Rietze and Michael Leader. It was one of the very few times a modular layout has been set up at a TLR convention, and it was a very popular attraction during the convention's two layout hops on Friday and on Sunday.

    WMRC members also won several awards at the convention's annual banquet. Ian Plett, Neil Carleton, and Margaret Ullrich all won modelling awards. Paul Ullrich won "Best in Show" in the photo contest, and he also won the Bob Dew award for his continued and dedicated service to the TLR.

   Ian Plett and Michael Leader operate the No. 1 Northern's Free-Mo layout at the site of the former Thom Thumb hobby shop in Thunder Bay during the TLR's 2015 convention. 
    Ian Plett and Neil Carleton show off the model contest awards they received at the banquet.
    Margaret Ullrich receives her model contest award from Tom Boyd at the convention banquet.

  Paul Ullrich receives the Bob Dew award for his service to the TLR from President Gerry Miller.

The winners from the WMRC's annual photo contest are as follows:

Digital Prototype: 
1st: Suzanne Lemon - Autumn Glow
2nd: Paul Ullrich - CN at Portage La Prairie On A Wet Morning
3rd: Larry Leavens - CN 8961 at Quadra
Honourable Mention: Suzanne Lemon - Sky of Blue, Sea of Yellow

Special Event: 
1st: (Peter Abel Memorial Award) Paul Ullrich - Spreading Ballast Near Thief River Falls
2nd: Val Lemon - Laying New Track at Redditt
3rd: Suzanne Lemon - The Ties That Used to Bind
Honourable Mention: Paul Lemon - Herzog Track Equipment at Portage La Prairie
Honourable Mention: Larry Leavens - Pot of Fire

Film or Digital Print - Model: 
1st: Robert Weaver - Coal Sidings
2nd: Robert Weaver - Steel Works
Honourable Mention: Cliff Davidson - Western Pacific Revival

Best in Show:
Suzanne Lemon - Ready to Go

President's Choice Harvey and Sandy Walker Memorial Award for Best in Show:
Robert Weaver - Cocker Mouth Signal Tower



Paul Lemon receives his certificate from Larry Leavens for his photo, titled "Herzog Track Equipment at Portage La Prairie".

   The Winnipeg Model Railroad Club held its Annual Model Contest on March 28, 2015 marking their 60th Anniversary. A special 60th Anniversary decal was designed by WMRC Blog Editor Paul Ullrich and printed by Black Cat Publishing of Winnipeg. It featured a special 60th Anniversary logo marking the 1955 - 2015 milestone in three scales - HO, N and O scale. The Special Event for the 2015 model contest was to use the decal to produce a 60th Anniversary model for the contest.

   Honourable Mention awards went to Margaret Ullrich for her HO scale mercantile building. An Honourable Mention also went to Paul Ullrich for his O scale BC Rail 907 box car. Larry Leavens also won an Honourable Mention for his HO scale WMRC 2015 Covered Hopper and his HO scale CN 377506 WMRC Commemorative Hopper.  Third Place was awarded to Suzanne Lemon for her HO scale WMRC 1955 40-Box Car. Second Place was awarded to Morgan Turney for his HO scale WMRC Baldwin VO 1000 463 locomotive. First Place went to Morgan Turney for his HO scale WMRC 195528 Hydrous-Ammonia Tank Car.

   WMRC model contest chair Morgan Turney managed to get all of the HO scale special event model contest entries in single photo during our annual spring open house by placing them all on one module of the Kildonan Short Lines display.

    Thanks to the magic of Photoshop, WMRC Blog Editor Paul Ullrich replaced the background (which featured a blank wall, a bunch of boxes, jackets and two of our member's stomachs) with a very nice backdrop of a prairie sky. Enjoy!

We had enough entries in our club's 60th anniversary model contest special event to make a train, complete with an engine! WMRC Contest Chair Morgan Turney thought it only appropriate to set it down on some track on the Kildonan Short Lines modular layout during our 2015 spring open house and take a picture of it!

However, one of the cars didn't fit, as it was O gauge. So Morgan "borrowed" WMRC Blog Editor Paul Ullrich's popular Lionel "giraffe car" layout and put it on this CP freight and shot a photo of it just as it was going into a tunnel!

    Member Godfrey South proudly displays the WMRC he just bought at December's meeting. He bought five of them - one for every member of the family!

    We do have a number of extra shirts that were ordered, and they will be available on a first come, first sold basis. These high quality shirts, with a spiffy logo designed by WMRC blog editor Paul Ullrich, are selling for just $15!

     Our next meeting is on Friday, January 9 at the Charleswood Legion, 6003 Roblin Boulevard. The meeting starts 7:30 PM. If you didn't order a T-shirt, but still want to buy one, please get there early!

    WMRC President Larry Leavens shows off his brand new T-shirt at the club's Gateway Western layout, which is located in the Winnipeg Railway Museum.

     The T-shirts, designed by WMRC blog editor Paul Ullrich, have been delivered and are ready to be picked up for all who have ordered them at our next meeting on Friday, December 12 at the Charleswood Legion at 6003 Roblin Boulevard.

     The meeting starts at 7:30, but there will be a lot more to do besides picking up your T-shirts! We're having our annual Klinic Karnival, featuring Winnipeg's top model railroaders sharing their talents with you, and our annual "Christmas Dinner" of hot dogs, pop and chips! And if you're not quite full from that, there's always pizza after the meeting at Santa Lucia's on St. Mary's Road!

   WMRC President Larry Leavens sent in this photo of a CN rail grain hopper with the WMRC's 60th anniversary logo on it while he was out rail fanning last Saturday. Suspicions have been raised as to whether this is actually a prototype image, or one taken of a model on someone's layout. But Larry swears that it is prototype, and as we all know, chief executives never lie (except when they're not telling the truth). However, if you choose to believe him, we'd like to sell you the Chief Peguis Trail bridge. No reasonable offers will be accepted.

     All kidding aside, the WMRC is having their 60th anniversary in 2015, and one of the ways we're celebrating is with our annual model contest. This year's special event is to use our 60th anniversary decal (specially designed by blog editor Paul Ullrich) on any railroad related model. It could be an engine, a piece of rolling stock, a building, or anything else you can imagine!

   You can purchase these decals from WMRC Program Director Morgan Turney at our next meeting, which will be held on December 12 at 7:30 at the Charleswood Legion at 6003 Roblin Boulevard. A limited number of these decals have been made, so don't put it off much longer than that!

    A crowd of enthusiastic youngsters take turns trying their hand at operating an N scale layout at NMRA Canada's train show last Saturday.

Over 250 very happy people attended NMRA Canada's very first public train show last Saturday. Although the show was scheduled the day after Halloween and at the same time as one of the biggest comic book conventions in Western Canada, the event still managed to draw a surprisingly large crowd of train lovers, and raised a respectable amount of money to be donated to St. Amant.

The No. 1 Northern Division's Free-Mo group, which had the largest display at last month's Manitoba Mega Train Show, had the largest display this time as well. The group (dubbed the "blue shirt guys" by the show's visitors) received many compliments not only for their layout, but their willingness to share all aspects of their hobby and answer any question the viewers had about their group, and of model railroading in general.

Veteran model railroaders Ron Einarson and Rob Gairns held popular clinics. WMRC blog editor Paul Ullrich (using his alter ego as "The Giraffe Car Man") wowed the kiddies once again with his hands-on Lionel layout. There was also a hands-on N Scale layout, and a G scale display run by Manitoba Mega Train organizer Maurice Dorge. 13 year old Michael Leader, the group's youngest member,  was also on hand to run the John Allen Timesaver Module.

No. 1 Northern Superintendent Dennis Rietze ran a demonstration on how to run a model railroad with a cell phone. He was also interviewed by CTV News Winnipeg, which ran the segment on their Saturday evening news program. Several NMRA members were also on hand to promote the organization and its many benefits to model railroaders.

It was also great to see a lot of old, new and familiar faces at the show, such as former Elmwood Hobby Works proprietor Vern Gibson. There were lots of families and plenty of kids , who stayed for many hours enjoying the World's Greatest Hobby!


    Ron Einarson held clinics all day, displaying many of his award winning models.


    Lookee here! Could that be our old friend Kent, the former WMRC Lantern Editor with his son, enjoying WMRC blog editor Paul Ullrich's portable Lionel display? It sure is!

       Two of the "Blue Shirt Guys" (not to be confused with the Blue Man Group), Alan Graham (Centre) and No. 1 Northern Treasurer Sid Greenstone (L) promoting the many benefits of NMRA membership at  the show.

The WMRC has started taking orders for their 60th anniversary T-shirt. The shirt is powder blue with the 60th anniversary logo, designed by WMRC blog editor Paul Ullrich, printed in the middle. Orders have been taken at the last WMRC meeting, and will continue to be taken at our next meeting on October 10. Please note that the price will be determined on how many T-shirts will be in the order. We don't require anyone to give us any money yet. All we need to know is how many people are interested in purchasing one of these T-shirts, and what size should be ordered.

   Paul Ullrich, long time WMRC member and blog editor, has had his second article published in Kalmbach's Classic Toy Trains Magazine this year. Both articles have appeared in their "Tips, tools and techniques" column in the back page of the magazine. His second article has been published in the July 2014 issue. Paul also has had a third article accepted, which will run later this year.

    Paul is not the only WMRC member that has been making their names in the news. Earlier this year, member Dennis Rietze had an article published in Canadian Railway Modeller (published by our own Morgan Turney) about his very unique and well crafted layout in a crawl space. The article has been published in its entirety on this blog. You can view his article by clicking here.



 

    Ron Einarson reaches deep into the bucket held by Morgan Turney to select a winning ticket.

   What makes the WMRC banquets so much fun are the prize draws - and we have lots of them!

    We start off with the door prizes. Every guest receives a free ticket. There are several prizes available, including some "non-rail" items. Then we have the elimination draw. This draw actually works in reverse! The very last ticket drawn wins the prize! There were lots of moans and groans to be heard as Morgan read off the names of the ticket holders who weren't called last!

    Our last prize draw had lots of tickets. Guests purchased an arm's length of tickets for five bucks. Just to keep things fair (as some have arms longer than others) WMRC blog editor Paul Ullrich sold the tickets and used his own very long arms to measure the tickets!

    The "arms length" is measured as such: The person holds the end of the ticket roll by their fingertips, then turns their head away and pulls out the ticket roll until it touches the tip of their nose. Then the tickets are torn off at that point.

   It should be pointed out that Paul doesn't have the longest reach in the club. That honour belongs to Robert Weaver. But Paul does have a larger nose.

    There were tons of prizes, and most people walked away with something. There were even gift certificates from Home Depot and Canadian Tire, good places to buy all the wood, screws, nails and glue you need to build your layout!

   Coming soon to a t-shirt near you! For the WMRC's 60th anniversary next year, the executive had their friendly neighbourhood WMRC blog editor and Facebook moderator Paul Ullrich to design a special logo. After a dozen or so variations, this was the design chosen by the board.

    Both light and dark coloured shirts will be used to print this logo. A special decal set is also being planned with an updated version of the traditional WMRC logo with the lantern in the centre. This new design will be posted in the near future.

    WMRC President Larry Leavens took this picture of WMRC blog editor Paul Ullrich and Comics America proprietor Joe Krolik operating the O gauge layout at the Selkirk Model Railroad Association's spring open house held last weekend.
 
    Dennis Fitzpatrick, who was operating the layout, took a much needed break, and Paul and Joe took over - for almost two hours! Do you think they'll give those kids a chance to run the trains too?

    Unfortunately, the turnout for the event wasn't quite up to expectations. Who ever expected a snowstorm on April 12? But everybody who attended had a great time watching (and operating) the three spectacular layouts in three different gauges!

Neil Carlton runs a freight train on the No. 1 Northern Division's Free-Mo modular group layout at the WMRC's open house. Photo by Paul Ullrich

   The NMRA's No. 1 Northern Division's Free-Mo modular group displayed once again at the WMRC's annual open house. The layout was a bit smaller than last year's, mostly because there were so many other displays, and only so much space to go around! Still, there was enough room to have some really long trains do some really long runs.

    The two loops the group constructed were funded by a grant from the NMRA's Thousand lakes Region (TLR). The No. 1 Northern Division thanks the TLR for their generosity in helping complete this project.

A BN freight rolls down the straightaway, heading for the next loop which will bring it back. Photo by Suzanne Lemon.

 One of the big surprises we had at our 2014 open house was from one of our newest and most active members, Godfrey South, who displayed his collection of miniature live steam engines. A lot of model railroaders weren't aware that this genre even existed, and it was quite a thrill to see a live steam locomotive race around Godfrey's track with no electricity, no wires, and no power pack! Photo by Suzanne Lemon.

Morgan Turney, inspecting Godfrey's live miniature steam engine, looks like he's thinking, "How the heck does this thing work?" Photo by Paul Ullrich.