Confessions of a Model Train Geek
A model train geek, learning as he goes.
steveJason Shron and his wife Sidura Ludwig gave a talk one evening last week, on Rapido Trains’s efforts to save full size trains, on life with a hardcore “train nut”, and on Rapido’s latest model offerings. It was a great talk and it was well attended. Jason started by reviewing the work that he and … Read more
I held another solo operating session during the month of September 2018, and produced a 5-part series of videos documenting the session. If you want to watch the entire series, you can view this playlist. Introduction In the introductory video, I talked about the changes I made prior to this session. They included the introduction … Read more
Jason Shron, president of Rapido Trains, gave a talk in Winnipeg on August 16 on running a model railroad company. Jason has been in Winnipeg a number of times, sometimes meeting up with people at Ware House Hobbies, but it always seemed that I was out of town when he was here, or I heard … Read more
I held a solo operating session during the month of July 2018, and recorded the session for your viewing enjoyment. I operated eight trains. The session includes every scheduled non-VIA train on my layout, which includes: CN 214 – a through train CN 403 – works the CP interchange in Georgetown and the Cargill grain … Read more
I recently gathered all of my grain fleet into one place on my layout, at the Cargill elevator tracks at Helene. It turns out that I have a lot of grain cars! A grain elevator would never get this congested “in real life” but it was interesting to see all of my grain hoppers and … Read more
I had a grain car that had a coupler issue. Just a tad low. Nothing that a new Kadee coupler won’t fix! Sorry for the blurry photo. There are a few remedies for low couplers like this. Sometimes you can use a fibre washer or two on the truck bolster to raise the whole body up. … Read more
I visited the Manitoba Mega Train 2017 show today (October 1, 2017). As always it was a good show with a lot of displays, vendors, and activities for the young and the young at heart. I was impressed by this Proto:48 diorama of a prairie grain elevator. The N scale “Mainliners” travel around the … Read more
Manitoba’s premier model train show is happening at the end of this month! The Manitoba Mega Train show will be on September 30 and October 1 (Saturday and Sunday) from 9 AM to 5 PM at the Red River Exhibition Place. I went last year and it was a lot of fun! There are a … Read more
Nothing ever goes as planned It’s a hell of a notion Even Pharaohs turn to sand Like a drop in the ocean – Styx (from their great album Paradise Theatre) I had a little solo operating session on my layout a few weeks ago. It was really a positioning move for a “real” operating session … Read more
The Winnipeg Model Railroad Club held its 2017 Open House this past weekend. It was held on April 1-2 at the club’s regular meeting place in the basement of the Legion on Roblin Boulevard. The open house featured several layouts from several local modeling groups as well as some private portable layouts, in a variety of … Read more
