From the pages of Canadian Railway Modeller: Morgan Turney, in his own words

Some things never change—like post office strikes! Dealing with the postal service was one of Morgan’s many challenges publishing the magazine. If it wasn’t strikes, it was rate increases which he had to pass on to readers. And in this Dome Car he highlights the new Prototype Report sections, which I worked on with Bryce Lee (who was publishing prototype information online). Later, I took it over by myself. It sort-of was a precursor to Railfan Canada, which Morgan started in 2009. As I write this issue of 'From the Dome Car', my office is full of magazines waiting for delivery to our downtown main branch of the Winnipeg post office—and ultimately to you, our reader. The strike by Canada Post has been costly to all of us. Not only do we depend on them to get you your magazine, we also depend on them to deliver things to us like your article submissions, Proto Photos and Modeller' s Photos, news items, new products, subscription renewals, advertiser's artwork, bill payme...

Remember when collecting  President’s Choice trainsets was all the craze? Maybe some of you still have them in your basements or attics! When we cleaned out Morgan’s basement after his death, I think he had two of each set there. (Sold to support his widow, along with the rest of his model railroad collection.) Morgan was a big booster of Boris Polakow and his trainsets for Loblaws, seeing them as a way to introduce kids to the hobby.   When we think of manufacturers of model railway products, names like Walthers, Model Die Casting and Athearn quickly come to mind. Chances are you wouldn't include Loblaws in that group, but since 1992 the grocery chain-giant has been one of the largest retailers of model trains in Canada, selling 60,000 specially-produced train sets.   It all started with an idea by Boris Polakow, Vice President of Canadian Sales Development for Lob law's Private Label. As a kid, Boris was fascinated by trains, building three HO scale layouts with his...

  Another Dome Car by me! I focus on an era I never modelled or was interested in: The transition era. Actually, I modelled a different “transition era:” The mid-1990s, when SD40-2s still ruled but some newer power like the AC4400s were beginning to appear on the scene—just as first generation diesels began to supplant steam locomotives. In this case, it was about the 1950s, featuring two of Winnipeg’s best known transition era modellers: Stafford Swain and Fred Headon. This Dome Car also has the bad news about the death of Jim Iredale, a local modeller who owned Ware House Hobbies in Winnipeg. That store closed about a year ago after being run for over 25 years by his widow, Bev.   One of the most popular eras being modelled today is the transition era, the time period when diesels and steam locomotives shared the tracks together.   One reason for its popularity is that many modellers are 50 or older—they are keeping alive the kind of railroading they experienced whe...

  Remember a world before cell phones? If they had been invented in 1997, Morgan never would have been left behind at a convention—or the bus would have turned around to get him. In this Dome Car, he shares about that experience.   Ever had the feeling of total isolation? The very uncomfortable sensation of being left behind in the middle of nowhere?   Picture this. You're on the prototype tour segment of a train convention with several fellow modellers. You spot a piece of rolling stock out in the yard of the place you're at and figure it's worth a photo. So you escape the crowd and go get the shot. But when you round the end of the building to get back on the bus to go to the next site—it's gone!   It happened to me when I attended the Great Plains Express '97 meet in Regina, Saskatchewan on the Victoria Day long weekend. Those on the tour boarded a school bus and two minivans and headed for our first stop, General Electric's Car Repair Shops, loca...

  My first editorial! Celebrating my good fortune at being able to work for CRM. And the start of something that became a regular feature in the magazine: Canadian Railway News. (It eventually led to a prototype magazine called Railfan Canada, which ran from 2009-2013.)   There is also mention of the proposed 2003 NMRA convention in Toronto, which became known as the SARS convention due to the Severe Acute Respiratory Syndrome outbreak that hit the area that year. But people who attended—I was one of them—had a good time.   That was the last time the NMRA convention was in Toronto. The previous time it was in this country was 1983 in Winnipeg. That was the convention that saw me get back into the hobby after many years absence for university, travels and getting married. Forty-two years and four layouts later, I still am a model railroader—one who had the good fortune of working for Canada’s last model railroad magazine.   When I told a fellow model railroade...

  Introducing—me! With this issue I assumed my new (paid) very part-time role as Associate Editor of CRM, after several years as a volunteer editorial assistant. I’m not sure I liked the announcement of my new role linked to news that the price for the magazine would be going up. But, like Morgan said in the editorial, everything was getting more expensive.  I stayed in that position until 2014, when a new job demanded more of my time. It was a good ride, working with Morgan and relating to modellers in Canada and other parts of the world. It was always satisfying to help people get their modelling efforts in print for everyone to see and appreciate. Sort of like now, when I am remembering Morgan and the contribution he made to this hobby in Canada.   Hardly a week goes by without something being said in the media about the coming of the year 2000. Many businesses and others are preparing and planning for the next millennium. It's no different around here. We'll be t...