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

  This Dome Car highlights one of Morgan’s interests—prairie skyscrapers, aka wood grain elevators. He made a commitment to photograph as many as he could before they were torn down. Sometimes he took pictures when they were being destroyed.   We are all feeling the pinch these days economically, what with tariffs and all, but the early 1990s were also a time when people were struggling with finances—as Morgan points out when he talks about the rising price for paper affecting everything from magazines to cereal to coffee.   And also just like now, he writes about the need to attract more young people to the hobby. In that respect, the 1995 Toronto train show was very encouraging!   It looks like Canadian railway geography is about to make a big change. I've just finished watching CBC's Venture, where the program discussed the effects on the grain industry once the Crow Rate is gone. I won't go into what the Crow Rate is, but once it disappears, grain farme...

  Five years! With this issue, Morgan marked the 5 th anniversary of CRM. Since it started, he said the magazine had published about 200 articles and countless photos, along with book reviews and other things. He was proud to have published the work of Canadian modellers and, best of all, to see an increase in the number of Canadian model railroad items—something easy to take for granted today. (As proof, Athearn announced it is bringing out a “what if” BC Rail SD90MAC-H PH I unit in BC Rail green lightning stripe livery. That would have been impossible 30 years ago.) Considering the challenges he faced getting this far, the anniversary was worth celebrating.     I remember it like it was yesterday. A day much like today; overcast and snowy, fairly crispy and cold. The 'Canadian' still ran on Canadian Pacific Railway trackage. Talk of the cabooseless train was on everybody's mind and Canadian National and BC Rail were about to step into 'the nineties' with the ...

In this Dome Car, Morgan takes us to Russia to learn about model railroading through the eyes of a Canadian modeller. That was just five years after the Berlin Wall fell, a time when we thought maybe we were on the verge of a new and peaceful and less polarized world. And he notes that the next issue will mark the beginning of the fifth year of CRM—a real milestone for him and for the magazine.   When it comes to modelling, railfanning and locomotive preservation, sometimes we don't realize how lucky we are here in North America, especially after reading a letter from a railfan who has recently returned from a visit to Russia.   Jim Little, a CP modeller in the southern Ontario area who has written articles for us in the past, dropped me a note about his experiences during a trip he made this past summer with his wife to the former Soviet Union. Jim reports that while on a visit to a museum of Russian steam locomotives in St. Petersburg, that sadly all the equipment sits o...

  Morgan sings the praises of Canadian modellers who did well at an NMRA convention in Oregon with their scratchbuilt models and promotes the skill of scratchbuilding. He also speaks about the contacts he made with American manufacturers. Morgan was constantly promoting Canada and Canadian modellers to U.S. manufacturers—partly because it meant advertising dollars for CRM, but also because he knew they could find a good market in this country if they produced more Canadian models. Given how many Canadian prototypes have been made in model form today, it’s hard to remember a time when that wasn’t the case. For that, we can give Morgan some credit; he was one of the best ambassadors the hobby had ever seen in Canada, and beyond.   We're fresh back from the NMRA National in Portland, Oregon, and I must say that Canadian modellers made quite an impression with the judges of the model contest. They more than did themselves proud, with no less than six first place showings! By coi...

  How many of us have built an unassembled InterMountain cylindrical grain car? I tried, but gave up. (My friend Larry Leavens here in Winnipeg has built dozens of them; he found it very relaxing on work-related trips.) I mention this because in this issue Morgan highlights a great development in the hobby: Assembled InterMountain grain cars in Canadian prototype schemes. I was certainly pleased to see them, and I'm sure many others were, too. (I went on to own about 30 of them.)   Morgan also takes time to explain why he publishes multi-part building articles. There just wasn’t enough room to publish a complete article about a scratchbuilding project—it would take up the whole magazine and be off-putting to those who weren’t interested in it. Today, it might be rare that anyone does scratchbuilding anymore, what with all the great ready-to-run or use models and structures on the market. But back then, it was the only way to get many Canadian prototypes for your layout. ...

  There's an old saying in the magazine business: “This publication has something for everyone. That’s why we include some mistakes for those who look for errors.” Well, in the previous issue there was a “doozie,” in Morgan’s words, which he profusely apologized for. (In retrospect, it wasn’t that bad.) And this issue contains the first reference to Red Green of Possum Lodge—Morgan did like him, and tried to keep his stick on the ice. And he made a trip to a train show in the U.S. If Morgan was alive today, visiting the U.S. is probably the last thing he would do.   And this issue is personal for me; the first time my modelling had appeared in a model railroad magazine. It was a photo from my first real layout, my HO scale CP Rail Grimm Valley Division. I was beyond proud to have created something good enough for publication—and it was my photo, as well!   If your name is Richard and you entered our sweepstakes contest, chances are you did alright. Our winners were ch...

  An updated logo and news about joining the Canadian Magazine Publishers Association—a sign that CRM is recognized as an official magazine in Canada. And for those who are old enough to remember the Toronto Train Show, some notes on Morgan’s attendance there. That show was always a full house! Lots of displays and vendors, including CRM. That’s where Morgan was happiest, meeting readers and other modellers and promoting the magazine and the hobby in general. He never met a train show he didn’t like! (He even founded one in Winnipeg in the early 1990s; today it is known as Mega Train.) He also liked to hand out train cards to kids who came by the booth. After he died, the Winnipeg Model Railroad Club took over 20 big boxes of train cards out his basement. They will be handed out to kids for years to come! If the attendance at this year's Toronto Train Show is any indication as to the health of our great hobby in this country, then I'd say it's doing just fine. Although we...

  In this issue, Morgan waxes philosophical as CRM reaches its fourth year and Model Railroader magazine hits its 60 th anniversary. He saw himself in a position similar to Al Kalmbach 56 years earlier when he thought about that magazine reaching its fourth year of publication—and wondering what the future holds for CRM. As it turned out, CRM only lasted 18 years before the Internet, with all its free information, put an end to it. But what a run it had!   As we head into our fourth year here at CRM, it makes me very proud that we are able to look back at some of our achievements and thank those who have made it all possible.   Those that have followed this column over the last three years have sometimes been given a behind-the-scenes look at some of the trials and tribulations associated with our successes. At the same time, we've been able to report directly on what those accomplishments have been.   And they have been many! When I look at the previous 18 is...

Every now and then, Morgan used the Dome Car to vent. Like this time, when he once again vented about advertisers who didn’t pay their bills on time—or at all. Non-payment of invoices was a problem because he only published an issue when the previous issue was fully paid for. Since this led to lateness for subscribers, he wanted them to know where the blame for the tardiness lay.   This policy illustrated a fact of life for Morgan: Publishing CRM never made him rich. For him, the magazine was certainly a way to make a living, but it was much more than that: It was a personal passion project and came from a sense of service to model railroaders in Canada. Since the non-payment of invoices led to tardy delivery of issues, he wanted to be up-front with readers about it. It might have also been a way to shame those who weren’t paying on time!   It has always been one of the goals of CANADIAN RAILWAY MODELLER magazine to provide Canadian model train hobby shops and some book st...

  Something Morgan wanted to include in CRM right from the beginning was reviews of books about Canadian railways. But finding reviewers wasn’t easy. The simplest solution was for Morgan to do it himself, but he didn’t want his byline appearing in the magazine too often. That’s when someone named “Russell Morgan” appeared, faithfully reviewing many books in CRM over the years. (This issue has two of his reviews.) Of course, “Russell Morgan” was Morgan himself! (I asked his wife, Carol, where he got the name from. They had a neighbour named Russell, and Morgan apparently borrowed it. Plus, Morgan’s nickname growing up was “Rusty,” due to his red hair—that might have also played into it, she said.)   This issue also featured what would become a feature over the remainder of CRM’s life: Canadian Archives, with the 0 SHO ME plans. The first was a CNR 2-8-0 Consolidation. I don’t know how many people used those plans to scratchbuild or modify an existing model, but they were a snap...

  CRM was only one of the things produced by Morgan’s parent company, North Kildonan Publications. (Named after the part of Winnipeg where he lived.) He also had a dream of publishing books, and ultimately published four of them—starting with The Guide to Canada's Railway Heritage Museums and Attractions by Lawrence Adams. The book, which might have been the first of its kind in Canada, provided information about all the places people could explore and learn more about Canadian railways. I think I still have my copy around somewhere . . .   Boy, how the year flies by! Most of us have already cut the lawn three times and burned-up our share of burgers. I know I have. It sure beats shovelling snow, though!   Our attendance at the Toronto Model Train Show was, as last year, a real treat as we had the opportunity to meet with our modelling friends, both old and new. I noticed some new exhibitors this year, one of which was next to our booth. Kirlin Scale Models produce...