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

As he reaches the end of year two of publishing CRM, Morgan is feeling good about the magazine and the response to it. (Even if, as he noted, it continues to be tardy with delivery.) And he sees encouraging signs about the hobby. But one thing worries him: It’s future. With the average age of model railroaders going up, where will the next generation of modellers come from? He had a plan involving Christmas, trains and kids; I wonder how many others followed his example?   Morgan’s concern for the future of the hobby made him an enthusiastic supporter of President’s Choice train sets when they starting coming out in 1992. In fact, he had several of them in their original boxes in his basement after he died. You can read about the President’s Choice train sets on my blog.   So, here it is, the end of our second year at CRM and we're storming  right along. Plenty has happened in the last two years. Through your letters and phone calls, you've told us the magazine meets ...

In this Dome Car, Morgan heralds the creation of North Kildonan Publications, his publishing house for railway-related items. That includes roster train cards, which he announces in this issue. (Maybe some of you still have them.) He also wrote about the start of a Canadian railfan magazine—a dream of his that finally came to fruition in 2009 with the creation of Railfan Canada. And he begins with the news of the passing of Orner Lavallee, one of Canada's best-known railway photographers.   As this issue of CRM was developing, it was learned that one of Canada's leading railway historians and authors had passed away. Orner Lavallee, whom I personally met when he was a guest speaker at Rails Thru The  Oaks, NFR Convention in May 1990, died in Montreal on Wednesday, February 5, 1992 at the age of 66.   Orner was inducted into the Order of Canada in 1989 for his contributions to C anadian railway heritage and was the author of several books including "Van  Horne's R...

Morgan gives a shout out to manufacturers who are starting to bring out more Canadian models. He also reminds readers who are anxiously awaiting their next issue that publishing a magazine—almost single-handedly—is hard. There’s the first mention of the roster cards, which would become another product he produced. And he’s looking forward to attending train shows, something that was always a highlight for him. Maybe that's where some of you met him!   As another issue of CRM is distributed by Canada Post, the next one is being put together post haste! We've received a few telephone calls asking: "Where  is my latest copy of CRM?" Hold on folks, it's headed your way. We knew when we started the magazine that it wasn't going to be a 'cake walk' and the  vast majority of our readers, distributors and advertisers are very understanding—for which we are very grateful.   I read in the paper this morning that CN is going ahead with a new $150 million tunnel a...

This From the Dome Car begins on a sad note with the death of a friend who helped Morgan found the magazine. And a post office disruption caused headaches; for the entire time CRM was published, the post office was a source of many headaches — and one or two migraines! It is with a heavy heart that I announce the passing of a founding member of Canadian Railway Modeller magazine. Ron Ayers, who's exceptional skill and eye for both photographic detail and business practices, passed away on September 10, 1991 after a brief battle with cancer. Ron was instrumental in helping me from the initial planning stages of CRM and gave of his all while he had his health. I have vivid memories of the times we spent together, and the excitement we both felt during the early stages of developing the photographic aspect of the publication. Although Ron was not a modeller or a railfanner, he displayed a never-ending interest in CRM and was always available when things needed to be done or talk...

  By the second issue of the second year, some financial realities began to bite. In this case, it’s advertisers not paying their bills. One thing Morgan was very scrupulous about was paying his bills on time. It bothered him greatly when others didn’t. I don’t know if he wrote this down anywhere, but one of his policies was not to publish a new issue until all the bills from the previous issue were paid for—printer, graphic designer, post office, contributors, etc. For that, he needed those who owed him money to pay their bills on time. Since some didn’t, this resulted in CRM’s erratic publishing schedule and fluctuating page count. (He would only print when and what he could afford.)   From what he wrote in this Dome Car, it sounds like he might have been getting calls from readers wondering where their next issue was. That was his attempt to explain.   Not everything was negative, though; a majority of subscribers renewed their subscriptions for year two. And Morga...