From the Dome Car: Train 5 Track 1 (February-March, 1995)

 

Five years! With this issue, Morgan marked the 5th 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 purchase of new GE Dash 8-40C locomotives. It was the day in 1990 that I wrote the first dome car department for Train 1 Track 1. 

We've come a long way since that day! There were fewer Canadian-made products then. Fewer Canadian road name items. And Canadian modellers were eager for information that was aimed directly at them. And so with the previous 25 issues, including this one, your CANADIAN RAILWAY MODELLER has successfully brought the model train industry into the homes of thousands of modellers of Canadian roads and given them the opportunity to read about their own 'home roads' with every issue. 

I'm proud of the fact that, through the medium of CRM, we have been able to present more than 200 articles and countless numbers of photographs that have all been related to Canadian topics. We've also presented endless numbers of new products, book reviews, video reviews and even points of views, from many numbers of contributors. We've seen new model manufacturers start up, new hobby shops opened up and armchair modellers 'get up'. It's been quite a time! 

For those that are reading CANADIAN RAILWAY MODELLER for the first time, we warmly welcome you aboard. We present a Canadian outlook to modelling our Canadian train scene as described by our contributors and advertisers, along with prototype information from every era and from every part of our great country. 

This edition marks the first issue of our fifth year and one that promises to be as exciting as the first four. You're climbing on board at a time when the real railway industry is going through many changes, all of which will affect the modelling industry—without the prototype, there can be no models. Past generations of steam and diesel, along with the things that accompanied them, have taught us that today's innovations are tomorrow's archives. And recording history, whether through modelling, writing or in pictures, is really what this hobby is all about. And the real benefit: It's fun! 

We have done our best, using the resources that we had at hand, to accomplish our goals. We've not satisfied everyone, but we know that's not possible anyway. What we have done is present railway modelling as you have seen and done it, using the information that's been provided. Thanks is really directed to those that have provided us with the article material, the advertising and the countless bits of information that we've used to 'put it together' into a format that is easily read and understood. 

We've done more things right than we've done wrong, and I think we've all helped in bringing the Canadian view of railway modelling closer to model railroaders. This was really brought home to me when I attended the NMRA National in Portland, Oregon last year and saw the number of Canadian modellers who's skills and craftsmanship were rewarded in several major categories. 

We've still got a long piece of track ahead of us. We have many more articles to present, many more photos, diagrams, plans and ideas--lots more of the things you've come to expect from CRM. And in the year 2000, I expect to be here again, asking you again where the time has gone as we celebrate the first issue of our tenth year.


 

 

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