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From the Dome Car: Train 5 Track 6 (January-February 1996)

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  250 articles modelling articles, 175 Proto Photos, 150 Modellers' Photos and countless numbers of book reviews, video reviews, new product reports, letters and events—that’s what was published in the first five years, or 30 issues, of CRM. From concept to product, it was quite a journey for Morgan. One thing he lamented was the aging of the hobby, which was in the mid-50s in the mid-1990s. (I wonder what it is today?) And he expressed his disdain for the Internet, which was just in its infancy back then. (Remember dial-up?) To his dismay, the Internet would continue to be a challenge for Morgan—and ultimately put an end to his magazine dream, as it did for many other print publications.   The last issue of our 5th year has arrived! Train 5 Track 6 is our 30th issue.   Over the past five years we've published around 250 articles connected in some way to Canadian modelling, over 175 Proto Photos, 150 Modellers' Photos and countless numbers of book reviews, video revie...

From the Dome Car: Train 5 Track 5 (November-December, 1995)

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  "Weekend Warriors”—there’s a term I haven’t heard for a long time! Weekend Warriors is what we used to call people who operated hobby shops out of their homes, selling new products at weekend train shows across the country. Hobby shops disliked them for cutting into their sales since they could sell items so much cheaper due to not paying rent, salaries and taxes. Morgan took the topic head on in this Dome Car, and in a special investigative report in the magazine written by yours truly. (I think this was my first byline in the magazine.)   The ongoing controversy between hobby shops and the so-called 'weekend warriors'—people working out of their homes who sell new model railroad products at weekend shows—was recently brought to our attention here at CRM. It's our policy at CRM not to mention swap meets in Subdivision Footnotes. The column is intended to provide free space to clubs which want to promote their shows.   But a hobby shop owner in southern Ontario i...

From the Dome Car: Train 5 Track 4 (August-September, 1995)

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  Morgan takes readers to South Africa, courtesy of a model railroad magazine from that country. He mentions a section in that magazine about the prototype; it would be a few years before CRM would include Proto Report—with yours truly as the author and compiler. In the last issue Morgan enthused about this new thing called DCC; in this issue he notes how computers are enhancing model photography—and wonders if it should be seen as acceptable for model photography contests. We’ve come a long way since then!   Many readers will remember the advertisement for the Schreiber Heritage and Tourism Committee that appeared in Train 5 Track 2. The Canadian Pacific model of the ML W S-3 was won by Ken Haun of Kitimat, BC., who told us it's the first thing he's ever won in his life! Congratulations, Ken. I have no doubt you will be very pleased with your prize.   Organizers of the draw informed me that well over 1,000 tickets were sold and that over half of them came from the ad...