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

  Thoughts about what constituted the transition era are in this Dome Car. For me, it was the 1990s on the CP Rail when that railway was undergoing some transitions, or about to, in terms of liveries and locomotives. (When this was written, I didn’t yet have any AC4400 power; those units came later.) I also wrote about retirement—a long way off for me back then, but now a reality as I enter the retirement process. What I was told back then still seems true; that it is actually easier to build a layout while younger than when one is older and has no sense of urgency about time anymore. And I end on a optimistic note about the NMRA convention in Toronto; that optimism would soon be tested.   When people ask me what era I model, I tell them the golden age—the transition era of the mid-1990s on CP Rail.   Of course, that's not what most people think when they hear those words. For most people, the transition era means 1950-60, the time when steam was giving way to die...

  Have you ever had an open house for your layout? I did it a number of times for my previous layout, including for Winnipeg Model Railroad Club layout hops and three national or regional conventions. In this Dome Car, I talk about the benefits of open houses—you have incentive to get things done—and how to do effective crowd control. (Coloured sticks—simple!) It was written with the Maple Leaf NMRA convention in mind; more on that in a future Dome Car.   There's a lot of frenzied activity going on in the Toronto area these days. Throughout the region, model railroaders who are involved with Maple Leaf 2003 are preparing to welcome hundreds of visitors to their layouts. Suddenly, July, 2003 doesn't seem that far away anymore, considering all the projects they want to get done before the tour buses pull up at their homes. There's scenery to finish, track to lay, wiring to complete and a host of other big and small projects that need to be done. It can seem very intimidatin...

  Another rant about postal rates! This became a recurring theme for Morgan—in print and in person. And I could see his point; it was tough to run a small business on tight margins and still make a living. And make no mistake; although the magazine and hobby were his passion, it also was a business with bills to pay and invoices to collect.  There’s an old adage that you should never make your hobby your business; you may end up hating the hobby, the thing you once loved. Morgan never did lose his love for model railroading, although he had to dismantle his home layout (The Toronto, Hamilton & Buffalo Railway, Manitoba Division) to make room for boxes of magazines, train cards and other magazine-related materials.   Speaking of model railroading, he did mention it in this Dome Car! He promoted the upcoming Maple Leaf NMRA convention in Toronto, slated for summer that year in Toronto. Little did anyone know it would become known as the SARS (Severe Acute Respirat...

  With digital cameras constituting 99% of the market today, few people debate digital vs. film photography anymore. But it was a real debate in 2002 when Morgan wrote this Dome Car. Back then, digital photography was in its infancy; he still preferred to receive printed photos for the magazine. (Although he would take high rez digital photos on a mailed CD.) As a railfan, Morgan used a film camera for his photography, taking hundreds, if not thousands, of photos. When he died, his widow bequeathed his print photo collection to me. After having a look through them, I gave the collection to well-known railway photographers and historians Brian Schuff and Mark Penny. I did keep a few of Morgan’s framed prototype photos for keepsakes, though.   I recently read a very interesting article in my local newspaper about the long-term preservation of images. The article, which was reprinted from the Baltimore Sun, compared digital photography verses conventional film.   The art...

  My turn to do the Dome Car again! This time I reflect on building my second—my dream—layout , a two-level model railroad in a 21 by 27-foot room with a storage room for a helix. ( Or “rectix,” as I called it. ) I acknowledged that building a layout of any size can be a challenge for some, but—to borrow the Nike slogan—I encouraged people to “just do it!” I don’t know if building a layout is easier or harder today; after building four layouts since 1988, my layout building days are over. And there are different challenges related to cost and lack of room if you don’t own a house. What do you think?     Getting started in our great hobby is relatively easy, as most people know. It all begins when you buy that first locomotive or piece of rolling stock at the local hobby shop or attend a local train show. But getting that layout started is sometimes a different matter!   For some, the reasons are obvious: They live somewhere that really has no room for one, or...

In this Dome Car, Morgan has to let subscribers know the cost of CRM is going up: It will now cost $6.55 per issue, or about $39 per year. As with other price increases, he really had no choice—the cost of postage, paper and polybags kept rising. It would be a message he would repeat again over the years. To lessen the pain of that announcement, Morgan spoke about the articles people could look forward to. That included one by Marc Simpson about railway operations in northern Manitoba. Seeing his name reminded me that Marc passed away recently —something Morgan would surely have noted in a Dome Car if he himself were alive, and if CRM still was being published. If there is one thing that we as Canadians are really good at, it's complaining about our weather! As I write this from Winnipeg in early May, Calgary is getting 40 centimeters of snow; it's raining cats and dogs in Halifax and there's a forest fire alert in northern Ontario because of dryness.   Will spring ever c...

  One thing about Morgan that can’t be denied: He was an enthusiastic promoter of the hobby of model railroading! Whenever and however he could, he found ways to help others, especially kids, learn about the hobby—as this Dome Car shows.   That commitment to showing off the hobby included his decision to make collectible train cards, which he freely gave out to kids at shows across the country. Maybe some of you still have some! When I helped clean out his basement following his death, we found boxes and boxes of cards that his widow donated to the local model railroad club to give away at train shows. Morgan would be pleased to know he is still promoting the hobby from beyond the grave!   In February I received a letter from the president of a model railway club in Beaconsfield, Quebec which gives me hope for the future of this wonderful hobby.   In the letter, he told me how delighted he was when we announced the release of the President's Choice train set, a...

  Remember hobby shops? Time was every major city had more than one. Winnipeg, where I live, had five at one time. Now only one remains, having opened up a few years ago. (Thanks, Frog and Diamond!) In this Dome Car, I take a nostalgic journey to some of the hobby shops that meant a lot to me as I got started in the hobby. This includes the time I spent $50 to buy a locomotive and five or six pieces of rolling stock. Talk about days gone by!   The closing of Hall's Hobby House in Dallas, Texas in December got me thinking about how people get started in model railroading.   For me, Hall's was the place where I returned to the hobby, after an absence of ten years.   Like many model railroaders my age (I'm 45), I got my start in the hobby with the proverbial Lionel train set. That was followed by a hand-me-down Triang set, which was followed by HO scale and, finally, by N scale. That N scale layout was sold to help finance my university education when I was 19; it...

  The 9/11 attacks in September, 2001 put things into perspective for a lot of people—including Morgan. How can we focus on a mere hobby like model railroading when a tragedy like that happens and affects so many lives? That’s the question he sought to answer in this Dome Car. He suggested that it is exactly at a time like that when hobbies are most needed—to help us find time away from the suffering and tragedy that threatens to overwhelm us and harm our mental health.   Life for many people has changed as a result of the September 11 attacks on New York and Washington. Things that once seemed important now seem trivial or inconsequential. Family, health, friendships—these are emerging as the most highly-prized things that people can have and hold on to.   But what about model railroading? Things like hobbies might seem trivial now. How can we even think about spending time and money on a hobby when so many people have been affected by this tragedy?   On the o...

  Wouldn’t it be great to see working steam in southern Ontario? That was the goal of the Toronto Steam Committee back in 2000. I wrote about it back then in CRM. Alas, it didn’t pan out , reportedly due to factors such as railway liability and insurance requirements, higher operating and maintenance costs for certified steam locomotives, limited access to mainline trackage from CN and CP, and increasingly complex boiler and safety regulations—and lack of funding. But it still would have been something to see! In this Dome Car I also note the passing of railway photographer Lawrence Stucky, who chronicled trains on the prairies. And who remembers that Toronto once bid for the Olympics? Not me. Toronto didn't get the Olympics, but it may get a working steam locomotive. That is, if a small group called the Toronto Steam Committee (TSC) has its way.   The goal of the TSC, which began as an e mail forum on Yahoo!, is to explore the possibility of restoring a large Canadian mai...

  Morgan is chuffed with this tenth anniversary issue—as he should be! Running any small business is hard, and CRM was no exception. Between dealing with the post office, the printer and recalcitrant advertisers who didn’t pay on time, he had lots to keep him going and cause him anxiety. But he believed in it, and he stuck with it—and subscribers stuck with him. And the magazine made a difference for Canadian model railroaders, as he noted. At the very end of this Dome Car, he wonders what he will write for the twentieth anniversary; unfortunately, CRM never made it that far. But we have some great memories!   If you're like me, maybe you looked at this issue's cover and said: "Has it really been ten full years since this magazine started?" Boy, how time flies when you're havin' fun, eh?   Yes, this is the tenth anniversary issue of Canada's model train magazine. And, despite the usual trials and tribulations of running a small business, it has bee...