Train 8 Track 3 (September-October, 1998)


 


 










In this Dome Car, Morgan excitedly announces that the NMRA will hold its annual convention in Toronto in 2003. Anyone remember it? It was called the Maple Leaf. (The NMRA has held its convention in Canada six times going back to 1953: In Toronto, Vancouver, Calgary, Montreal and, in 1983, right here in Winnipeg where I live.) That 2003 convention was severely impacted by the SARs epidemic in Toronto that year, putting a huge dent in attendance from the U.S. But I still went and had a good time. Anyone else attend that convention? 

Here's a BIG news flash: The NMRA National Convention is coming to Canada in the year 2003! The Maple Leaf 2003 NMRA National Convention, to be hosted by the Niagara Frontier Region of the NMRA (NFR/NMRA), will be held in Toronto, with dates to be announced later. 

Now, that may seem like a long way off, but from my experience—and I'm sure yours too—it will be here before we know it. 

Our sincere congratulations to the members of the bid committee, headed by the Chairman, George Stephenson and the President of the NRF, Tom Tarpy, and others. The presentation was made to the NMRA Show Committee while attending the NMRA National Convention held in Kansas City, Missouri this summer. 

I know that we, as Canadian modellers, will look forward to the NMRA National coming to Canada and it will be a fabulous show, as it always is. For anybody that has never been to an NMRA National, it is an experience of a lifetime and one we're sure you will not want to miss. The convention dates, convention hotel and train show location have not been announced as yet but when they are, we'll let you know right here. 

We're pretty excited about it around here! The place to be in Twenty Oh Three is Toronto, eh! 

As most know, we launched two new columns in the last issue of CRM, that were very well received. With the Internet getting into more and more homes and offices everywhere, our Website Reviews got off to a great start. Many readers have accessed the three sites we reviewed, just to see for them themselves what they had to offer. 

And, as you can see in this issue's Website Directory, many web site owners have registered their sites on our Links Directory page. We expect to see more and more sites (especially personal ones) come 'on board' so that readers will see that they exist and can gain direct access to the information on their sites. 

If you have a train-related web site and wish to register, simply follow the instructions listed on page 40. 

And I must mention our friends at Canada Post. Without going into great, gory detail, after we presented Train 8 Track 1 to the mailing facility here in Winnipeg, our shipment was inspected and it was discovered that it was sorted and labelled incorrectly. (And, as we hadn't been inspected for about the last six years, it had been sorted and labelled wrong for a long time!) 

Mind you, we had very, very few lost subscriptions or hobby shop orders during that period. So, we took the Canada Post 'Publications Mail' course and completely revamped our magazine sort according to their instructions. We mailed-out Train 8 Track 2 using the new sort—and Canada Post failed to deliver six subscriptions and three packages of magazines to three different hobby shops; one in British Columbia, one in Alberta and one in southern Ontario. 

For those counting on buying CRM at one of the hobby shops that did not receive their shipment, we apologize on behalf of Canada Post. Replacement bundles of magazines were delivered by courier, four weeks after the originals were mailed. We have also sent out replacement copies to subscribers that did not receive their issue. We'll try it again with this issue and trust that the post office can get it right this time, according to their own instructions. Only time will tell. 

And so, the end of another train and track number from the last car in the train. It has been a great summer and it won't be long until Halloween is here and the white stuff will be falling from the sky. But take heart; we've had some great railfanning in the snow. And it's always nice and warm in the basement! Until next time.



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