From a different Dome Car: A reflection on the death of Morgan Turney, one year later









On the first anniversary of Morgan's death, a few words of reflection and remembrance. 

In journalism parlance, a character is someone with a distinctive personality, someone who stands out, who is memorable. Maybe even has rough edges, rubbing others the wrong way. But he (and it’s usually a he) is very good at their job. 

In that respect, Morgan Turney was a character. 

Morgan, who died a year ago today, Feb. 6, had a large personality—and a large vision to go along with it. He knew what he wanted, and he knew how to get it.

Morgan and I got along, despite our differences. He was more conservative, I was more progressive. I was churchgoing, that wasn't his thing. He was forceful, I was more laid back. We were a bit of yin and yang—opposites who needed each other and helped each other along the way. 

In my case, what I brought were my journalistic abilities. Morgan was a good writer, but his grammar wasn’t the best. At first, I volunteered to help him by proofreading articles for Canadian Railway Modeller. Later, he hired me to help him with that; and then I became assistant editor. (I got a CRM business card and everything!) 

I branched out from there to solicit articles and work with authors, helping them create articles about their layouts and models. I went on to create three departments, including Proto Report, which I did at first with Bryce Lee (using the material he was already publishing on the Web) and then on my own. I also helped Morgan find a better printer when the first one proved unreliable and fractious to work with. (Thanks for coming alongside, CP Printing!) 








Morgan continued to look after the business end of things, chasing advertisers and taking care of the printing and mailing. We made a good team, in other words. 

Alas, it couldn’t last for me. Work, a young family and other things on the go meant I couldn’t continue. But it was fun while it lasted, and we remained friends.

From my journalistic perch, I watched as the Internet took off in the early 2000s and began to decimate print publications. This included CRM. Morgan grew angry and frustrated as he watched circulation and advertising fall as modellers moved to the Web for information. (Remember Yahoo! groups?) 

When we talked, he would often express his frustration. And I understood why; he had put a good deal of his own money into CRM to get it going. He saw it as his retirement plan. The idea was to sell it when he was ready to retire and live off the proceeds. 











Unfortunately, by the time he was ready to do that, CRM wasn’t worth much. He told me once or twice he saw me as his successor, that he hoped I would buy it when he retired. That was never my dream and, besides, by the time he wanted to let it go it was worth very little, if anything. It had no future in an Internet world.

I know he was disappointed in me. But we stayed friends. As his illness took hold, I would visit him and we would remember old times and good times. I took time to hear his life story, using it to publish a longer obituary in the Winnipeg Free Press after he died. 

Looking back, I am glad for my association with Morgan, and for being able to work on CRM with him. And now I am glad to be able to preserve his words in this blog as I reprint his Dome Car editorials online—ironically, the same Internet that doomed the magazine is the place where his words will be kept for a long, long time. 

Anyway, on the anniversary of this death, I raise a glass to Morgan and say thanks for time spent working together, and for how he helped to make the hobby what it is in Canada today. And so should many of us, thanking him for the gift he gave through the pages of CRM.

Even if he was a character.




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