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

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...