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

    Two things that sound crazy from this now 22-year-old Dome Car: First, Morgan talks about how, one day, digital photography will reign supreme (replacing film cameras). Second, he says the next issue will be in full colour on every page. Those are things we take for granted these days, but back then they were new technologies. How far technology has come since then! And now we can use AI to touch up photos, easily adding skies to model photos. As for full-colour magazines, the question might rather be for some: What’s a magazine? They seem to be slowly passing from the scene.   It was only a matter of time before the photography industry made the leap from film to digital.   Last year, Kodak, considered the leader In the photographic film industry, announced that it would no longer be manufacturing print film cameras. Canon, Nikon and most other print film camera manufacturing companies have been quick to follow. Today, there are more new digital cameras on...

  Are you a member of the Canadian Association of Railway Modellers? It was created after the SARS-impacted Maple Leaf convention in Toronto—the one the NMRA pulled out of at the last moment. While organizers maintained that wasn’t the reason for the creation of CARM, they acknowledge it did play a role. A more substantive reason was the felt need for something uniquely Canadian that served Canadian modellers better—the same rationale used by Morgan to create Canadian Railway Modeller. In this Dome Car, I write about the start of CARM and express the hope it will succeed. Which it has! It’s still around, 23 years later.     Does Canada need its own national model railroad association? So far, over 200 people think so; they are among the first to join the new Canadian Association of Railway Modellers (CARM).   CARM was founded last October by four model railroaders in Ontario who believed the time was right for an organization that would serve the needs of Canadi...

  I started second layout, the CP Rail Manitoba & Minnesota Sub., in 1994. It was set in what was then the present day: The early to mid-1990s, with most of the motive power being SD40-2 units. Now that seems like ancient history! Speaking of history, that’s what Morgan writes about in this Dome Car—and how it can so easily be lost to something like fire. As Joni Mitchell sang: “Don't it always seem to go, you don't know what you've got ‘till it's gone.” Like all those SD40-2 units that once were so ubiquitous on CP Rail, and on my old layout, but which now are (mostly) gone.   Destroyed by fire! The phrase is becoming all too common lately for railways in Canada. During the summer, forest fires destroyed a total of 18 bridges and trestles along with property on the old Kettle Valley Railway in British Columbia. Then, in early October, Minaki Lodge in northwestern Ontario was razed to the ground by fire. Both places were designated as Canadian Historic Sites. ...