The Hudson Bay Railway in HO Scale

I wasn't sure how to title this post without seeming too self congratulatory.  I took part in my first NMRA regional convention (actually I was part of the organizing committee) and entered a few of my models in the contests and AP (Achievement Program) judging program. I have only ever had my models on display at the various local meets over the years.   The  models did pretty well.  I entered six models in the AP and got five merit awards for my CN GP9 4243, CN snow plows, VIA Rail combine and the CN Fowler/Dominion work service boxcar, all of which I have blogged about previously here.  I was pleasantly surprised that I managed to get the merit awards.   On the last day of the show I had a moment to swing by the display/contest room and found out that my CN lightweight GP9 had won 1st place in the Diesel & Other category.  I was given a nicely framed certificate for this.  I promise I won't let it go to my head. June 7, 2024 updat...

Mike Barone's excellent modelling.  Most interesting to me is the first CN diesel switcher in the background.  Can't wait to see it in finished form. This past weekend (May 26 to 28) we had the latest edition of the Railway Modellers Meet of BC at Simon Fraser University in Burnaby.  The event was well attended with roughly 100 people in attendance over the 3 days.   Events included a prototype tour of the new G3 grain facility in North Vancouver, Operating Sessions, Layout Tours and two days of clinics, displays and camaraderie.  We also had a very interesting Keynote  address by Tony Thompson to kick things off.  Overall it was a very successful return to an in person event.  By all accounts it was very well received by attendees. I was the clinic coordinator for this year's edition and spent much of the meet running around trying to ensure that the clinic program ran smoothly with minimal hiccups.  Thanks to assistance by Mike and Lar...

Trackwork, freight cars and a switcher in Proto48 by Greg Amer A few of my cars on display GT 0-4-0 in Proto 87 by Rene' Gourley FW&D boxcar in HO scale by Rob Kirkham Soo Line caboose by Larry Sebelley BC Rail tank car in N scale by Timothy Horton Southern Pacific caboose in TT scale by Xen Valoczy Soo Line passenger car in HO scale by Stephan Wintner The Railway Modellers Meet of BC was held this past weekend (May 27-29, 2022) and it was what I would consider a rousing success.  In addition to the on line clinic lineup and layout tours < here >, we had operating sessions,  in person layout tours, "Meet My Layout", model displays and "Meet the Modeller".  We also had group discussions based on era and prototype and Table Top Clinics.   "Meet My Layout", Table Top Clinics and the group discussions were new additions and overall were well received by attendees and may well feature in future meets.  I presented a table top clinic on weathering ...

For the past few years I have been on the organizing committee of the Railway Modellers Meet of BC .  We have worked hard to make this one of the best model railway events that we can.  Over the past 7 years we have continued to work on improving the meet.  We are all proud of what we have been able to achieve over the past years and are looking forward to many more years of presenting the best model railroading has to offer.   We had to scramble to put together an online meet when the Covid-19 pandemic hit in 2020.  In a very short timeframe we learned how to put on a Zoom event which went pretty well considering we were basically making it up as we went along.  We continued with the Zoom clinics in 2021, and for 2022 we are going with a hybrid on line and in person meet.  The clinic presentations will be on line while there will be in person events on May 27th to 29th.     It has a lot going on:  Operating Sessions on private...