Interested in the CPR, or northern Ontario railroading?
Want to learn more about prototype railway modelling?
Wish to participate in realistic operating sessions?
If the answer to any of these questions is yes, then you should consider the WRMRC.
A club layout obviously offers the ability to model on a grander scale than is usually possible on a home layout. If you are unsure about joining a club, there are many differences which make the WRMRC a unique group. The most important is that we have set clear and defined modelling goals and objectives. This actually limits club politics, so instead we spend more time modelling, building, operating, and having fun.
But what if I have no interest in the Canadian Pacific Railway, the 1970s, or northern Ontario modelling? Why should I join?
The founders of the WRMRC understood that setting a specific prototype railway, location, and era would limit our popularity. But there is an attraction to modelling something that is real, or was real at some point in the past. Additionally, having a set plan produces a number of positive qualities:
Clear goals and standards result in superior layout operation and appearance.
With such standards construction becomes well-ordered and motivated.
No conflicts in modelling direction, regardless of changes in membership.
Accomplishing common objectives leads to good feelings and camaraderie.
The WRMRC also holds prototype operating sessions. Not certain what that means? Think of it as a giant multi-player role-playing game. We become engineers, conductors, dispatchers and yardmasters. Train schedules are followed, along with blocking of freight traffic between trains. Freight delivery is governed by a waybill system which mimics real-life customer demand. In short, our CP Sudbury Division layout becomes a miniature transportation system.
Joining the WRMRC also includes the opportunity to build, kitbash, paint, and weather models with the help and guidance of our more experienced members.
As an added incentive we offer your first month of membership free. This allows you to join in on our regular work nights and participate in an operating session, and make sure the WRMRC is right for you.
For more information about membership or the WRMRC in general, please email us at: wrmrc@hotmail.com
Though our layout is essentially shut down each year over the summer months (from mid-May to the end of August), it is hardly a quiet time for the CP Sudbury Division. The summer season is when layout expansion work, heavy construction and miscellaneous major projects can occur without the interruption of club operating sessions or open houses to get in the way.
The summer of 2024 was particularly busy with a number of major projects including; a complete change-out of the turnout ground throws for Tortoise switch machines within our Copper Cliff / Creosote industrial area, CTC signaling and logic programming at Stinson siding, fluorescent to LED valence lighting replacement over many aisles, and the construction of a maintenance platform within our ‘sky helix’ that spirals between floors connecting Sprecher and Larchwood.
The ‘sky helix’ spiralling between floors connecting Sprecher and Larchwood. Preparations to finish the mainline required a maintenance platform be built to climb into this helix from the main floor.
Possibly the most exciting project of the summer was a complete clean-out of all the stuff we’ve stored for many, many years now on the top floor. Well, the actual cleaning part sucked as it was tough and took what seemed forever, but it was done to clear the way for our Cartier Sub mainline to finally be completed. As August ended, we had already begun the benchwork for Sturgeon Falls, and planning for the huge 14-track staging yard (representing the entire CPR west of Cartier ON) that will be built above it. That is the exciting part.
Autumn and colder weather also marks the beginning of another operating season for the CP Sudbury Division layout, with five op sessions and two dates where we’re open for the public. A number of operational projects also occurred prior to the operating season beginning, mainly involving the addition and preparation of new equipment (weathering rolling stock, DCC programming of locomotives, etc.) along with any modifications or updates required by our car-forwarding/waybill system.
Two strings of our new Rapido NSC reefers form a backdrop behind recently retired stand-ins. The three reefers in the middle are the first Rapido models we weathered. Though they served faithfully for nearly two decades, these old stand-in ‘foobies’ were never accurate models.
In addition to the usual operational projects, this summer also saw us replace an entire fleet of cars, and even a piece of office furniture. Replacements of car fleets are not common, as the vast majority of our rolling stock are high-quality models which fairly accurately represent their prototypes. But some of our freight cars are ‘placeholders’ so to speak. These are cars too important or iconic to not have within our operations, and so we utilize inaccurate models or ‘foobies’ (to use modeller’s jargon) that appear close enough. If or when accurate replacements become available then these foobie fleets get replaced, and we have blogged about this topic in the past.
Duelling CP 286381’s. Only a minority of CP’s 400+ fleet of 50ft mechanical reefers were ever repainted into the CP Rail scheme, so it shouldn’t be surprising that a road number Rapido selected would conflict one of our old cars. Rapido’s accurate model (left) versus an old Athearn ‘blue-box’ repainted version (right).
The mass replacement which occurred this past summer was our CP mechanical refrigerated boxcar fleet. These reefers were staples on CP’s hot transcon freights through the 1970s, with large blocks appearing right on the head-end of freights like #952. Our operations wouldn’t be right without them. So with the exception of a single 40ft kitbashed model of a CP 285600-series car, our entire fleet of mechanical reefers were stand-ins consisting of Athearn ‘blue-box’ models, and some Accurail outside-braced 50’ boxcar bashes. These were all retired thanks to a club bulk purchase of brand new Rapido NSC-built CP reefers.
Side-by-side comparison of an old Athearn ‘blue-box’ reefer (left) with a new Rapido NSC model (right). Though the Athearn cars represented another prototype (the Hawker-Siddeley smooth-sided reefer) they were all retired thanks to the Rapido car being a 100% correct model of an NSC-built outside-braced reefer.
Replacing office fixtures is even more uncommon than rolling stock retirements, since there are so few that we utilize in club operations. In fact, we believe this to be the first instance. Our venerable and iconic Crew Call Board, a grid-marked whiteboard employed since our first operating sessions began well over 20 years ago, had to be replaced.
As the layout expanded and new freights continued to be added to our operations over the decades, we’d been stretching the old board past its original capacities. Three additional rows were squeezed in over time. We even saved room by listing both the Montreal and Toronto sections of “The Canadian” within one line. However, we broke the board after our first nickel ore train was inaugurated (INCO Job 2), and had no room left when the time came to add hotshot transcon freights 901/902 to our operating scheme.
Comparison of our old Crew Callboard (as photographed in 2021) with the new replacement board ready to go for our 14 September 2024 op session. After adding transcon freight 949 and INCO Job 2 to club operations a few months ago, we ran out of room for trains 901/902.
With our resent summer work beginning the push to finish our Cartier Sub mainline from North Bay to Cartier staging, it wasn’t hard to think of building towards the future. So, we acquired a very large whiteboard and grid-marked it with 40 rows. All those rows will allow us to list every mainline freight and local that was ever run on a daily basis over the CP Sudbury Division, with accommodation for a few extras and second sections too. Our only worry now is will we have enough operators to run them all? Thinking back to our lean beginnings during the WRMRC’s fledgling years, that is actually a remarkable thing to have to worry about.
