In-Person Clinics

Cancelled: Modeling Ambient Sound Effects
Tim Anderson

Demonstration of Little Sound and Little Bigger Sound Effects with handouts to all participants regarding available product lists and typical installation diagrams.

Tim Anderson is the owner and operator of Ngineering, providing model railroad products & services for more than 20 years to hobbyists of all scales in model railroading.

Winter Is Coming: An Overview of CPR Snowplows
Mike Barone

This project began as research into CPR’s ‘Mountain’ snowplows for the purpose of modeling these essential pieces of railway equipment. The research produced many unseen mechanical details and historical curiosities than was originally expected. Since this was a modeling project, the presently available models will be reviewed as well. The results of this research and the rosters constructed from it, have been submitted to CP Tracks publication. A similar project is presently underway for CNR plows.

Fixing THAT Problem – Making a Major Revision to an Existing Layout
Michael Batten

Follow along as Michael explains how he transformed a ho-hum section of his N scale Esquimalt & Nanaimo Railway into a star performer.  You will learn the importance of developing a “vision for revision” based on prototype practice, how to develop a step-by-step work plan to make it a reality, and how to stay on track in the face of the inevitable set-backs and disappointments.  The result will be a layout that is more satisfying and enjoyable for everyone.

Michael has been enchanted by trains, both full-size and model, all his life.  His earliest memory is of watching trains in England, and he took his first trip on the E&N Dayliner in 1968.  He has been active in railway preservation and for five years was part of the group organizing Vancouver Train Expo.  He has been actively modelling the E&N Railway in N scale for 23 years.

The Home Wheelwright
Rene Gourley

The ability to make wheels frees you to model almost any railroad item! Rene spent months experimenting and learning, particularly about steam locomotive drivers. He’ll share some astonishing findings regarding precision and the relative forces on our tiny models. Finally, he will share a simple technique that yields excellent results.

Rene visited the National Railway Museum in York when he was five, and has been an avid modeller ever since. Never satisfied with the normal approach, he has been exploring the little-known Canada Atlantic Railway in Proto:87 since 1994, and has published numerous articles regarding this and other topics. His blog is at https://pembroke87.ca

Tackling Track
Tim Horton

Want to take your track to the next level?  Tim will share some recently developed techniques for painting and weathering track, and ballasting, using some relatively easy methods.

Timothy Horton has been modelling in N Scale since 1983. He has authored seven books on
the PGE/BCR and hosts regular NSMR and PGE/BCR Modellers video meets. Tim is a
frequent clinician, has written numerous magazine articles and is a member of the advisory
board for N-Scale magazine. He currently serves as the Assistant Superintendent for the 7Th
Div PNR-NMRA.

BCR Freight Car Paint & Stencil Schemes 1972-1984
Tim Horton

The British Columbia Railway’s colourful freight cars travelled far and wide across
North America in the 1970s and 1980s. The dogwood logogram served to indicate
where the cars were from. Tim will take us through the railway’s freight car fleet and
the various schemes from the period.

Timothy Horton has been modelling in N Scale since 1983. He has authored seven books on
the PGE/BCR and hosts regular NSMR and PGE/BCR Modellers video meets. Tim is a
frequent clinician, has written numerous magazine articles and is a member of the advisory
board for N-Scale magazine. He currently serves as the Assistant Superintendent for the 7Th
Div PNR-NMRA.

Modelling Grain Operations
Al Lill

The focus of this clinic on planning for grain operations on a model railway in different eras and locations using Western Canadian examples from CN, but also applicable to CP and other Canadian railways. Collecting and shipping grain primarily from prairie elevators to both domestic and expoert terminals has changed considerably since the 1920s to the present day. This clinic is designed to augment what will be experienced on the RMMBC tour to the G3 Terminal Vancouver,

Al Lill is Chair of the Canadian National Historical Association and has written many articles in CN LINES over the past 32 years.

Making it Work Takes a Little Longer
Ken Robertson

From Steam to Diesel reliable and trouble free operation is essential to having fun with Model Railroading. Train set locomotives can be more hassle than they are worth. We will take a brass steam engine and a plastic diesel from basic parts to a well-functioning model. If time permits we will weather a 0-8-0 switcher and place it in the dead-line.

A Van Hobbies CPR Consolidation, that will not run because of a bind in the mechanism, will be disassembled, checked for short circuits, have the drive wheels quartered, new springs added then re-tested. A similar procedure will be applied to an out of the box diesel to show how even its operation can be improved. We won’t delve deeply into extreme weathering but will demonstrate how a loco, beyond help, can still be an interesting addition to a roundhouse scene or abandoned logging line.

My Grandparents bought me an American Flyer train set when I was about 2 years old. In the 1950’s my Father was a fireman on the CNR. He took me to the Spadina Roundhouse to see the steam engines being serviced. That’s how I became hooked on railways. Sometime in the early 1960’s I received an Athearn New Haven Passenger train and switched scales from S to HO. I’m a retired geophysicist. Over the years I have been fortunate to meet many prominent individuals from the railway industry. In Ottawa the engineer of Royal Hudson 2860 trusted me (with his instruction) to move it from the mainline to a side track. I helped to rescue Canadian Pacific’s first passenger car from a colliery in Blairmore, Alberta so my interest is not restricted to model railroading. I have been on the RMMBC Organizing Committee for the past year.

Weathering Techniques for Covered Hoppers
Marc Simpson

Covered hoppers have been in use on prototype railways since the 1920’s.  They carry numerous commodities and often are not loaded with care by the shipping company workers.  This clinic will cover how to model some of the effects the loads have on the cars using a variety of techniques. 

Marc has been interested in model railroadings for over 40 years.  He focuses on modeling northern Manitoba in the early 1980’s with occasional forays into the late 1990’s. He blogs about his modeling at https://hudbayrailway.blogspot.com/

How to make videos of your layout
Burr Stewart

Bring your smartphone to the clinic, if you have one, for use in the demonstration at the end. Hopefully you already have the YouTube app installed on your phone.

It’s easier than you think to make and publish a video about your model railroading. Burr Stewart shares what he’s learned so far, traveling down the slippery slope of videography obsession. He will start with the basics of uploading a cellphone video to YouTube, and then delve into (1) useful additional gear, (2) file management and editing, and (3) audience development and management. At the end he will lead the group in a real-time video creation and uploading exercise for all participants who bring their smartphones.

Burr Stewart has been a model railroader since childhood and is a recent RMMBC clinician on the topics of DCC braking, Signaling, Operations and Modeling the Prototype (BN around Seattle). He has a basement layout in Seattle and has become the host of a popular YouTube channel on model railroad operations called @muchfunwithtrains.

Where to From Here? Update on the Columbia & Western 2.0
Brian Stokes

How do you take apart a well-known, existing layout with a distinct character and move it across the Great Divide? Then how do you fit it into a larger space with a new owner? It might seem easy to adapt an existing design to a larger space but it has not been. Honouring the vision and character of the original owner, improving compromises in the original design, and blending in my own interests has proven very challenging.  This clinic explores lessons learned and new skills that need to be developed in giving the well-known Columbia & Western a second life.

Brian is a lifelong modeller. Fortunate to be introduced to prototypical operations at a young age he has designed and built several layouts with an operations focus. He has been modelling the CPR and Great Northern in the B.C. Kootenays for twenty years in HO, and more recently dabbling in Proto:48. He brings an interest in history and design to explore innovative ways to create prototypical models and layouts.

Modeling Freight Traffic on Your Layout
Tony Thompson

No, this clinic isn’t about waybills (except in passing). It’s about freight traffic, and  the point is that the needs of traffic give rise to waybills, not the other way around. To create realistic traffic flow on a layout, the starting point is understanding each layout industry, then creating traffic patterns to serve each industry’s needs. One can then add as much detail as desired, drawn from knowledge of each industry type, and resources to do so are described. Examples from a wide range of industries are included as illustrations.