End of the Line for Winnipeg's Assiniboine Valley Railway

It was a good run, but Winnipeg’s Assiniboine Valley Railway—the “Route of the Hazelnuts”—has come to the end of the line. 

The one-eighth scale riding railway has been told it needs to vacate its current location and find a new home. 

The AVR was founded in 1995 by the late Bill Taylor, a member of the Winnipeg Model Railroad Club. 

Together with friends, he built the “layout” on the land behind his house near the Assiniboine Park Zoo. 

After two years of grading and track laying, the railway officially opened in September 1997. 

Manitoba’s then Lieutenant Governor, Yvon Dumont, was among those hammering in the last golden spikes. 

Over the next few years, the AVR crew added more track on the six-acre treed lot. Eventually, there was 6,400 feet of track in two loops, along with sidings. 

During the 2010 NMRA Thousand Lakes Region Steam on the Prairies convention in Winnipeg, Bill hosted an operating session—it involved real-life walking to throw switches and spot cars. 

A highlight of the ACR was the dinner train weekends, where riders could enjoy a hamburger while riding the trains. 

It also hosted at least one wedding party.

But the biggest attraction each year was the Christmas lights show, when thousands of people rode the rails and saw the lights while raising money for charity. 

Bill died in 2013 at the age of 69. The club’s members carried on his legacy, continuing to operate and maintain the trains. 

Due to the pandemic, the 2020 and 2021 seasons were cancelled.

Now the Taylor family, which owns the lot, has told the club it needs to move. 

If it is to continue in a new location, the club needs at least seven acres of land, preferably close to the city so it can serve the public. They have six months to pull up all the track. 

"We expected it to happen, but it’s still a shock," said AVR club president Len La Rue. "It’s going to be a slow grieving process. There’s stuff we are going to have to leave. Obviously, we can’t move our buildings." 

Click here to “ride” the AVR on YouTube. 

Click here to learn more about Bill Taylor and the AVR on the occasion of his passing. 

Click here for a layout overview from Steam on the Prairies. 

And click here for yet another article on this blog about the AVR. (I just couldn’t get enough of that great Canadian railway!)

Winnipeg Pandemic Virtual Layout Hop

In spring, the Winnipeg Model Railroad Club sometimes has a layout hop—visiting local layouts. Since we can do that during the pandemic, how about a virtual hop? I’ve assembled a list of links to Winnipeg layouts featured on my blog.

The good thing about a virtual layout hop is no driving between layouts, or trying to choose which ones to see based on time available. And best of all, even though many of these layouts no longer exist they can still be visited this way. Enjoy!

First up is Arnold Walker’s HO scale Northland Route, which was one of the premiere layouts in the city. And because there is so much to see on Arnold’s layout, you may need more time. So take a second look at the Northland Route.

Next is Stafford Swain’s HO scale CN Whiteshell Subdivision, including tributes to Stafford. (Who passed away in  2018.)

After that, let’s head over to George Meyer’s O Scale Central Northern Subdivision. George was in N and HO scales before settling on O scale and making this fabulous layout. He passed away in 2019.

Back to HO scale with The Carson and Cobourg,  a layout build by two friends—Marvin Fetch and Vern Gibson.

Then let’s go visit a great HO scale CPR transition era layout built by brothers Walter and Ed Pankratz. And maybe you want a second look.

No visit to layouts in Winnipeg is complete without going to fall in Pennsylvania! That’s the theme of Ron Loewen’s O scale layout, built in a room above his garage.

The Miller Creek Forestry Museum layout started life in B.C., but now makes its home in Winnipeg. Take a look at this amazing ON30 layout!

Wonder what a layout built on four levels looks like? One that goes all around a basement, including through a bedroom and rec room? Then you have to stop by Ken Epp’s Cougar River Subdivision! Ken passed away in 2014.

If four levels isn’t enough, what about five? You can’t miss Ray Goy’s Twin Lakes Terminal & Transfer Railroad, a monster layout on five levels that completely (and I mean completely) filled Ray’s 1,250 square foot basement.

Since it’s spring, maybe the Assiniboine Valley Railway is in operation! Nothing like a ride on Bill Taylor’s 7.5 inch AVR—the route of the hazelnuts.

For a treat, visit one of the oldest home layouts in the city: Don McKinnon’s Malamute & Klondike. It was in the same house for 63 years in the same house until Don passed away in 2013. (Must be some kind of record.)

And I suppose not layout hop in Winnipeg would be complete without a visit to my own layout, the Manitoba & Minnesota Sub., or my N scale Thompson River Canyon hollow core door layout.

Thanks for coming on the hop! Hope you had a good time.

Goodbye to Stoney Hill Yard

Stoney Hill Yard on display.

This summer I took down the M & M Sub. It prompted interesting conversations with other modellers who have either taken down their own layouts, or know they need to some day soon. Like this update from Chris Round in Great Britain, who shared about taking apart his first foray into Canadian modelling.

After visiting southern Ontario in 1994, I became hooked on Canadian railways.

Living in the United Kingdom, we do not have the space for large basement railways. As a result, I had become a dedicated N gauge modeller and had produced several successful layouts of the British scene.

But Canada in HO scale quickly had me hooked, both for more interesting operation and for much smoother running of the actual models.

By 1996 I had completed Stoney Hill Yard, a portable exhibition layout 16-feet long with a fiddle yard at the rear. It was very successful and had many invitations to exhibitions.

As built, it was a stub end yard, but I had allowed for expansion. By 2000 Stoney Hill West had been produced as the other end of the yard with an extended staging yard to make a complete oval. 

The combined layout was 29 feet long.

I took it to several shows, but both transport and size limited the number of exhibitions it could attend.

Subsequently, Stoney Hill West was made into a stand-alone layout, and gradually became the main layout I exhibited.

In 2017 Stoney Hill Yard was exhibited for the last time. After that, it gathered dust in my father-in-law’s garage since space in my workshop was taken up by my new layout, Atherley Narrows.

I have a lot of affection for Stoney Hill Yard. It took a lot of effort to build and attracted a lot of favourable comments at exhibitions. 

It was difficult to think about letting it go. But a number of factors came together which made me finally decide to dismantle the layout.

First, a couple of fellow members at our model railway club recently died. I helped their wives dismantle their layouts and sort through a lifetime of collected models, books and other railway paraphernalia.

The sheer amount of stuff made it difficult for the wives and I thought that I would not want my family to have to sort through all of my possessions in similar circumstances.

I was also struck by the large number of uncompleted or even unopened boxes of model railway bits and pieces we all keep. 

It caused me to start getting rid off anything which used to fall under the category of “I’ll keep it, it might well be useful sometime.”

Second, my father-in-law is now 90 years-old and mobility is an issue for him. The layout in his garage was an additional obstacle to manoeuvre round.

I won’t pretend making the first move to demolish the layout was not difficult. But now that it’s gone, I do feel like a bit of the burden has been lifted.

In the end, it’s better not to hold onto everything. We need to let go and move on.

Plus, I still have two exhibition layouts and a workshop full of stuff, and hopefully at least 20 years ahead of me to slim it all down—so my family is not faced with sorting out a complete mess when I go.

Chris watching a train on Stoney Hill Yard,
which is still going strong.

Saving and Moving a Layout: The David Lee Model Railroad Story

David Lee sees his layout for the first time in its new location.

For most model railroads, the end of the line is a dumpster. But a few are dismantled and moved into a new home. 

That’s what happened to David Lee’s HO scale layout in Hamilton.

Lee, Master Model Railroader #26, was the proud owner of a 26 by 30-foot HO scale layout in the basement of his home.

In 2015, due to health and age, it was time for Lee and his wife, Ruth, to downsize.

Before Lee moved, Hamilton Spectator columnist Paul Wilson wrote an article about how the layout was soon to become a memory.

At the same time the article appeared, Dr. John Kelton was looking for a layout to occupy a public space in the new David Braley Health Sciences Centre in that city.

Friends of Kelton, knowing he was looking for a layout, brought it to his attention.  

"I went into the basement and gasped," Kelton told the Spectator. "The amount of work that has gone into that ... I've never seen anything so joyously creative."

He immediately wanted it for the Centre. But how to move it?

That’s where the Dundas Modular Railway Club comes in. In the article below, club member Tony Czerneda describes the process.

David Lee passed away January 19, 2019 at the age of 84. Fortunately, he was able to see his layout in its new home before he died.

Here's Tony's report.

The History

In 2015, Mert Hambly, the former superintendent of the Dundas Modular Railway Club, told club members they had an opportunity to help move and put back together David Lee’s layout at the Centre.

Many members were skeptical; how do you take down a layout that had existed in a basement for 40 years and put it back together?

Despite misgivings, the club decided to get involved. In April 2015 work crews went to David’s house and started the process. 

The Layout

Before describing how the layout was dismantled, one needs to understand how it was constructed.

David with his layout in his home.

In David's case, he planned the layout as part of the new family home when it was constructed in the late 1950s.

In the basement, David had the block work of the outside walls installed with 2-inch slots at the 3-foot level.

When it came time to start the railroad, he inserted 2'' x 5’’ lumber into the slots on three walls and built the shelf layout on this base.

On the fourth wall he used an open frame/girder type benchwork and used L-girder benchwork for an island in the middle of the room.

The layout was constructed of a combination of solid plywood for the largely flat areas and risers and subbase in other areas.

Dismantling the Layout

Prior to dismantling, numerous photos and videos were taken of the layout. Then the work began.

Members of the club take the layout apart.

Anything that could be taken off the layout (rolling stock, locomotives, buildings, vehicles, people and animals) was removed and placed carefully in large plastic totes. 

Since the layout was to be stored for a period of time, it had to be put into specially-made crates small enough to get up the stairs and out of the basement.

More cutting the layout apart.

Dismantling started with the centre island. Cuts were made so as to cause a minimum of damage to scenery and track work; switch locations were avoided above all.

Lifting out the engine terminal section.

Each cut out piece was sequentially identified, with its location recorded on a copy of the track plan.

Part of the layout in a crate, ready to be moved.

The pieces were then stretch-wrapped and secured to their crate base and the crate numbered to correspond to the piece inside. A total of 27 crates were required.

Rebuilding the Layout

By mid-May of 2015 the whole layout had been cut into smaller pieces and crated. All crates were then shipped to the David Braley Health Sciences Centre and placed in storage.

The layout's new home.

In January 2016 the club started to piece together some parts of the layout based on drawings from the architects for the Centre.

The plans from the architects showed two separate sections for the layout, a west and east section. On August 1, 2017 the layout pieces were moved into the final position.

Over the next few months, the layout pieces were screwed together, wiring was connected, fascia was applied, and track and scenery work finished.

A photo from inside the new home.

On November 3, 2017, it was opened officially opened with David present. In early 2018, it was opened to the public. 

Three trains can be operated, started by push buttons. Once started, they run for four minutes each.

It has been an incredible journey.

See a video of the layout here.

Some of the dismantling crew.

For a story about another layout that was moved, click here to see photos and read about how Harry Clark’s Indian Creek Valley—located in its own building (see photo below)—was moved.