Prestige Rocky Mountain Resort

I'm going to start by discussing the hotel a bit, because your convention hotel can make or break your convention. In this case I think it is making it.... The Prestige Rocky Mountain Resort is located in a seemingly odd location, except for a railfan or model railroader - 50 feet from the CPR main, with a railroad property (there is the remains of a roundhouse, so I believe this used to be a division point or similar) on the other side of the tracks. 

This is the view from my (double-pane, double-window) window - the red CPR boxcar is part of a train going past:

 Remarkably, the doubled windows keep the sound level way down - you don't hear anything but the locomotives, and that only briefly. It didn't disturb my sleep at night one bit. 

The VIA cars in front are a bit of a mystery. The track they are on is isolated - no connection to anything else. I first thought they belonged to the adjacent museum (which has quite the collection themselves... future post) but according to a docent at the museum they belong to a private owner, who is in something of a dispute with CP - apparently he wants to move them. 

There does appear to be enough for a full train (they continue off to the right):

The hotel has it's own railcar as well:

 The John Huber is rooms 141 and 142 in the hotel. The hotel General Manager kindly opened up the car (it was unoccupied prior to 3pm) the first day we were there so we could see the rooms - and this was the first of many times this week I slapped myself for not bringing my 10-18mm wide-angle lens along -

Room 141 (Jack Hamilton - "That's a psychedelic black & white):

Room 142:

The only negative with the hotel is that it's undergoing some upgrades, so we had to maneuver around workers as they put in a new floor and fireplace, and the on-site restaurant was closed (they set it back up for us for breakfast) although the lounge, which was open, had a very nice selection of food as well (I have a weakness for Poutine). 

One definite positive with the hotel is that it is located next door to the Cranbrook History Center (I believe this used to be the Cranbrook Museum of Rail Travel). And that's my next post. 

Cranbrook Historical Centre

This is worth a railfan or model railroader's visit. And it's right next door to the hotel.

3 tracks, partially covered, of historically significant passenger cars, with a wooden caboose (apparently one of the last built of wood in Canada), and an FP9A & FP9B (F9B? - it has a steam generator). The F units are significant as the first locomotives to have pulled The Canadian. They could also really use a new paint job.... there is also a somewhat random tender here - it has couplers at both ends, and there are no steam locomotives in the area that I've seen. There are also two model railroad layouts (HO and O scale) and quite a bit of other stuff (history of the area, paleontology, etc...). 

There are three tours of the passenger cars + caboose - a "comparative" tour that shows two cars from the golden era of railroading, a caboose, and a VIA snack car that served from the 70s through the 90s, still in it's garish green and blue dominated interior decorating scheme; a CP Trans-Canada limited tour, featuring the cars of perhaps the most poorly timed trans-continental sleeper train service; and a Soo-Spokane tour, featuring three original wood frame cars, including the observation car.

The first couple of cars include the British Columbia, which is an executive car - you only got on board by invitation - and the Strathcona, famed as the car that carried Prince Edward and Prince Albert (later George VI), Princess Elizabeth, Winston Churchill, and the Kennedys as they traveled around Canada. 

The British Columbia:

 ​

Slow internet is giving me fits. And the banquet is about to begin.

Attendance

Attendance at this convention was 160 including Non-rail registrations. About the same as last year's convention. 

That seems to be the average number for PNR conventions, which can easily require up to 10 hours driving to get to. Paul Hobbs was here from New Zealand (he's been wandering around the US the past few weeks) and I understand there was a couple from The Netherlands here as well.

Driving home as soon as breakfast is done... 

More pictures?

Do you have more pictures yet to post when you get home, Jeff?  Like of the FP9's or the Strathcona?

Yep!

According to the GPS (my father-in-law is driving), I am 130 miles from home. 

And then there will be many more photos. 

Back to the Museum...

The Strathcona is a car that it one of the historical treasures of Canada - it's been used by Kings and Queens, Prime Ministers and Presidents... 

The sink here is interesting. Lift it up and there is a table. Left up the table... and there is a toilet.  

One of the beds in the Strathcona:

Some rooms are connected:

The rear room of the Strathcona: 

Some of the wood paneling and 3D parquet work:

From the 1% to the railroad employees - what was described as the last (or perhaps one of the last) wood cabooses built in Canada (I may be confusing that with one up at the Sullivan Mine):

 The stove inside with a caboose on the door:

Other than this being an upper compartment, and a rather nasty one at that, I'm not sure what there was to this car. It might have been from the last days of Canadian Pacific passenger service.  

The FP9A and F9B (FP9B?) were the F units that pulled the first The Canadian train back when the train was established - on this tour you get to see the 567 and steam generators that are in the B-unit:

If I'm remembering correctly this is a chair car (lovely comfortable swivel chairs, one per window) on the 1929 Trans-Canada Limited (which basically lasted one year and then folded as a train due to the Great Depression) - this is where people sat and socialized when they weren't in their sleeper compartments. 

  Since the museum is not optimistic about finding any more of the original chairs (some seen here, one with reproduction upholstery) they've stripped one down, and will use it as a model for more:

The dining car Argyle was the first one acquired by the museum - today it was being prepared for a high tea (one of the non-rail activities):

    Now you've seen how lovely it looks... you should see what it used to look like:

The sets under plexiglass are original Canadian Pacific China - at least one of the sets was from the Royal Alexandra Hotel (A CP Hotel in Winnipeg that was torn down).  

Wood inlay work:

  Some of  the sleeping compartments on the train:

The paint and colors that the museum received the car in (when it went out of CP service): 

Restored to its original beauty: 

The cars had sometimes been renamed: 

The Solarium Lounge River Rouge - 

The fun thing is that the solarium on these cars, a room in the very rear of the train, were advertised as having "vita glass" (that may be a misspelling) a special glass that let in the healthful.... ultraviolet light. 

Looking the other way: 

Wooden passenger car that is a stand-in on the Soo-Spokane train:

Etched glass in one of the the wood car windows:

The Omemee - after being a Soo-Spokane car was a lakeside cottage in Wisconsin: 

And it has some incredible (> 1000 pieces per window) stained glass in both ends of the roof:

Original wicker chairs:

A certified Canadian historical artifact - built in the US of A.  

So ends out experience in out in the train shed ... I can't believe I missed taking any photos of the incredibly ugly Via snack car - it was the car we accessed the FP9B from. 

Oh, the FP9s? Here you go:

The Train Shed - the goal is to extend the roof to cover the rest of the cars and ultimately enclose (and climate control) the entire shed with glass panels:

Okay, it's 10pm here, aka bedtime. More on the museum, and a lot more, tomorrow!

More museum...

The foyer of the museum, with sketches and models of future plans. 

The entrance hall to the Royal Alexandra Hall:

Railings on the 2nd floor of the entrance hall: 

The Royal Alexandra Hall - originally in a CP hotel in Winnipeg, the contractors hired to demolish the hotel secretly disassembled the hall and stored its pieces in a collection of semi-trailers. The museum found out about it and that was all they wrote. If I'd had the right shoes/boots and a partner, it would have been a most wonderful place to dance a waltz. 

Sign describing how the Freight Shed became a major part of the museum structure:

The museum entrance and Freight Shed: 

3-Rail O-scale never looked so good:      

The HO Scale layout, sorry for the bad focus:       

Conventions

Regionals are a lot more accessible for many people, in terms of travel distance, the time needed to take in the event and its functions, hotel and food costs, and a generally more relaxed atmosphere than nationals. The overall fatigue factor is lower, too.

Clinics

I didn't attend as many clinics this year as I might normally - instead I took advantage of the opportunities to visit the museum next door to the hotel (see above) and to take the prototype tour to the Sullivan Mine in Kimberley (next).

The first clinic I attended was "Rail: From Mill to Main Line" by Rob Badmington. An informative clinic on the source of CP and CN rail (mills around the world) and how the rail is made from scrap steel. There were many photos taken by the presenter at steel mills covering the process of making rail, as well as what the markings on the rails mean. Also included is how continuous welded rail is made out sectional rail and then transported on special trains to where it will be installed. Good clinic with a lot of prototype information.

The second clinic I attended was by the inimitable (perhaps thankfully so) Jack Hamilton, on "AP Evaluations." In Jack's estimation, AP evaluations have become confused with contest competition scoring, and this needs to be corrected. In the PNR, for instance, modelers are welcome to attend their evaluations, the better to determine what the modeler's intentions were. They will also _not_ receive their scores - at least one AP Certificate is now Pass/Fail instead of scored - this is to prevent the "I'm a better/worse modeler than..." problem. You either meet the standard or you do not.

And the standards are sometimes not what people may have inflated them into:

I've never attended a poor clinic by Jack, and don't expect to.

Prototype clinics seemed to dominate this convention, and the next clinic I attended was by Dr. Kevin Feeney on "And then there were Seven!" describing how 137 Class 1 railroads in the 1940s turned into 7 by the close of the 20th century. Between mergers and the occasional change in definition of what constituted a "Class 1," it is pretty surprising how everything just sort of melted together.

The full title of the clinic was created to get the presenter's former employer, a New England area state college, to pay to send him to Orlando to present it...

Greg Madsen presented a clinic on a new program he has written on "A More Prototypical Approach to Car Forwarding Software." In short, Greg is working on a program that will eliminate any need to set up a layout for an operating session. The software isn't available yet - I'm not sure when, if ever, he plans on releasing it - but it is written in Java, which should make it portable across operating systems. Greg is currently scheduled to present the clinic at 4:30pm on Sunday at the 2019 National in Salt Lake City if you would like to learn more about it.

Paul Hobbs, the real wizard from New Zealand, presented a clinic on TTX (TrailerTrain), a company that seems so common (1/6th of the US freight car inventory) that it is often overlooked. Founded by the Pennsylvania RR with a fleet of 500 75 foot flatcars in 1955, it has grown to be go-to provider of flatcars and flatcar based cars (ie. autoracks) and is cooperatively owned by BNSF, CN, CP, CSX, Ferromex, KCS, NS, Pan Am, and UP. Railbox and Railgon are subsidiaries.

I was heading for a clinic on Saturday morning when I stuck my head into the Modeling with the Masters clinic (Building a laser-cut structure) and promptly got pulled inside (with my camera) by an enthusiastic MMR (I haven't met very many unenthusiastic MMRs, come to think of it). Everyone looked deep in concentration on the models they were producing:

Larry Sebelley, the Convention Chair for the PNR, and a member of this year's convention committee, keeps a neat work area:

Sandra Lusk appears to be enjoying herself:

As is her husband Russ:

Tom McEwan shows the correct use of an Opti-Visor:

And Rupert James keeps a close eye on his instructions:

All of the photography managed to make me a few minutes late for the next clinic I attended, Rich Mahaney's "Tank Cars 101," on the different standards today's tank cars are designed to, quick ways to determine the type of tank car you are looking at, and what do those hazard placards actually mean? While Rich is not scheduled to present this clinic in Salt Lake City, he will be presenting several others.

The last clinic I attended was PNR President Kurt Laidlaw's "Weathering with PanPastels." Covering brush types and colors that are most useful, Kurt also demonstrated that with PanPastels a little goes a long ways - they may be somewhat expensive to buy as an initial investment, but properly used they could last for years.

Prototype Tour: A trip to Kimberley's Sullivan Mine

I don't usually go on prototype tours - I'm more of a clinics attender at conventions. But there was a pretty solid block of clinics on primarily Canadian subjects (which perhaps I don't have as much interest in as I should) that opened up the opportunity to go out to the Sullivan Mine ( https://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Sullivan_Mine) in Kimberley, perhaps a half-hour or so northwest of Cranbrook.

And I'm glad it did.

You start your tour of the "mine" (a replica blasted through the hillside opposite the actual, closed, and very hazardous Sullivan Mine) with a short train trip alongside Mark Creek to the mine entrance:

There is also apparently a local accordian competition, in which this gentleman should have done well:

This is a wood boxcar, CP I believe, that is at the lower train station:

Did I mention it was raining? That kept me from actually getting any external photos of our train, the locomotive of which was built on an original mining locomotive that would have gotten it's power from a trolley wire. Instead a gas engine did the job for us. When they are running two trains this is the locomotive powering the other train. It's roughly the same appearance as ours.

It's a pretty stiff grade to climb to get to the reproduction mine - here our guide is waiting across the valley for us to get there.

This is the exit of the mine (you loop around and go back through to return to the lower station via the powerhouse) showing a little of the elevation difference:

Along the trip you pass several different original mine cars:

The yellow cars were some of the original mine worker transport cars:

The lettering on the side of the car says, "Ambulance":

Here we are at the mine entrance:

Inside the mine we meet Bill Roberts, our guide, and quite a character. He's written a book about the miners (and mining) the Sullivan Mine, and it leads me to believe he wasn't unique in being a character there.... and that light is very bright!

We followed him down a mine drift (mine shafts are vertical, drifts horizontal) to an area set up to demonstrate some mining practices:

- A Drawhole, a funnel shaped  "raise" driven to allow broken ore to fall via gravity where it can be scraped up (by the device in front of it).

Bill showing off a Jackleg Drill, which he demonstrated for us:

Warning: loud.

This photo shows the drilling and blasting pattern that would be used to blast a drawhole - the larger holes in the middle were to give the rock an area to compress in order for it to shatter. The smaller holes were filled with a significant quantity of explosives of the same type used in the Oklahoma City bombing. To say this rock was tough would be an understatement.

A demonstration of triggering the explosives was also made, but it was essentially to show off the hardware. No booms were made today...

We were then led into a "Refuge Room" a sealable chamber in the mine where miners would go if alerted to problems in the mine. Bill was the leader of one of the mine's Rescue Teams, so this was a subject near and dear to his heart. Here is a display of some mining and mine safety equipment:

The device directly in front of Bill is a self-rescue breather, which each miner should carry in that canister on his or her belt:

Diagram of the Self Rescue Breather (it made CO2, which you can sort of breathe, out of CO (carbon monoxide), which you can't):

Looking down a drift to our next demonstration area:

Bill is about to demonstrate a "Mucking machine" the somewhat ancient piece of equipment behind him:

Running the Mucking Machine (everything dug out of a hole in a mine is called muck, regardless of it's actual composition). Also loud:

 

 

After looping around we went back through the tunnel to get to the powerhouse, which we had passed on the way up:

It had been raining that day (and still was), so Mark Creek was flowing vigorously:

The powerhouse comes into view. In the mines, power means air power, not electricity. And some of the air power was run by water power.

 The mining company responsible for the Sullivan Mine, Cominco-Teck, has poured millions of dollars into reclamation since the mine's closing. There were crews working when we were there. Mark Creek used to flow orange (toxically so) from the mine wastes, now there is enough wildlife that an osprey has taken up residence in the area:

The creek itself was diverted, since it was in danger of undercutting the powerhouse. Speaking of which, this is a water driven air compressor - how would you like it for your airbrush?

The water driven part:

Those "cables" are actually 100 year old hemp rope, which has been oiled into something completely other. Here is the air compressor in operation:

There were also generators in the powerhouse:

In addition to the one just seen, there were two other air compressors, purchased second hand from Alaska in 1913 for $24,412 apiece. They were electrically powered, and I believe lasted until the mine shut down in 2001. That was a fantastic bargain for someone:

This is an actual model of the inside of the Sullivan Mine, where the colors describe what materials or man-made structures were located. The tunnels went as far as two miles underground with something like 40 miles of railroad track underground:

The #1 Compressor (I guess the water one was #4?):

Outside of the powerhouse was another display of original mine cars:

The black boilers were to produce hot water for the miners.

And with that, we returned to the lower station (and gift shop), bought our copies of Bill Robert's book, "The Best Miners in the World - Stories from Canada's Sullivan Mine" (ISBN 0-9735591-0-1) before hopping on the bus back to Cranbrook. An outstanding tour. 

Contest room #1

We've done the hotel, museum, clinics, and the prototype tour. It's time for the contest room. Anything I don't have names for, if you recognize it, please tell me so I can add proper attribution!

The first item that I saw, being that it was behind the contest room desk, was Johnson Landing, which I assume was built by Dale Sproule, since he held a clinic on making it. The light in the white and red garage on the front of the module is the flicker of a welding torch.

None of these items had identification but were apparently there for display only:

Jack Hamilton filled me on on these two cabins - one of them is a kit. The other is completely scratchbuilt following the instructions from the kit. Can you tell the difference?

Roger Walker's 1st Place Thompson River Canyon, BC diorama:

The following were on a table labeled "RPM - Display":

Doug Johnson's Port Ellice Car Ferry Slip, Victoria, BC:

O scale Yukon Hotel (builder unknown):

S Scale Coaling station, used as the basis of an HO scale kit from Fine Scale Miniatures. Took National "Best Structures" Award at Rail Rodeo 1979:

Half-inch (1" to 24") scale LeTourneau LP Scraper:

Half-inch (1" to 24") scale Euclid C6 Dozer:

Caterpillar RD8, modified from an NCG model:

I was fortunate to run into the creator of this scene while I was photographing it - Raymond Clifford, MMR. He described it as a Canadian take on a scene in a photograph showing Okies during the Great Depression.

The contest entry form #902 describes this as "Lumberjack Cafe" -

Beck's Books -  

CPR Intermediate Signal (Since this is used as an illustration for a clinic "Scratchbuilding a CPR Signal" by Roger Walker, I'm assigning it to him -
Red signal:

Green signal:

The previous items were all from the first time I was in the contest room. The second time, nearly everything I saw had AP Evaluation forms with them - with names! I later thanked Jack Hamilton.... he smiled.

This is a Cafe & Auto Parts from Ed Schaenzer:

Tracy Stutler is a new member of the NMRA, and he decided to bring everything. In one day he fully completed his AP Master Structure Builder certificate.

This is Mary Lee Mine #2:

Howe Truss Bridge:

Abandoned Farm House:

WV Northern Sand House Tower:

K Tower:

WV Northern Water Tank:

WV Northern Coaling Trestle:

Covered Bridge:

Kingwood Station:

WV Northern Engine House:

Mary Lee Mine #1:

Hugh Clarke, CPR Field Water Tower:

Doug Palm, French "Water Castle" -

Contest room #2

"Special Contest"

Observation Car - Ed Schenzner, I believe:

"Pro Choice" - this took first place in the category.  

In the category of Diesel Locomotives, Larry Sebelley took first with his F7A and second with his F7B.

The Steam category was won by John Wrinch with this Chinook Western 2-8-2 #86"

Dale Kraus entered an HO scale 2-6-2T locomotive:

Rolling stock -

Roger Walker's first place Gramps tank car -

Richard Bide's CPR mini-boxcar -

Richard Bide's 1890 CPR Reefer (sorry for the blur) -

Non-Revenue:

Ed Schaenzer's First Place Small Wooden Tank Car -

Caboose:

Dale Sproule's First Place Canadian Pacific caboose -

I believe there was only one train on display, and I did not see a name with it -

I zoomed in on a few of the cars -

Then there are the non-rail categories:

If I heard correctly, this "waterfall" won its category -

Needlework was won by this piece, if I heard correctly -

Other needlework competitors -

Photos - I always get a bit nervous taking photos of photos, so these will be in groups -

Hard to photograph a group of photos... when there is only one!

And that's it for the contest room. Basically, if you want to know who won something, it was Roger Walker - he cleaned up this year with a ton of plaques.

Thanks

Jeff,

Thanks for your intensive photo coverage of this meet!

FYI, Doug Palm's French Water Castle is I/24th (or 1/29th?) scale.  He brought it to an event we held in Mount Vernon (WA) back in March and it is really cool!  And big! 

Al Carter

Still more to come

I started putting up photos from the Train Show yesterday and then my body decided it wanted to catch up for the past week (plus not having gone to bed before 11pm the previous night). My wife said I was snoring nicely when she got home from work.... 

Thanks!

The Train Show -Bow Valley RR Club

I've not been to a regional convention with a train show before, and considering we were in a town with a population of less than 25k, I really wasn't sure what to expect. BTW, Eugene's convention next year will include the Willamette Cascade Train Show and Swap Meet. 

I shouldn't have been worried. Yes, the Train Show was pretty small, but it fit the scale of things - and it also fit perfectly inside the Cranbrook Curling Centre (ice & brooms not included). 

 There were several vendors (a couple of which were also manufacturers) and I managed to both spend a little money, and drool over the Rapido BC Rail RDC that I knew I wouldn't be taking home.... And there were quite a few layouts as well. 

Let's start with the Bow Valley RR Club of Calgary, Alberta:

Northern Alberta Garden Railroaders & LaBaJa Model Railway Group

Quite a bit of the train show appeared to be youth friendly... in fact, the only kids I saw crying were the ones who were having to leave.... 

Someone did a nice job of adding lights (and presumably a new decoder) to this Trackmobile - 

North Okanagan Model Railroaders and Coldstream Private Railroad

The LaBaJa group layout could justifiably described as "busy." There's a lot going on there and not a lot of empty space. The North Okanagan Model Railroader's layout on the other hand, seems to try and provide the feel of spaciousness, like you'd find in more rural areas - 

The Coldstream Private Railroad appeared to be under some form of computer control. Whatever it was, it seemed to be working well - 

Mount Rainier N-Scale

Remember when every other layout at a train show was N-Trak? Not so much anymore. But the Mount Rainier club appears to be using that standard:

 As a fellow modeler of the Princeton Tiger's orange & black, I had to get a closer shot...

These people are ready for heavy running.... 

    About this time I looked ahead and realized the entire side of this layout was Camp Deception... 

I'll have a photomerge of it up sometime later tonight. Update: No I won't, it won't merge correctly. 

One more layout to go!

Northern Alberta Lego Users Group

It continues to be amazing how people create the models they do with Legos.... including DCC. 

Disney-Pixar's Stargate? 

I spoke to the guy who converts the Lego power trucks for DCC - Search Instagram "thebrickfiles" for more info: 

The Daylight was purchased at the Oregon Rail Historical Center during one of the Portland conventions - I thought the flatcar it is on particularly appropriate. 

A final note from the facility -

Congratulations

My congratulations to Ed Molenkamp and his convention committee for an excellent convention!

Loved the Curling Sign

I sent a copy to friend of mine in Nova Scotia who used be a curler. I'm sure he will get a huge laugh from it!

More photos coming

I had forgotten that I took a lot of photos at the Banquet. Coming soon!