After one year of meetings and sharing their enthusiasm for locomotives, landscapes, and miniature bridges and buildings, the Fort Frances Model Railroad Club is aiming to finish a set-up large enough to fill a room in the old CN station here by this fall.
“The more people can relate to it, the more people are interested in it,” said club president Joel Morris, when speaking of the philosophy behind the set-up during a fundraising garage sale there Saturday.
Morris was referring to the fact the layout, which will consist of at least 300 feet of track (1/87 scale) will be based on the Fort Frances area, featuring a mix of small town details like people and buildings to fields, forests, and rock cuts and, of course, train yards.
Morris noted the past year has been “fits and starts” as club members tried to find the time to work together, remodel their workspace at the old CN station, share ideas and knowledge, and work out the logistics of setting up the track how they wanted.
Part of the set-up is sure to be a railroad set donated by Ken MacGregor, brother of the late Ron MacGregor.
MacGregor, who passed away Feb. 15, was a dedicated member of the club, which started up last March with a meeting place at the old CN station. Morris, who has been interested in trains for as long as he can remember, recalled MacGregor’s enthusiasm.
“He was the one, even before we had a club, who pushed us to go ahead,” he remarked. “He’d even visit me at work, when he had a new idea.
“He was always willing to work at it, lend a hand.
“And he always wanted these lower because he was short,” Morris chuckled goodheartedly as walked around the waist-high tables lining the 19×15 ft. room at the old CN station.
He added how a little barrel factory called “MacGregorville” may very well figure into the set-up.
“He was very involved. He pushed the guys to really do things,” Vanessa Hebert, executive co-ordinator at the Fort Frances Volunteer Bureau, said of MacGregor.
The garage sale Saturday raised $300 towards a train layout as well as plaque in tribute to MacGregor. A second sale may be held later in the spring.
Morris noted the club also is considering asking local business for sponsorship for the set-up, with the businesses donating money to the club in exchange for having their names and/or logos put on the model railcars.
He hopes the entire track—as envisioned by the club—will be finished by the fall.
Hebert noted it’s not unusual for people visiting the Volunteer Bureau to peek into the railroad club’s area to see what’s gong on, and foresaw the completed track as quite an attraction.
“They’re really starting to get moving along,” said Hebert, who first donated space at the old CN station to the club last March.
“They have big plans, but it takes money,” she added. “Maybe if they could get more recognition, and more people would come down and see what they’re doing, that would help.”
The Fort Frances Model Railroad Club, which currently has 14 full and two associate members, meets at the Fort Frances Volunteer Bureau (the old CN station) every second and fourth Tuesday at 6:45 p.m.
Fort Frances Times
Local News from Across the Rainy River District
