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An elderly gentleman donated his collection of Lionel Trains to the Winnipeg Model Railroad Club this spring. Among the items in his collection was this gem from 1954 - a Canadian price list for Lionel Trains!

The sheet was stamped as coming from the Trainatorium in Montreal, which is long gone. What's interesting is that there were two types of sets being sold - one for 60 cycles and another for 25 cycles. Some areas in Southern Ontario were still using 25 cycles in the 50's.

The prices look fantastic, until you realize that 60 years ago if you were making $100 a week, you were considered pretty well off. Considering inflation, we're paying less for model railroad equipment than we were back then!

   WMRC blog editor Paul Ullrich had a little fun with photoshop making this graphic. He showed it to Joe before he posted it, and he loved it!

  Comics America has been a staunch supporter of our shows for several years. Owner Joe Krolik has not only put our posters up in his store, he's also stuffed his customer's bag with our handouts! This year, he also mentioned our open house in paid ads that he put on Facebook!

    We had a very successful show this year, with an estimated 500 visitors, and Joe certainly played a part in making our show a success!

    Joe has also opened his store to model railroaders by adding several Lionel Train sets to his stock. Comics America is located at 552 Academy road, and you can find them on Facebook.

     

   WMRC Blog Editor Paul Ullrich (also known as "the man with the giraffe cars") will again be exhibiting his portable Lionel layout at the club's open house this year. Paul has been displaying Lionel trains at the open houses since 1986, and he's made a total of seven different layouts for the show.
 
    His layouts became more and more kid friendly after one open house, when club member John Longhurst asked him to watch is son while he made the rounds at the show. The kid didn't have anything to do, so Paul invited him to blow the whistle on one of his trains. The next thing he knew, he had a lineup of about a dozen kids waiting to do the same!

    Paul's layout includes four operating dump cars that the kids can operate. It is the only layout in the show that is interactive. This surprises most of the parents, who often shoo away their children when they see them work the dump cars. Paul aways has to explain to the parents that operating the dump cars is not only allowed, but encouraged! (But for safety reasons, Paul is the only one allowed to run the trains)

    The giraffe cars have always been a hit with children and adults alike. Paul started out with one, but through the years his long necked menagerie has grown to six cars! He's just added a car with a bobbing lion's head (but he keeps that lion at a safe distance from the giraffes).

    The WMRC's open house will be held on Saturday, March 15 and Sunday, March16 at Westworth United Church, 1750 Grosvenor Avenue.  Times are from 11:00AM to 4:00 PM on Saturday, and from 1:00PM to 5:00 PM on Sunday. Admission is by donation. A portion of the proceeds from the show will go to support St.Amant.

    Our good friend Joe Krolik of Comics America had been a staunch supporter of the Winnipeg Model Railroad Club for several years, including the 2013 Manitoba Mega Train Show. Whenever we've had a show he's always put a poster up in his shop and stuffed flyers we've given him in the bags of his regular customers.  He's always made every effort to attend our shows whenever possible.

    Joe has caught the train bug. But he's not building a layout.

    He's selling trains.

    Yes, that's right! In his store, among all of those wonderful comics, are three Lionel Train sets! Right from the 2013 Lionel Christmas catalog are the Polar Express and the Peanuts Christmas set. He's also carrying the Harry Potter Hogwarts Express set. All sets have locomotives with smoke and whistle, transformers and an oval of track.

    Considering that Winnipeg has just lost Elmwood Hobbies, and hobby shops are vanishing throughout the land, it's mighty encouraging to find someone new whose willing to sell train sets! Let's hear it for Joe!

    Comics America is located at 552 Academy Road in Winnipeg. Call 204-489-0580, email comics_america@mts.net, or like Comics America on Facebook!