It's been a while! Lots has been done on the W&M layout, so check out the new photos. There are some photos showing some of the buildings that will be going in, so things are moving along nicely. It is starting to look more and more like a railroad!

The N-scalers are moving along very rapidly with construction of their bench work and will be ordering track soon. They hope to have a simple mainline loop running in the next couple of months. The way they are moving, I don't doubt they'll succeed!

With the cold weather fast approaching, it is a great time to join the WMRC. We are always excepting new members, and now your membership gets you two great layouts for the price of one! All members have access to both the HO and N scale layouts. There are plenty of opportunities to learn as we are building layouts in both HO and N scale, or you can just run trains on the HO modular layout. We also have operating sessions on the HO layout if that is more your thing. The WMRC has a little for everyone, so if you love trains, drop on by for a visit.

- Fred Jr.

A lot of progress has being made on the layout over the past month. Bell crank switch throws are being installed along the branchline coal plant, electrical feeder wires and dcc controlled turnouts are being wired up, track plans on the fourth leg are coming together and spline and cork are being paid in preparation for track to be laid. At this pace, the fourth leg will be tied into the main line and running by the end of the year. Once the track is finished on this leg, we will be turning our attention fully to scenery and buildings on the completed portion of the layout. Once we have the existing benchwork sceniced and looking good, we'll look at moving forward with the other two legs of construction.

I've added some more progress photos to the W&M gallery to showcase the progress we've been making. Congratulations to everyone, the summer is usually a slow time for us, but be are making great progress.

- Fred Jr.

Sorry for neglecting the website, I've been too busy working at the club I guess! I've added some new progress photos to the W&M layout photos and added links to two new video clips of the Confederation Train in action to the Videos page. I also added a new way to waste time while you visit, Flash Jigsaw Puzzles, have a look in the Fun section if you are bored.

- Fred Jr.

I added a new menu item called FUN. So if you feel like wasting some time, you can play a Flash based tile sliding puzzle game!

I also made some changes to the underlying code that runs the site. It works nicely in FF and IE7, but I'm not sure about IE6. If anyone is using IE6 or lower and experiences problems with the site, please let me know so I can try to fix them. Thanks!

- Fred Jr.

The Essex Train show 2009 pictures are up. You can find them under the Events tab.

- Fred Jr.

Another Essex show has come and gone. We had a great time at the show and hope you all enjoyed it too! I don't have any photos ready to post yet, but I am working on it. I did make some changes to our Links page to address some of the whining I heard on Tuesday night! You know who you are ;D

Please check back soon as I hope to have the Essex 2009 photos up soon!

- Fred Jr.

Just some minor updates. The Featured photo page is a little different now, it randomly chooses a few pictures to shown each time you load the page. I also added some photos to the operating session section under events.

We've had several people ask about the Essex Train Show this year. We don't have all the information, but the show will be on the last weekend of February. Saturday February 28th and Sunday March 1st. Hope to see you all there!

- Fred Jr.

The new menu system is in place now and some things have been moved around a little bit. I've also added some new topics and pages in an effort to make this site a more useful reference.

I will do my best to continue to add new content as well as more photos of the new layout and any up coming WMRC events.

We hope to see you at the Essex Train show this February!

- Fred Jr.

CANADA !!! CANADA !!! CANADA !!!

Congratulations Team Canada on your 5th World Junior Hockey Gold Medal in a row!

Oh, and HAPPY NEW YEAR everyone!

Just a quick update today. Some new pictures of the W&M layout construction progress.

The site map is in place for those of you with no Java support if you need it.

I'm working on a larger update that will change the menus around alittle and add some new content, so stay tuned.

- Fred Jr.

As some of you may have noticed, I've revamped the look of the site. The site is still in a Beta testing phase, so please use the contact us form to report any problems you encounter. Any comments on the new layout are also welcome.

This is only phase one of the changes I have planned for the site. Once all the bugs are worked out of this layout, I will be re-organizing the menu structure in an effort to make things more intuitive, and make room for some new content.

One significant change is in how the gallery images are opened. I've changed from the old pop-up system to a new open-over style using Lightbox scripts. This should eliminate any issues people had with their pop-up blockers blocking the photos.

I should also note that the menu system only works if you have Java Script enabled on your browser. I will be adding straight html links for all the menus in the near future. So if you can't use the menus, please be sure Jave script is turned on in your browser, or check back in a week or so and I should have a work around in place.

This update did not include any new content, but I plan to add some new photos of the permanent layout, from here on to be refered to as the Windsor & Midwestern Layout, soon.

I hope you enjoy the new look.

- Fred Jr.

I'm way behind on the updates now! I added some pictures to the permanent layout section, but I'm only up to April 1! More to come when I find some more time. Enjoy

- Fred Jr.

Well, it only took me a month, but the Essex Train Show 2008 pictures are now up. Look in the Gallery to find them.

Keep your eyes peeled for more permanent layout pictures in the future, as we have started working again,now that the Essex show is done for another year.

- Fred Jr.

The 2008 Essex Train Show is coming up on February 23 and 24 from 10am until 4pm at Essex District High School. Come on out to visit us at the show and say hi. We look forward to seeing you there. We will have some of our modules setup and running trains throughout the show. We will be doing clinics on building kits, building fast-tracks switches and many other things during the show. We will also have a table of items for sale to raise money for the club.

I've added some pictures of some of the updates we did to the modules to get them ready for the show. They can be found in the Modular Layout section.

I also added some pictures of the first open test running on the new layout. We tested with big engines, long passenger cars and just plain long trains. Have a look in the New Layout photos section.

- Fred Jr.

Happy New Year Everyone!

It has been a while since the last update, but alot has been accomplished in that time! The temporary connection track is in place as well as the temporary bridge tracks. The cement plant track work is also moving along very well now that both diamonds are finished.

On Saturday, January 12, 2008 the first train was run on phase 1 of the WMRC! Lead by Chessie GP38 4829 and pulling about a dozen coal cars. Some autoracks and a well car joined in for the second run and forced the use of WMRC GP38-2 100 as a helper up the grade. CP SD90MAC-H II 9302 joined the head end to add a little sound to the mix later on. Check the New Layout section of all the pictures.

Construction on the new layout will be taking a break so we can get ready for the Essex Train show at the end of February. Watch for pictures of us fixing up some of the modules in preparation for the show.

- Fred Jr.