The RailLink. Mississippi Valley Associated Railroaders M.V.A.R. Carleton Place, Ontario Canada June 2013

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1 The RailLink Mississippi Valley Associated Railroaders M.V.A.R. Carleton Place, Ontario Canada June 2013 Check out the M.V.A.R. web site for the latest club updates: and mvar

2 The President s Message for January 2013 Model railroading embraces a huge range of skills and interests. Rarely has this been more evident than during MVAR's Spring Dinner Meeting at Christ Church Ashton. Mike Smithson demonstrated in motion his beautifully handcrafted G-gauge replica of Newfoundland's last narrow gauge steam engine. Constructed with dimensions painstakingly extracted from the museum-housed original and each element of the whole built to scale and with precision, the engine is a work of high art and craft. The speaker for the evening was Major Nathan Teale, of the British Army's Rifles, shared with us the contribution to the evolution of the modern British Army of Major General Sydney Beckwith, after whom Beckwith Township is named. Following the after dinner speech, models were judged for this year's scratch build/kit bashing award and this year s winner of the Bilodeau Award was announced. The static display for this evening was a collection of classic British HO models made by Hornby and Triang presented by Doug Lake. Good food and fellowship too. The huge scope of interest embraced by model railroading demonstrated in just a couple of hours. Public Relations and Program Larry Skinner Each Saturday morning members, friends, and guests come out to the Gourmet Restaurant for breakfast and railroad social time. This is a great place to get and share ideas for building your railroad. We start arriving about 07:00h and we eat at 08:00h. We socialize until 09:00h. On Wednesday mornings 6 to 8 members come out to Tim Horton s in Almonte for café and our Railroad Social hour. We start arriving about 09:30h and we meet until about 10:30h. Call another club member this week and get together for a house visit and see what they are doing with their layout or maybe make some suggestions. MVAR MEETINGS MVAR T-Trak Sub meets 2 nd Tuesday each summer month in Carleton Place Arena 7 to 9 PM (reverting to the 2 nd Thursday in Sept.) MVAR meets 4 th Thursday in Oct, Nov, Dec, Feb, Mar, and Apr in Carleton Place Arena 7 to 9 PM MVAR Dinner Meetings are in Christ Church (An glican), Ashton 6:30 to 9:00 ($20.00 charge) the 4 th Thursday of Sep, Jan and May. Visitors are always welcome Come and join us! 2

3 MVAR Executive Brian Hull, President Ben Sanders, Treasurer Membership This position is vacant. If interested contact Brian Hull. Rod Goodwin, Webmaster To all members who have web pages; you can have your link posted on our website. TO ALL MEMBERS CHECKOUT THE WEB SITE FOR ACTIVITIES THAT THE MEMBERS WILL BE HOSTING. Ron Legge, Secretary/Archivist David Reis, Librarian David s working on a listing that Rod can publish on the MVAR Website. That way, if you are researching some aspect of railroading and you see something listed in the library that you think might help, you can get in touch with David, either by phone or by , tell him what you are looking for, and he can arrange to meet you at the next breakfast session, MVAR meeting, etc. and you can get the magazine, book, or video that you were looking for. gumbyreis@gmail.com Larry Skinner, Public Relations and Programs lskinner@storm.ca Bob Carswell Newsletter Bob.Carswell@xplornet.ca 3

4 MVAR Dinner Meeting May 23, 2013 was a busy night for MVAR members. This was our last meeting of the year, and again it was hosted by the ladies of Ashton Anglican Church who provided a roast beef dinner. Following the Presidents greetings, members sat down to another delicious dinner hats off to the ladies for another excellent meal. Our Guest Speaker for the evening was Major Nathan Teale of the British Army Rifles. Major Teale is currently serving in an exchange officer position with National Defence Headquarters in Ottawa. Major Teale shared with us the contribution to the evolution of the modern British Army of Major General Sydney Beckwith, after whom Beckwith Township is named. As a young officer, in 1800 Beckwith helped evolve the tactics and train the volunteers for the British Army's original rifle skirmishers, the 95th Regiment. This regiment, wearing green uniforms, served as sharp shooters in front of the "thin red line" of musket-bearing infantry with Wellington's army in Spain during the Peninsular War with France. The Rifles had the assignment of destabilizing the advancing line of the enemy with quality marksmanship. The Rifles are immortalized in fiction through the escapades of Richard Sharpe. After serving in Canada as assistant quarter master general during the war in 1812, Beckwith was put in command of the British Army in India and became the honorary commandant of the regiment he helped to form. The remainder of the evening was taken up with contest judging, awards presentations and discussion of static displays BILODEAU AWARD Created in memory of Reg Bilodeau, the Bilodeau Award is presented yearly to the MVAR member who demonstrates outstanding service to the advancement of the hobby. This year the award went to Ben Saunders. Ben Saunders receiving the "Bilodeau Award' While Ben had been presented with the Bilodeau Award earlier, he was recognized as this year s recipient at the dinner meeting and displayed his award. Congratulations Ben. 4

5 2013 Scratch building/kit bashing Contest Again this year, MVAR held a contest to recognize the various skill of our members. There were two categories this year, Kitbashing and Scratch building. Entries were displayed before and during the dinner, and then all members were allowed to vote on their choice. This year there was a tie. Norm Futter and Bob Carswell shared first place, with Ben Saunders receiving Honorable Mention. Norm s scratch built carboose, Bob s scratch built model of the Anglican Church in Franktown Ontario and Ben s grain elevator. Following the contest judging, Mike Smithson and Doug Lake spoke about their static displays. Mike Smithson's scratch built to scale locomotive 5

6 MVAR YEAR END Bar B Que 23 June 2013 This year the MVAR Bar-B-Que will be held at Larry Skinners. Festivities start whenever you arrive after 1300 (1pm). BYOB and/or soft drinks and lawn chairs. Food provided, spouses welcome. See the map below for directions: Larry & Inge Skinner Drummond Concession 2 (the Perth Road AKA County Rd 10) Perth, ON K7H 3C3 Hwy 7 to Perth 11.7 kms Hwy 15 The Gormet X To Richmond 2.6 kms to CPR tracks in Perth 3935 X MVAR BBQ The Skinner s 19.1 kms The Perth Road Franktown 6

7 Some of the M.V.A.R. members Railway Patches M.V.A.R. David McCurdy Dennis MacTavish Jim Davis David Biggs Bob Summers John Soehner Larry Skinner ARIZONA RESOURCE RAILWAY T-TRAK Sub W.G.H. Cathy & John Delroy You re Logo Here Bob Carswell You re Logo Here Check out the M.V.A.R. web site for the latest club updates: and mvar 7