An event for those young and young at heart took place this past weekend at the Big Valley Agriplex in Big Valley.
Members of the Calgary Free Mo Model Railroad Club came for their annual model railroad set up event on the arena floor. The group has been coming to Big Valley for over 20 years. One that attended, Adrian Weleschuk shares how this event came to fruition. “We were invited by a local resident and he was connected with the rail tour folks. We started setting up here, and it has grown and has become a tradition for us. The rail tour always make sure they give us a plug, and bring their guests out to the arena to see us. It has been a really great relationship.” The partnership has been going on for 23 years and involves more than just members from the Calgary Free-mo group. They had participants from all across Western Canada and the US. The Alberta Prairie Railway Excursions offered a couple of special trips for the public to travel by train to Big Valley, check out the display, and take the train back to Stettler.
If you had a chance to experience the event either this year, or in years past, it is quite a large display that takes time to plan according to Weleschuk. “We start planning for this, probably in May / June. We get our call for modules out, get a layout design, and then the day of, we take about 10 hours, set it up, and we run trains until we don’t want to run anymore.” The modules are sections that are built to specific standards that allows the sections to be connected and make a layout so much bigger than anyone could create in their home.
Weleschuk notes that a great aspect of this hobby is the social opportunities it presents. “It is really a social event. We get to meet a lot of people. There is a lot of expertise and different facets of model railroading that you can camp on. If you’re a carpenter but not that good at electronics, there is an electronics expert in the group. If there is a historian, same thing. It is really about meeting a lot of people and getting together socially.”
When they host events like these, they always hope that this may spark the interest of those that come to check it out. Weleschuk comments that not a lot of space is needed to get started with a module and they are always looking for more to be involved. To learn more about the Calgary Free-mo group and to possibly start your own module, visit their website.
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