model train for hobby

There will be no Christmas lights at the Assiniboine Valley Railway this year

   This image, taken by our good friend and WMRC member John Longhurst, now only serves as a sad reminder of what was a wonderful part of Winnipeg's Christmas season that is no more.

     For the second year in a row, the AVR will not be having their Christmas light display. This is because of a lack of resources, manpower, and most significantly, the absence of AVR founder Bill Taylor.

     Bill was the Christmas light master of the AVR. There were 100,000 lights on display, which was TEN TIMES the amount Chevy Chase had on his house in the classic movie, "National Lampoon's Christmas Vacation". As the AVR was on his property, he had more time than others to string these lights. He was also the only one who knew the proper electrical schematics for wiring them all together (It's safe to assume that you don't just plug in 100,000 light into an ordinary 110 volt socket, even when they're LEDs).

    It's been a tough year for the AVR, but they managed to hold their usual monthly open houses in 2014. But they weren't able to hold their annual "Dinner Train". Hopefully, the lights will be up again for Christmas in 2015.