The 7th Division's Sub-Divisions have little significant activity during the 2023 year.

Vancouver, Burnaby, New Westminster and Richmond
The Vancouver Train Expo was held on November 4th & 5th. The event was held at the PNE (Pacific National Exposition) Forum in Vancouver, BC. The event was well attended, with lots of interest from the Model Railroad community and the public.

Surrey, Delta, and Langley
The Cloverdale Community Train and Hobby Exposition was held on October 14th. The event was held at the Cloverdale Fairgrounds in Shannon Hall in Cloverdale, BC. The event was well attended, with lots of interest from the Model Railroad community and the public.

Fraser Valley
Unfortunately, despite the waning pandemic, nothing has occurred since the last report. The FV Subdivision has not held any face-to-face meetings or clinics. Neither have we arranged any electronic meetings. We hope to arrange a face-to-face event in the spring of 2023.

The status of the Chilliwack Model Railway Club is not currently known.

Coldslap Free-mo continues to develop its HO-scale modular layout fully compliant with the North American Free-mo standards. The annual BC Free-mo Meet in Chilliwack was held in June 2022.

Anyone with an interest in pursuing the Free-mo concept is welcome to visit www.coldslapfreemo.org/welcome.htm and/or to contact the group. The group will be pleased to mentor anyone with a strong interest in Free-mo.

The last word, prior to the pandemic, was that Heritage Park management intended to assume the organisation of the annual model railway show. Unfortunately, this too was cancelled, at least for 2021. There is a plan to hold some sort of hobby show in February 2024.

I invite all model railroaders in the Fraser Valley area to send me news, photos and updates on their activities; digital submissions only please. I am always looking for something interesting for this report. I can be contacted at sebelley@shaw.ca.

Larry Sebelley
Fraser Valley Representative

North Shore to Pemberton and Sunshine Coast
(Activities from Oct 2022 to Oct 2023)

From Monthly Virtual Meets to Alternating between In-Person Layout Visits and Virtual Meets
Our North Shore Model Railroaders continued to meet virtually on the third Wednesday of the month through to December 2022. 7 to 12 of us meet for online layout updates, modelling photos, and to catch up on the model railroading news.

On January 16th, Leddy and I hosted Trains and Scones, having postponed it from its usual schedule in late December, and having missed having NSMRs since the last Trains and Scones in December of 2019-pre-pandemic. Great to have North Shore Model Railroaders here again for model display, train running, and scone eating. We had 10 visit, so with Leddy and I we were 12.

At our January 25th Virtual Meet, we decided to to alternate between in-person and virtual meets each month for the remainder of the year, or until covid numbers rose to suggest otherwise. Alternating allows people who cannot attend the in-person meets to participate with their fellow modellers. This also keeps more of us engaged and and updated. We drew up a schedule and the following modellers volunteered to host at their model railways:
February 15th_ Kyle Gardiner
June 21st- Doug Hicks
August 17th-Tim Horton
October 18th-Rene Gourley
December 20th- Graham Stokes

Meanwhile, it has been great to see train shows return since the worst of the pandemic has subsided. Lots of fun at Cloverdale, Squamish, and on Vancouver Island, for example, and glad to see that this year Vancouver Train Expo is starting up again at the PNE.

Layout construction and Visits in Small Numbers Modellers continue to visit and help one another with model railways on the North Shore. Sharing tools and techniques, lending a hand, help us all make progress.

Looking Forward to Another Year

We’ll carry on with our monthly meetings, online or in person, and look forward to developing ideas for enhancing our model railroading.

Again, my thanks to all in the North Shore Subdivision and to the families and crew who also support North Shore model railroading, from Deep Cove to Pemberton, and on the Sunshine Coast.

Respectfully submitted,

Graham Stokes
North Shore Representative-NMRA PNR 7th Division

Kootenay Region

Revelstoke, Shuswap and Thompson

Okanagan

100-mile House to Prince George

North of Prince George

Bulkley Valley to Prince Rupert

North Island-Mill Bay North
The Nanaimo Train Show was held on April 2nd. The event was held at the Beban Park Recreation Centre in Nanaimo, BC. The event was well attended, with lots of interest from the Model Railroad community and the public.

South Island - Shawnigan Lake South
The Victoria Model Railway Show was held on September 24th. The event was held at the Mary Winspear Centre in Sidney, BC. The event was well attended, with lots of interest from the Model Railroad community and the public.

Tricities, Pitt Meadows, and Maple Ridge