Club History

Back in the mid 1970's there was a group called Vancouver Area N Scalers (VANS) who constructed modules which were involved in one of the first N Scale track exhibits in the National Model Railroad Association (NMRA) convention in San Diego, California believed to be in 1974. The module was 8 feet long and still exists as part of a former members home layout.

They also participated in the 1977 NMRA convention in Denver, the 1979 NMRA convention in Calgary, and the 1981 NMRA convention in San Mateo.

Various members of the TraiNgang built a modular but not N-Trak, layout for the Burnaby Art Gallery Show in 1982. This layout which represented the CPR mainline from Vancouver to the Alberta foothills, including Mt.Stephen and the Spiral Tunnels, the Fraser Canyon, and the Vancouver waterfront (Canadian Pacific Railway Station, Dunsmuir Tunnel and Pier BC), was displayed at the NMRA convention in Winnipeg in 1983 and the Glenbow Museum in Calgary in 1983 and 1984, before returning to Vancouver.

Later in the mid 1980's a group of Vancouver N Scale Modeler's decided to develop an N Scale modular layout using the N-Trak standards. The first TraiNgang layout was well received at its public debut at the TRAINS Show at the Cameron Recreation Center in November of 1986. This layout had 4 foot corners, 3 integrated modules on one side and balanced by a 3 module yard. In the fall of 1987 the layout was on show at the Pacific National Exhibition for 14 days.

The TraiNgang layout was also regularly displayed in the lobby of the BC Rail Building in North Vancouver as part of the annual Port Canada display (no longer held).

There was also an N Scale module group in Victoria, BC. Their modules had the three tracks plus the mountain division, which provide a 4th mainline at a higher elevation.

Often Victoria N-Trak modules would be brought to Vancouver to be added to the TraiNgang layouts at the annual TRAINS Show in the Cameron Recreation Center, usually held over the Remembrance Day weekend. Over the years the TraiNgang has won many ribbons for individual modules and has several Best in Show awards.

Thanks to Bob Berbeck, we have these two images of some early TraiNgang N-trak modules, prior to the addition of the mountain division to the club standard.