A brief stop at La Pulperie de Chicoutimi Regional Museum

Parked out front of La Pulperie de Chicoutimi Regional Museum

We were recently touring the Saguenay-Lac-Saint-Jean region of Québec and made a brief stop at the site of Chicoutimi's famous pulp mill, which is now the site of La Pulperie de Chicoutimi Regional Museum.

It appears to be a standard gauge loco

I was quite excited when I saw this three-quarter view of the loco from the distant parking lot. I couldn't clearly see the loco's backend from there, and thought maybe this was an example of one of the machines that was the basis of the Minitrains loco that E. L. Moore used on his layout. But no. 

Built in 1923 by the Montreal Locomotive Works according to the front plate

However, it's a fine loco in its on right. The plate on the front says it was built in 1923 by the Montreal Locomotive Works. I don't know much about locomotives, so here's a link I found that has something to say about this one.

The museum, with the loco to the left.

The museum is housed in this beautifully restored stone engine facility. The interior is just as magnificent as the exterior; however, I've no photos to show of the inside as we were on a tight schedule and didn't have time to properly tour the facility and exhibits - that's on the list for a future visit!

A visit to the Kawartha Lakes Museum & Archives to see the John McCrea Model Collection

Two examples of John McCrea's work. Left: Pioneer Shanty | Right: Pioneer Squared Log House

If you're a long time reader here you may recall that I'm interested in folk artists of the past who've made their art building miniature buildings. A few of them worked in model railroading, like E. L. Moore, others went in different directions in accordance with their own natures. You can find all my posts, along with this one, on the subject under the 'Folk Roots' tag.

I've been looking into Ontario folk art buildings artists and stumbled across the work of a gentleman named John McCrea, whose models are archived and on display at the Kawartha Lakes Museum & Archives in Lindsay, Ontario.

Apparently the scale of McCrea's large models is 1/2" = 1'

I've been meaning to get out to the museum for awhile and this week I had my chance.

In a nutshell, John McCrea was born on 16 April 1865 in Omemee, Ontario, and died on 19 April 1957 in Toronto. Recall that E. L. Moore was born on 14 March 1898, so McCrea was of an earlier generation, but both Moore and McCrea were born into rural life: Moore to farming, and McCrea to cabinet making, a skill which he apparently learned from his father as a child.

There's an interesting biography of McCrea here, but one thing I will note is that he didn't start building the models in the collection until 1935 when he was 70, and continued until is death in 1957 when he was 92.

The collection consists of models he made of the buildings, structures, and accoutrements of pioneer life in Ontario. I asked one of the staff - who turned out to be the managing director - if she knew why McCrea built these models? Was there some ulterior motive like building up a collection for a public display? She said there didn't appear to be any. He simply wanted to capture the physical reality of the objects that comprised Ontario pioneer life. E. L. Moore had much the same attitude for a lot of his work: he wanted to capture his early life in model form for his daughter. 

Before I go much further I should note that the museum's managing director, Barbara Doyle, generously answered all my crazy questions and provided lots of great background information I hadn't considered. She and the gentleman at the front desk - whose name I unfortunately can't remember :-( - were very friendly, enthusiastic, and knowledgeable and made our brief visit quite enjoyable.

I believe the scale of this model is the same as the house

McCrea was a fine craftsman. As an example, take a look in the photo below at these models of farm implements he made in 1952, especially the blade and teeth on the cross cut saw.

Some modelled farm implements

Although there were only two model buildings on display I'm told the collection is quite large and numbers in the hundreds of items. As well as being large in number the models are also large in size: they're built in scales ranging from 1" = 1' to 1/2" = 1' to the smallest ones being 1/4" = 1'. Different models are rotated in and out of the museum display as different thematic presentations are created. When you visit you may see different models than I've shown here; however, whatever is there you'll no doubt get a good sense of McCrea's high level of craftsmanship.

If you want to see more of these fine models there's a booklet you can buy called History in Wood: The John McCrea Collection. Once I've studied the book a bit I'll probably follow up with a post on tools, materials, scale, and other such model making related things. 

Before I wrap up I should mention that there's much more in the museum than this one collection, and lastly mention the museum building is a repurposed 19th century jail that performed said function from 1863 to as recently as 2003 (!).

So, if you ever find yourself in or around Lindsay, drop by and have a look.

Did E. L. Moore read this ship modelling book? or Adventures in 21st century book hunting

2003 Dover reprint of 1942 original published by W. W. Norton

“I had put off this harbor-tugboat project for well over a year feeling that my hitch as a sailor long years ago did little to fit me for the role of shipbuilder. Then, later when I had begun some research on the subject, a chance buy of a marked down copy of a book on ship models, which seemed at the moment a good omen, added almost nothing to my scanty knowledge. From it, I did learn though, in a discussion of appropriate woods, that no serious modeler ever considers balsa.”

So notes E. L. Moore in the introductory paragraph to part 1 of the add a Harbor to your Pike series that ran in the January and February 1968 issues of Railroad Model Craftsman. This is the series where he builds the tug boats Taurus (from a kit) and John McKeon (scratchbuilt based on the Taurus), a barge, and a sail loft.

Model of the S.S. Prince Edward Island at the Maritime Museum of the Atlantic. She was a ferry that could carry 12 railway cars.

For long years I’ve wondered about the title of that ship modelling book. Mr. Moore never mentions it, and the only thing he says about the book, other than it being an omen, was that its author didn’t think balsa wood was a suitable modelling material. It’s a clue, admittedly a thin one, but still a clue. I’ve worked with less. 

I admire traditional ship modelling and consider it something of the apex of the model builder’s art. It’s beyond my abilities, but I admire it nevertheless. So, whenever there are ship models to be seen I like to have a look.

Information card associated with the model

Last year when we visited Halifax I had the opportunity to visit the Maritime Museum of the Atlantic. It’s a fascinating place, and has an interesting collection of both full-size and model boats. I’d say the model boat display is better than the Thomson collection at the Art Gallery of Ontario. 

I think it's 1/4" scale given the size of those passenger cars.

Both museums have excellent models, but I give the Halifax collection bonus points for having what they call a ‘Visible Storage’ area right beside the main collection. This is where they have stashed in glass fronted cabinets unfinished models, models not currently on display, nautical odds-and-ends, and other memorabilia related to the main model collection that are easily accessible to museum browsers. 

Some cabinets in the Visible Storage area

Maybe this was just a way to cheap out on offsite storage, but being a model maker myself, I much appreciated this ‘behind-the-scenes’ window into the museum's collection.

A typical cabinet in the Visible Storage area

I also like that the museum notes on cards strategically placed throughout the exhibit area information about the model builders whose work they have on display. Those model makers don’t remain anonymous. and the cards give some background on their lives as craftsmen.

Some issues of Model Ship Builder from 1982. Bought at BMV

Well, fast forward a year or so and I’m wandering around BMV and see copies of an old magazine called Model Ship Builder. I’d never heard of this magazine and decided to buy a few issues.

Each issue has an interview with an expert model shipbuilder. I found the one in the September / October 1982 issue with Bruce Hoff interesting, and especially the comments on how he got inspired to start ship modelling:

"It all started sixteen years ago on a Sunday afternoon at the Winnetka Public Library. Bruce was looking for something to read and picked up V. R. Grimwood's American Ship Models and How to Build Them. "This is a perfectly remarkable book. It contains just about everything anyone really needs to know about building solid hull ship models, and I was very lucky to have stumbled across it as a foundation book.""

So, if the interview was conducted in 1982, sixteen years prior would land us in 1966. E. L. Moore had his article published in 1968, and he submitted the typescript to RMC on 27 October 1967, soon after finishing the project, so it's conceivable he stumbled across his book in '67 or '66. Now, these mid-1960s dates are all just coincidence, but for me, they got me thinking again about the title of the book Mr. Moore leafed through. 

A few paragraphs later Hoff mentions that Grimwood's book was one of the most important books he'd owned as a ship modeller. I later learned it's considered a classic in the field, so that clinched it, I had to find a copy.

On the trip we also were lucky to see the Bluenose II in Lunenburg. When we arrived some of the young, 20-something crew were discussing the musical merits of Miles Davis through the ages as they went about their chores!

Well, this is the 21st century and there isn't a huge used bookstore a short walk from my house, the public library isn't as well stocked as it used to be, and BMV is 450km from my desk, so I called the internet into action. I couldn't find a 1942 edition, but I did find a Dover reprint.

When it arrived I skipped all the niceties and immediately looked for a section on woods. There is one, and I wasn't disappointed:

"Wood is the indispensable material. A different variety grows to fit almost any need. Avoid woods that are fuzzy in texture. The novice dotes on balsa because of its ease in working. For the modelmaker it may have its uses, but I have never found them. Here is a list of woods generally used to advantage by the modelmaker."

Just to emphasize the dismissal, balsa wood doesn't appear in the list.

Does this prove this is the book? Of course not, but what it does is make it a candidate. It's a fairly famous work in its field, so that helps it stick around, even into the 1960s (a print history would help here), and it does scold about the use of balsa (but, many experienced modellers do as well), so it's a candidate. Maybe one day I'll figure out the title of the book E. L. Moore consulted, but until then I'm going to enjoy this one. It's a great find.

Well, any sustained thought on boats always leads to this song popping into my head at some point, so I'll leave you with it.

Thoughts on: In Search of a Dream

I’ve admired the Pendon Museum for a long time and have wanted to visit for an equally long time. Finally in 2019 we made plans to go there in March 2020. It turned out that month they were holding a class in modelling buildings. That seemed perfect: I could visit the museum, take in a class from one of their master modellers, as well as tour Oxford and the nearby regions. 

Well, as we all know, March 2020 was when covid was beginning its onslaught. We cancelled our trip once it became clear covid was a global pandemic and not just a blip on the medical radar. The only good thing that came from that cancelation was the airline did eventually refund our tickets. Like everyone else we hunkered down for the long haul, and 2020 became a banner year for 30Squares posts. I hit an all time high of 287. 

We thought 2024 would be the year for visiting Pendon, but personal events conspired against us. Maybe next year. In the meantime though I went ahead and bought a copy of In Search of a Dream edited by Stephen Williams that was published by Wild Swan Books in 2022. It’s the story of Roye England, Pendon’s founder, and his account of his life and the museum’s creation and development. I had been holding off buying this book as I thought it would be nice to purchase it at Pendon when I visited, but with my questionable travel track record I thought I should just go ahead and buy one online from their shop. I’m glad I did since after reading it I think I’ll have a bit better appreciation of the museum if we ever do visit.

I thought this might be a rather dry and clinical book. I was dead wrong. It’s mainly Roye England’s autobiography supplemented by a large collection of fascinating photos, additional text by Williams to explain and elaborate on some of the more obscure passages in the autobiography, along with chapters by Williams to fill in missing information and update us on events after Roye’s* death. 

Roye was a very engaging writer and I found his accounts compelling. His autobiography reads almost as some sort of adventure story, which I guess in a sense it is. Although at times I thought the book’s title should have been In Search of a Dream and Money as creating what would become the Pendon museum often seemed like a constant struggle for money. Neither Roye nor any of the protagonists were flush with cash. It required tenacity over the decades to bring Pendon to life. There were no wealthy benefactors with big bags of moolah in this story, but there were plenty of good people who helped and contributed in many ways big and small, and sometimes with a bit of cash.

It strikes me that Roye was something of a charismatic figure as well as being a world class model maker. He seemed to have a way with people that got them to believe in the idea of Pendon as he did and attracted them to participate in its mission. However, he didn’t seem to be a scheming entrepreneur, but simply a good person with an authentic dream and a determination to realize it. The people he encountered seemed to sense that. Although the down side seemed to be at times he was taken advantage of and his honest authenticity brushed close to naiveté.

In Search of a Dream is also a story about model making of the highest standard and of the folk art buildings approach to modelling. This may seem like a contradictory combination, but it isn’t. I think part of the problem is that the common association with the term ‘folk art buildings approach’ is with backwoods bumpkins hacking out models with junk found on the back forty. As I’ve discussed before, it’s actually a person’s desire to communicate about one’s environment, built or natural, current or past, and one’s feelings towards it, using materials one can access. It’s ‘folk’ because these people aren’t necessarily trained professionals, just people from all walks of life that have the desire. Let me emphasize: it’s about desire and communication, not strict adherence to certain materials and signifiers. Roye seemed to have the folk art buildings spirit in him from birth to death, but he always wanted to express it with the highest standards of modelling, standards that were far from common in his glory days. He demanded it of himself and of others he worked with. And many worked with him to those standards.

This summer I also read Linn Westcott’s book, Model Railroading with John Allen, published in 1981. Allen and Roye were contemporaries of a sort. Allen was born in 1913, and Roye in 1906. Both created in the mid-century era what would become two of the 20th century’s most famous and influential layouts. Unfortunately Allen’s would be destroyed by fire soon after his death in 1973 leaving behind only a few relics. Roye died in 1995, but Pendon continues on. I have no idea if Allen and Roye ever communicated, but I wouldn’t be surprised if they knew of each other’s work, at least through the model railroad press.

It’s tough for me to think too deeply about Allen’s motivations for building the G&D as Westcott’s book doesn’t contain Allen’s autobiography - I don’t think one exists? Autobiographies can provide an important view on a person’s life from which patterns might be discerned. But, I will note from the layouts and modelling work, both Allen and Roye were committed to high standards, both were determined, and both took model railroading beyond what had been the norm for hobbyists. Allen’s project was more of a private undertaking; Roye’s a more public one. Allen didn’t seem to struggle for money for the G&D as he lived frugally on good investments; Roye had a constant financial struggle to bring Pendon to life, but he lived frugally too.

Needless to say, I highly recommend In Search of a Dream.

---

*I am taking the liberty of referring to Roye England as “Roye” as it seems odd to me to keep writing “England did this and England did that”, and using the full “Roye England” seems cumbersome.

Hydrofoil train

Left: Model of the hydrofoil train | Right: Model of Comox torpedo

Last week we were in Nova Scotia and had the opportunity to visit the Alexander Graham Bell National Historic Site. One of the many surprising things I learned while there was that Bell and his collaborators did extensive work developing hydrofoil vehicles. One collaborator, Casey Baldwin, came up with the idea of a hydrofoil train. I'll let the card accompanying the model take it from here:

I could have spent much more than a few hours at the museum. Hopefully I'll get back there someday.

Laurence Gieringer, Model Structure Pioneer

Some Gieringer models; Snippet from Model Builder Jan/Feb '38

The pandemic rolls on and continues to inflict a wide range of changes on society well beyond the horrible toll of human suffering and death. Even something as innocuous as Roadside America has fallen victim. 

In November 2020 Roadside America in Pennsylvania closed its doors for good, and its owners announced they were auctioning off everything, miniatures and all. The owners had been looking for a buyer for a couple of years prior to its closing, but pandemic restrictions eventually finished it off, ending an 85 year run. Reports indicate the January 2021 auction was a great success, but a bittersweet one for the owners, who are relatives of Roadside America’s founder, Laurence Gieringer.

It’s weird how I found out about this. I was reading my way through a stack of Railroad Model Craftsmans from 1997, and in December’s Collector consist …column Keith Wills had an interesting story about Roadside America, its founder, and how after 50 years of wanting to visit the place he eventually did. After reading the column I was off to the internet to find out more about Roadside America, and that’s when I learnt of its recent closing.

But what really grabbed me in that column was the story of how Mr. Gieringer got interested in miniature buildings and layouts. It seemed that he followed the path from folk art miniature builder to serious hobbyist. It was the discussion of Mr. Gieringer’s roots that helped make this clear to me. Here’s what Wills has to say,

Laurence Gieringer started creating model buildings as a boy by carving and cutting wood. As carpenter and painter, his skills gave him freedom to develop his hobby further, often inspired by actual buildings in the area where he lived. Not having formal training, he settled on three-eights inch scale in which to make them.

Laurence built everything from wood, found and given, particularly important during the Depression. If one were to upend a building, one might see pieces of old yardsticks and other found materials. He was given a shipment of furniture considered unsalable, and the wood in it ended cut up into miniature buildings. He handmade parts en masse, spending time turning out roofing shingles, framed windows and railings for future use. His approach to modelling was decades in advance of his time. When most hobbyists in scale or tinplate were content to have lithographed cardboard, wood-braced buildings on their layouts, Gieringer was constructing his with lapped siding, individually shingled roofs, framed windows; not printed, and laboriously made faux stained glass. Many of his buildings have interiors and reveal an attention to detail missing from that era, not to be found until recent decades.

Mr. Gieringer’s memorial at findagrave.com seems to confirm Wills’ thoughts,

Laurence T. Gieringer (13 Jun 1893 - 13 Jan 1963)

At the turn of the century, near Reading, Pennsylvania, Laurence Gieringer, age 5, often looked out of his bedroom window at night, gazing toward nearby Neversink Mountain. Crowning the mountain was the Highland Hotel with lights that twinkled and beckoned. To little Laurence, the glittering white building looked like something from a fairy tale, small enough to pick up and carry home. One day, the boy decided to do just that. Leaving the safety of his backyard, he set off through the woods to find the mountain top and the "toy" building. The inevitable happened. Laurence became bewildered, then completely lost. After a frightening night alone in the woods, he was found by anxious searchers the next morning. Despite this experience, the boy was to retain his interest in "toy" houses for the rest of his life. 

Going to work at age 16, Laurence, after a start in the printing trade, became a carpenter and painter, work which he felt gave more scope to his particular talents. Always he continued to work on his hobby of making model buildings. Skillfully, he whittled at blocks of wood, fashioning them to his dream of a miniature village … a church … bridges … a horse-drawn carriage … stables … farmhouses. He knew nothing of drawing to scale, yet arbitrarily established a size of 3/8" to the foot, which he adhered to in all his modeling. 

And Mr. Gieringer’s granddaughter, Dolores Heinsohn, also backs this up in an interview with Penn Live / Patriot-News on how he got started on his life’s work,

“In 1903, when he was about nine years old, him and his brother were chased out of the house, as young boys, because they were underfoot in the kitchen - they were stealing the dough that my great grandmother was baking,” Dolores said. “They climbed up on top of the mountain at Mount Penn, near the [Reading Pagoda]. And they looked over the city of Reading. And they hatched this idea of building miniature buildings.”

As he grew older and honed his skills, Gieringer began to craft everything to scale — 3/8th of an inch to one foot - and continued making models as a hobby on his off hours. It was a hobby that Gieringer would continue for all of his life, Dolores said, and one that he made public following his victory in a Christmas contest published in the Reading Eagle in 1935.

Wills also mentions in his column that Mr. Gieringer published a number of articles in Lionel’s Model Builder magazine in the ‘30s and ‘40s. Several were about how to construct model buildings. This caught my attention. It looks like Mr. Gieringer is the only person I’ve found so far who clearly got started by practicing that old miniature buildings hobby - I dare say folk art - and migrated to the more modern hobby of model railroading, bringing the full force of the skills he had developed and offering them as examples to follow in the pages of a popular model railroading magazine. If you’re a longtime reader here you know I think E. L. Moore also took the folk art to model railroading path, but I don’t have as strong a link, other than his early practice was more characteristic of the folk art sensibility than model railroading. This is all speculation on my part, and with speculation being a foundational principle of the internet, all my ramblings need to be taken with a grain-of-salt :-)

Anyway, Vince did some great work and found a list of Mr. Gieringer’s Model Builder publications (As always though, I take responsibility for the content here, so if you have any issues with or questions about the list, please let me know):

1938

Jan / Feb: 35 Year Old City

1941

Oct: World’s Largest Model Railroad

1945

Jan: How to Make Trees, Part 1

Feb: How to Make Trees, Part 2

Mar: How to Make Foot Bridges

Oct: Down by the Old Grist Mill

Nov: Modern Store Block

Dec: Model Foundry

1946

Jan: Rock Work

Apr: Electric Shop

Sep: Gas Station

Oct: Vacation Whistle Stop

Nov: Down on the Farm

Dec: Old Red Barn

1947

Jan: Chicken on Dutch Rye

Feb: Cart & Wagon Wheels

Mar: Wagon and Chassis

Sep: Express and Huckster Wagons

It isn’t an extensive publication list, but the models he shows, and the techniques he discusses, are high quality, as Keith Wills mentioned.

As far as I can tell, Mr. Gieringer didn’t publish in Model Railroader or Railroad Model Craftsman, but ads in MR indicate he did publish some articles in Toy Trains magazine, which I haven’t yet seen.

It’s another piece in the puzzle about model railroading's roots. The search continues!

Studio Model at the Hollywood Heritage Museum

Studio Model overview from above the front gates

We were in Los Angeles last week, and one afternoon we took a little side trip to see the vintage miniature Hollywood diorama at the Hollywood Heritage Museum.

It turns out the majority of the diorama is housed off-site at the museum's annex on Hollywood Boulevard. The annex wasn't open when we visited, but there was a module on display at the museum, the Studio Model, and it was certainly worth dropping by.

To recap a bit, in the 1930s Joseph Pelkofer, a cabinet maker, and a team of around 25 built a diorama - maybe layout would be a better term - of central Hollywood as it was at the time. The layout measured around 11' x 12', and included 450 or so buildings. It's currently being restored by the museum. 

Section of wild west backlot scene

Apparently the Studio Model doesn't represent any particular Hollywood studio, but was meant to illustrate the main elements that comprise one. The miniature buildings are quite well executed, but to me the most interesting items are the back lot sets which include a wild west town, a winter scene, ruins, a sea port from the days of sail, and what looks like a desert scene.

It's not clear what the scale is, but I'd say it's definitely smaller than HO; maybe around TT (1:120); the figures seemed a little too tall for N (1:160). 

There's a lot more film memorabilia in the museum than this module, and the museum building itself is a piece of Hollywood history. The staff were friendly and helpful, and didn't mind thoughtfully answering my odd questions. It's a fascinating place to visit.

I did a little searching to see if I could find anymore information about Joe Pelkofer and his Hollywood layout. Nothing turned up in the Model Railroader archive, but I wouldn't be surprised to find something in Model Craftsman, although I don't have many issues from the '30s.

One interesting detour showed up in Popular Mechanics. In the July 1938 issue they've highlighted on the cover a story about a huge layout built on a Hollywood sound stage for a movie then in production. They don't name the movie, but after a little digging it turns out to be something called Four's a Crowd that was released in 1938. This seems like an A-list feature as it stars Errol Flynn, Olivia de Havilland, Rosalind Russell, and Patrick Knowles. The giant layout isn't owned and operated by any of that four, no, it's the domain of actor Walter Connolly, who plays an eccentric millionaire. 

Lucky for us the movie is available online. You get the first glimpse of the layout around the 17 minute mark, and it doesn't fail to impress.

From Pimisi to the IPMS show at the Canadian War Museum

Pimisi Station as seen from the roof of the Canadian War Museum

I think one of the measures of success for a light rail system is whether it can change people's behaviours about how they choose to get around in a city. Commuters are usually the main target, and maybe the easiest, as they often don't have a choice. Discretionary travel is another story. Several friends have told me they won't ever use the OTrain to get downtown, or anywhere else. They'll use their car no matter what. I think I'm in some sort of middle ground. I don't like navigating snarled-up city traffic, or looking for a parking spot. If I can take the train somewhere, I will, but if there's something unusual about the trip, like I have a lot of stuff to schlep, or people to transport, I'd use my car. If it's just me going somewhere, I'll take the train if it's going my way. I think part of it is nostalgia, not to mention laziness about not dealing with the hassle of a car just to move me around. The nostalgia bit is from all those years I lived in Toronto. The TTC was how I got around, especially on the subway. So, maybe early exposure as a boy, along with good memories of freedom, have predisposed me to using the train.  

Half of Pimisi station

I found out the local IPMS chapter was holding their 2019 contest and show, CapCon 2019, at the Canadian War Museum, and with the Pimisi station on the Confederation Line just a 5 or 6 minute walk away, I decided to take the train to see the show, museum and station. I hadn't been to one of these shows in well over ten years, so I was curious to see what, if anything, was new.

From the other posts in this series you may think Ottawa is perpetually sunny; let me disabuse you of that perception :-) It was mild this morning, but there was a steady rain, so these pictures are going to look a little wet and grey. 

Ignoring the bike lane

If you read yesterday's post about bicycle access to the stations, you may be interested to learn there is a dedicated bike lane at Pimisi too. But, unfortunately, if you look closely at the photo, that bicyclist has decided not to use it and take his chances in traffic. 

Setting up the model show

The Canadian War Museum is a difficult building to photograph, but it's a fascinating structure, and no doubt there are great photos to be found online that will give you a general sense of the place. Scale models are also difficult to photograph - well, difficult for me - so I'm not posting any. The show was set up, surrounded by the museum's tank collection, on standard issue conference tables draped with white sheets. I understand why such tables are used, but I don't think they show the models, and all the skillful work that has gone into them, to best advantage. 

The Taking of Vimy Ridge, Easter Monday 1917 by Richard Jack

The corridor leading to the show has a sobering display of several large war paintings. They alone were worth the price of admission.

M3A1 Stuart Tank

I had a look at the tanks before leaving the show. I know nothing about tanks, although I did recognize the little Stuart tank from DC's Haunted Tank series. I was surprised at how small it is.

Peace Tower from the roof of the Canadian War Museum

I was surprised to learn the war museum has a partial grass roof. The building incorporates a ramp up to the roof, and you're free to go up and have a look at the views. Unlike yesterday where I had to thrash my way through tall wild plants, here was a pleasant stroll to a grassy overlook. The dead centre gothic spire with the flag on top is the Peace Tower at the Parliament buildings.

Ok, just to wrap up I'll contradict myself - it won't be the first time :-) - and end with a partial photo of the museum. No doubt I'll make another trip out there to view the museum's displays in more detail.