Dawn of an age

Back in the mid 1970's there existed a group known as the Vancouver Area N Scalers (VANS) whose members 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. One module was 8 feet long and still exists as part of a former member's home layout.

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

Moving ahead to the early 80's, a group of N scalers assembled from customers of George Carroll's and Steve Stark’s tiny 'Pacific N Scale' store In North Vancouver, were charged with building a Canadian Pacific themed layout for a railway themed exhibition at the Burnaby Art Gallery, held in 1982. This 40 foot long layout 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) and was also displayed at the NMRA convention in Winnipeg in 1983 and the Glenbow Museum in Calgary in 1983 and 1984, before returning to Vancouver.

While portable, the exhibition layout was not modular as we understand the term today. Significantly, a number of early N scale devotees had become friends by the culmination of this project.