REMINDER

FIELD TRIP, WEDNESDAY APRIL 27:

Heritage Acres &

Vancouver Island Model Engineers

VRMNC Field Trips has arranged for a guided walking tour of the Heritage Acres and Vancouver Island Model Engineers on Wednesday, April 27 at 10:00 a.m. to 12:15 p.m. Doug Philp and Geoff Owen, who are both VRMNC members and Heritage Acres volunteers, will be on site for the tour.

Heritage Acres has a collection of more than 30,000 artifacts in their collection. The collection ranges from industrial steam engines to antique thimbles, medical equipment and antique recording machines. It even includes over 2000 old Edison records

Vancouver Island Model Engineers is a club dedicated to Model Engineering in all forms. While many club members have an interest in railways, this in not true of all, and many of our members model items such as aircraft, boats, engines of various types, and even clocks.

At 10:00 a.m. there will be welcome and introduction by Phil, President of the Saanich Historical Artifacts Society, which will be followed by a 45 minute walkabout, escorted by Phil, Bob and Claude. Footwear suitable for walking on gravel roadways is recommended. The walkabout will include stops at the following points of interest:

• The Hatch car shed - Highly detailed, fully working models of streetcars that ran in Victoria and Saanich until 1948.

• The Moody-Gosset Building - Prefabricated corrugated-iron residential building made in England in 1859. Fully restored and furnished with artifacts of the period.

• Pioneer church - Built from material milled on site. It is used for weddings at a reasonable price.

• Willard Mitchell Building Museum - Restored Steam Engine and Tractor, Businesses of 1800’s; Printer, Shoemaker, office and Household items, musical instruments, period machine shop, farm implements

• The Tillicum Building - Several fully restored carriages, cars and trucks

• The Carpenter’s shop - Fully equipped and functioning workshop where on-site milled lumber is turned into buildings, furnishings and decorations

• The Blacksmith’s shop - Fully equipped with a trip-hammer and two working forges

• The Wirtanen Building (The “Work Building”) - Comprehensively equipped metal fabrication and machine shop where much of the restoration of the machinery takes place. See a fascinating partly-restored Case steam tractor.

• The Machine Shed - an amazing collection of tractors and farm implements

• The Newman Building - Beautiful boats, models and photography by John Newman. Collection of outboard motors, marine engines and other nautical items

• Vancouver Island Model Engineers - Museum, Rail carriage, Scale model trains over extensive rail network

Between 10:45 and 12:15, you can walk around at your leisure and visit the areas that are of special interest to you.

It was not possible to make a group lunch reservation. However, for those interested in going for lunch, the Prairie Inn Neighbourhood Pub at 7806 East Saanich Road, Saanichton (at the corner of Mt. Newton Crossing Rd. and East Saanich Rd.) is nearby.

WHERE: Heritage Acres, 7321 Lochside Drive, Saanichton

WHO: Members and partners and guests who are interested in joining VRMNC.

DATE: Wednesday, April 27, 2022

TIME: 10:00 a.m. for tour

COST: $5.00/person minimum donation to be placed in donation box at the entrance to the museum building

PARKING: After entering the property, there is parking available to the left of the driveway, a short distance from the entrance gate. There will be a sign directing you to parking and another sign or person directing you to the schoolhouse where the tour begins.

TICKETS: Just reply to this Newsletter "YES with your name", (will reply to FieldTrips@VRMNC.ca, no attendee limit but need to know headcount for logistics).

NOTE: Field Trips Homepage

VRMNC WEBSITE LINKS