As model railroaders from across the prairies get set for the show coming up in Moose Jaw March 24th and 25th, the local Thunder Creek Club is working on a special project.

President Barry Johnson says they've been working with Wakamow on a piece that everyone is sure to find interesting. "Wakamow had a bridge built by the military engineers and they have a model that they want to have on display, so we discussed it and thought it would be a good project to do for the club and show off to the public."

The model of the Saulteaux Suspension Bridge will be on display as part of the model train show being held at the Western Development Museum. The annual event is a great showcase of the various techniques used to create some amazing scenes featuring trains, but the larger scale of the suspension bridge allowed club members to hone those same skills.

"It's good for being able to see what's going on because it's in 1/20th scale where we're usually (working) in 1/87th." said Johnson. "We have some pictures to go by and we create a similar landscape to what's there and then we make it look like how we envision it will look down the road."

The hardest part so far has been finding pieces of the right scale to match the bridge model that the engineers left behind. After that, creating the river that runs under the bridge is likely the hardest technique according to Johnson.  He says it's a multi step process that starts with building the banks of the river, painting the water using different shades of colour to represent different depths and then pouring in a special lacquer to give the feeling of water flowing through the channel.