Tiger Tracks was a huge success!

Thanks to everyone who came out to support Tiger Tracks 2012! We broke records for attendance this year, reaching nearly 3,000 visitors for the weekend! Our event was covered by the local newspaper, as well as WHAM-13. The train show is our largest fundraiser for our club, which helps us finance our club activities, mainly building a new model railroad down in the basement of the Student Union! Watch for updates throughout the year as we mark the progress on the new and improved version of the Rochester & Irondequoit Terminal!

Tiger Tracks is this weekend!

We had our staff meeting the other night to go over the last minute details for our Tiger Tracks Train Show & Sale this weekend. We're really excited to host the largest train show in Rochester! We also want to thank everyone for their support of the RIT Model Railroad Club.

The Tiger Tracks Train Show & Sale takes place at the Gordon Field House on the RIT campus in Henrietta, New York. Saturday we are open from 10:00-5:00, and on Sunday from 10:00-4:00. Parking is free and the venue is wheelchair accessible. For details and directions, please visit our web site. See you this weekend!

Happy Thanksgiving!

From everyone at the RIT Model Railroad Club, have a happy and safe Thanksgiving holiday! School is on break this week, but we'll be back soon, making final preparations for our Tiger Tracks Train Show! This big two-day event is our primary fundraiser and open house event of the season. Hope to see you there!

The completed staging and helix

Just as a quick preface, a quick introduction. I'm Matt Glazer, alumni member Otto Vondrak ('99) has also helped with a semi-weekly or so update on the progress of our layout. I'm currently a second year electrical engineering major and I am Secretary for RITMRC. So in between the mountains of circuits and code that I dig through every day I manage some time to play with trains and build things. :)

So within the last three weeks, we have completed both staging and the helix. This finishes off the goal of having everything required for those two projects ready for our show, Tiger Tracks. The staging yard was finished quickly after a redesign of the yard, with almost half the yard built in under a day. The helix was a bit more tricky to finished, due to unforeseen issues with the shape of our room (there is no such thing as a 90 degree angle), we had to re-cut some of the trapezoidal pieces used.

 The very beginning of our yard, we were gauging how well our set up was going to work and ironing out the final design.

 The final step for bench work before the yard could be installed was to finish off the plywood connection leading up the the helix.

Ryan and I decided to use a conveniently located piece of 3/4" plywood, can anyone guess what this was once for?

 Ryan proudly showing off the remnants of the sign and what is soon to be part of the layout.

The left most two track ladders leading into the yard are completed and track has been laid beyond.

 The view from the other side as we were working on it.

 TRAINS! when there's track there will be trains, at this point we had the full loop completed in the back so you could run a train up through both parts of staging and up the helix and back again, in a very simplified form, our layout now has a U shaped track path.

Ryan works on installing the next switch in the ladder, one more after that and we had the ladder finished.

 With the final ladder done, it wasn't long until we were completely done, I was working on drilling the holes for the feeders while Ryan took a quick break from soldering track together.

Elliot jumps in and helps out by cutting some of the track to the correct length with the dremel.

Phil sets the track in place and nails it down as we get closer to finishing staging.

 A crowd gathers as we complete the last segment of track in the staging yard.

David watches as one of the first trains leaves staging towards the helix.

Here's the completed yard, you can see the loop in the back that connects both of the yards together and allows for continuous running.

The first circle of the helix goes up, definitely a work in progress at this point.

We had to stop about here due to the issues in continuing construction, but we got about half way with the entire build.

Working on fixing a straight bit of track that managed to get into the curve on the helix.

Two trains running in what we had done for the helix, doesn't that just look awesome? The caboose is a special piece in our collection from our late club advisor, the late Prof. Scudder. We ran it on the rear of the train as a bit of a "victory lap" before replacing it in its display case.

 We re-purposed some of the old cars in the club to become a new work train, only one car is shown here but the final product has an engine and a couple of hopper cars for track nails, ties and joiners.

 There's enough clearance in the helix to run overhead power (you didn't hear me say that)!  We can run anything we want through the helix, even auto racks and other oversize cars.

With finals week being this week and thanksgiving break coming up next week, there wont be too much more to show for now. Tiger Tracks is coming up soon, the weekend of week one, and there will be plenty of information coming up for that. So that's it for now, I'm going to dive back into that growing pile of school work that is probably going to eat me alive, hope everyone enjoys the update on the RIT Model Railroad Club's new layout!

--Matt Glazer

November 10 Progress Report

With the staging yard complete and both yards connected by the continuous running loop track, attention returned to finishing the helix. Alumni member (and club co-founder) Tom Rohatsch ('01) stopped by to help with construction. Ryan Bailly is inside the helix, and club president J.C. Mayer is standing at right... in the spotlight!

Alumni member E.J. Ryder ('01) (our Chief Engineer for the new layout construction project), Elliot Courtney, and Phillip Sutter were also on hand. They helped clean up the room a bit and get some of our materials better organized. As we continue to fill the room with a model railroad, we're going to have less and less space to store "stuff."

Alumni member (and club co-founder) Otto Vondrak ('99) came in and helped J.C. hang up some of our club room decorations, including the Genesee Clock, a new tack board, some "historic" club member photos, and some of our framed posters.

Helix construction continued through the afternoon and into the evening.

 Drew and Charles discuss the finer points of railway operation using eight-axle locomotives. Completed staging yard and return loop is behind them.

The majority of new helix construction was completed by the evening, with help from a cast of thousands. Phillip Sutter took over laying track for a while.

Charles Rothbart keeps an eye on the first train steadily making the climb up the new helix levels.

Glazer is in his hole trying to figure out a mysterious short circuit that appeared in the staging yard. It's exam week here at RIT, so progress will probably slow down a bit as we head into the holiday break. Our Tiger Tracks Train Show is just around the corner!

October 30 club meeting photos

 

President J.C. Mayer watches as a very peculiar "mixed train" makes its way through the first completed sections of the helix. This structure will allow trains to climb out of hidden staging into the visible portions of the model railroad.

 

 

Prof. Scudder would be proud... A proper Pennsy K4 makes its way along freshly laid tracks, past the temporary set-up for the DCC command station and power boosters.

 

J.C. conducts the Tuesday meeting and gets everyone up to speed.

 

 

At the Tuesday meeting, we finalized the design of the hidden staging yard, essentially allowed for "four east" and "four west" connected by return loop. Matt Glazer takes inventory of our remaining switches and track.

And then there was a helix

As has been posted already, our helix has started to take shape. It wasn't an easy process, but progress has been steady, with one loop completed. Our helix was designed to use trapezoidal pieces to form an overall circle, for the most part it has worked well. We did however hit a major snag when the pieces stopped lining up when they should have, thankfully it turned out one of the segments was an inch longer than it should have been and it was promptly fixed and work continued slowly. the next challenge to overcome is a change in design in the trapezoids and making sure we can line them up properly with the already built helix structure, once we get past the first segment on the new pieces, the rest should all drop into place and the helix will be completed!

In other news, we got our first delivery of track, switches and cork, along with the club picking up some new track nails, wire and solder. We're good to being laying track! (as you see we've already started too)

Time for some pictures after the break:

Helix construction begins

Construction of the double-track helix was started at our Saturday Work Session. The helix structure is what will carry our main line from the staging level up to the visible portion of the model railroad.

RITMRC visits R&GVRRM and NYMT

Last Sunday, members from the RIT Model Railroad Club visited the Rochester & Genesee Valley Railroad Museum and the New York Museum of Transportation. These two museums are connected by their own private two-mile demonstration railroad constructed by volunteers more than 20 years ago. Starting at the NYMT, the club boarded a 1925 vintage interurban trolley that originally served the suburbs of Philadelphia before it was retired in the 1990s. At the halfway point, appropriately named "Midway," we boarded the diesel-powered train that took us the rest of the way to Industry Depot, home of the R&GVRRM. Many RITMRC alumni volunteer here, including Joe Nugent (past RITMRC president and current R&GVRRM vice president), club advisor Dave Scheiderich (current R&GVRRM trustee member), volunteer Mike Walsh (past RITMRC club officer), and Otto Vondrak (R&GVRRM trustee member). Joe Nugent showed us around "behind the scenes" including the restoration shop where old trains go in to become new again. We look forward to visiting again, and possibly volunteering in the future. The museums are open for train rides on Sundays through November 4.

Construction continues on new layout

Construction of our new model railroad continues, with many of our members (and alumni) helping along the way. You can usually find us down in our club room (Room A-420 in the Student Union) on Tuesday nights, stop by and see what we're up to!

Syracuse Train Fair: The RITMRC will be traveling to the Syracuse Train Fair, which takes place November 3 and 4 at the New York State Fairgrounds. It is one of the largest train shows in the region, and there's always something new to see (and buy). Are you an RIT student who wants to join us? Call us at 475-2227 and you can tag along!

We meet Tuesdays at 7:00pm

We've just started constructing our new model railroad! First comes the benchwork, which provides a solid foundation for the model railroad that will go on top of it. It doesn't look like much yet, but these are the important first steps to building our new railroad empire. Want to see what we're all about? Want to lend a hand? We're usually down in the club room Tuesday evenings (A-420 in the basement level of the SAU), give us a call at 475-2227 and let us know you're coming down.

Welcome New Students & A New Academic Year!

Summer is almost over, and we're getting ready to start the 2012-13 school year at RIT.  Are you coming to RIT this fall? If you're interested in scale models, electronics, and most importantly, TRAINS, then we'd like to meet you! We're in the process of designing a new model railroad to replace our old one, and we can certainly use your help. There's no requirement on what sort of skill sets you have; we're looking for motivated people who enjoy working on projects and want to design and build a railroad! Model railroading is a great hobby, and we'll have members on hand to assist in learning the ropes of our club and the hobby of HO-scale model railroading. We need folks from every major, so don't be shy to see what we're about!

Our first meeting of the academic year will be this Tuesday, September 4th at 7pm in our club room. We're located in Room A-420 in the lower level of the Student Union (across from Tech Crew).  If you're a new student, this would be your best chance to meet some of our senior club members and discover what we're about.

The End of An Era...And The Beginning of A New One

 "Last Run" ceremonies held in front of Goodman Street Yard tower on May 20, 2012. An HO scale version of the late Prof. Scudder (left) looks on as Otto Vondrak and Tom Rohatsch bid farewell to R&IT v1.0. The caboose and switcher were custom painted by alum Joe Werner, the GP38 was custom painted by Mike Smith. Photo by Otto Vondrak

Saturday, June 9, 2012 marked the end of an era in the RIT Model Railroad Club's history. After 15 long years of consistent work, design, and innovation, the rails of the R&IT have been removed. The club's HO scale railroad modeled after the city of Rochester has been dismantled to make way for a new one. No words can describe the amount of excitement this layout has brought to the many individuals involved in creating it, as well as those who operated it through the years. The actions of the founding members, who had to scrape and claw their way to establishing a club and layout, certainly can never be forgotten.

This layout was a good representation of accomplishing a lot with very little. When the club first started in 1996, there was barely a penny to be found in the operating budget. Most of the bench work came from materials that were either donated (including some from construction sites on the RIT campus) or scrounged (including from an alumni member's old roof)! Not only was money tight, but space was limited as well. Thanks to the efforts of our Club Advisor, the late Prof. James F. Scudder, we were able to secure a permanent space to house our model railroad. The constraints were initially defined by Student Government, who insisted we could only use half of the room as we were to share space with the Model Airplane Club. Fortunately, they never moved in and we were left to A420 for ourselves.

These demands didn't seem to alter the determination of the founding club members to establish a layout, however. They were motivated and destined to prove that RIT could build and maintain a model railroad layout, and ultimately they succeeded. Most of the early success can be attributed to Prof. Scudder, who was the essential glue that held our fledgling club together, and helped lay the foundation essential to developing the layout. If he was still alive today, I feel confident he would be proud to see how far this club and layout has managed to come in just 15 years.

Prof. Scudder discusses plans with SG's Club Coordinator, 1997. Photo by Otto Vondrak

Given the unusual shape of the room and our early direction to only use half of it, this had an underlying limiting effect as to just how far this layout could go. The early club members realized this, and thanks to help from Prof. Scudder, they were able to maximize the use of the space provided. Financing the construction of the model railroad was another matter, however. Until we could prove the viability of our club, our budget was just enough to pay for our office expenses and not much more. Aside from the founding members pitching in their own meager funds, the club took to collecting bottles and cans around campus and redeeming them for deposits. Through hard work and determination, the club held its "Golden Spike" open house on April 1, 1997, and christened the start of a new model railroad.

E.J. Ryder III ('00), Otto Vondrak ('99), and Tom Rohatsch ('00) spending Spring Break '97 assembling the benchwork for the R&IT, March 1997. E.J. is standing where the Amtrak station would eventually go, Otto and Tom are standing on the area occupied by the brewery. Photo by J.F. Scudder

Those founding members realized that construction could not be financed by bottles and cans alone. A more sustainable fundraiser was needed. Once again, they showed their determination by starting their own annual train shows hosted in the SAU Cafeteria. Quickly outgrowing that space, the train show moved to the newly opened Gordon Field House and became what we now know as Tiger Tracks, now the largest train show in the Rochester area. Their hard work has provided the club with a sustainable operating budget, one they couldn't have ever dreamed of 15 years ago. On behalf of the current members of RITMRC, I would like to extend my greatest gratitude to all the alumni members who aided in advancement of this club and layout.

From a current club member's stance as we look to the future, we can learn from and build upon both the successes and failures from the past 15 years, and model ourselves after the determination and grit of the dedicated individuals who came before us to provide us this opportunity. Although this is the end of a chapter on the R&IT that began on April 1, 1997, it certainly is not the end of the story. Our new layout seeks only to improve and utilize all resources available to us and continue the tradition of ingenuity.

—J.C. Mayer, RITMRC President

The RITMRC Pledge of Allegiance:

I pledge allegiance to the railroad

of the RIT Model Railroad Club

and to the trains for which it holds

one layout under the Stage,

with electricity and scenery for all.

"Ship and Travel Genesee Route!"

End of the 2011-2012 Academic Year

This past Friday marked the end of the academic year here at RIT. We hope all of our members enjoyed the themselves, and we look forward to seeing everyone next September to kick-off the 2012-2013 academic year!

Information regarding Tiger Tracks has been updated on our webpage (ritmrc.org/TigerTracks). If you have any questions regarding the show, please contact us by email info@ritmrc.org or by phone (585) 475-2227.

Imagine RIT Approaching...

Join the RIT Model Railroad Club Saturday May 5th, 2012 beginning at 10am as we open our doors and welcome visitors for Imagine RIT! Our club room is located on the RIT campus in the Student Alumni Union (SAU) room A420. We will have our Rochester & Irondequoit Terminal ("R&IT") HO-scale model railroad in operation for public viewing. We also will have several club members on staff to answer questions pertaining to the hobby of model railroading or railroading in general. Our layout has been a work in progress since 1996 when the club was founded. For more information about Imagine RIT, visit www.rit.edu/imagine. We will be open May 5th from 10am to 4pm. A reminder our email is info@ritmrc.org, and our phone is 585-475-2227. All-aboard and we hope to see everyone on the "Genesee Route" May 5th!


More information pertaining to Tiger Tracks 2012 will be coming soon, but the dates have been scheduled for December 8th and 9th!

Operating Session

Recently the RIT Model Railroad club held an operating session with new members of the club! For those who are unfamiliar, an operating session is where we operate our layout in a prototypical fashion, "simulating" a real day on the railroad. We hope our new members enjoyed themselves and got accustomed to what it's like to bring these HO-scale trains to life! We hope to have more of these in the future! We would like to invite everyone to our club room on Saturday May 5th as we take part in Imagine RIT! Check back soon for more details, and visit www.rit.edu/Imagine !

Spring Quarter Is Here!

It seems as if it was just yesterday that September welcomed a new academic year at RIT, but it is quickly passing by. This week marks the beginning of the spring quarter here at RIT, and 10 more weeks of class! We hope everyone is as excited as we are about spring and class approaching. Just a reminder our phone number is 585-475-2227 and our e-mail is info@ritmrc.org for any questions or conversations you might want to have about HO-scale modeling and or railroading in general. You can usually find us down in the club room most Tuesday evenings, so feel free to drop by for a visit. Don't forget our Tiger Tracks Train Show 2012 is December 8th and 9th!!

Amherst Railway Society Train Show

(We stopped by the Carsten's Publications booth to see alumnist Otto Vondrak ('99). Pictured here are several club members who went on the trip; from left: Kyle Mark, J.C. Mayer, Matt Glazer, John Spezia)

It's great to be back in 2012! Last weekend, RITMRC attended the Amherst Railway Society Train Show (www.railroadhobbyshow.com)! For many of us, this was our first time seeing a show of this magnitude. We would like to thank everyone who came up to say hello, and hope you enjoyed this show as much as we did. We look forward to attending this show next year, and certainly learned a lot for coming back next year!


More info on Tiger Tracks 2012 will be coming in the future!