Another successful Tiger Tracks Train Show!

 

Another Tiger Tracks Train Show is in the books! Thank you to everyone who braved the snow storms this past weekend to attend our show, and visit our new layout under construction in the Student Union. Attendance was a little lower than we would have liked (thanks to the snow), but otherwise it was a great weekend for everyone involved. Thank you to our sponsors, our vendors, and most of all, our kind visitors! We'll see you again next year for the 9th Annual Tiger Tracks Train Show & Sale on December 13-14, 2014!

Getting used to the new semester schedule, RITMRC will be closed for most of the month of January. Through the rest of the year we'll be working on getting in all the sidings, fine tuning the electrical, and getting block detection installed. We'll most likely have another public open house in May, stay tuned for details.

Happy Holidays and best wishes for a Happy New Year from the RIT Model Railroad Club!

Toasting the main line, getting ready for Tiger Tracks!

Just prior to Thanksgiving break, the first train made a complete circuit of the entire new main line under its own power for the first time! Not a bad benchmark of progress since just a little more than a year ago we were faced with an empty clubroom in need of a layout. Upon our return from break, we had a brief organizational meeting on December 4 to discuss details related to our upcoming Tiger Tracks Train Show this weekend. Following the meeting, some local alumni members joined us for a special toast celebrating the completion of the new main line.

Phil pours sparkling cider for the toast on December 4.

Many RITMRC alumni joined us for this historic event celebrating the completion of the new main line on R&IT v2.0.

RITMRC co-founder and past president Tom Rohatsch admires a long mixed freight traversing the crossover and curves at CP 373.

The RIT Model Railroad Club is proud to present Tiger Tracks, the largest train show in Rochester! Fun for the whole family, you'll enjoy two days of vendors, museum displays, operating model railroads in all scales, exciting door prizes and more. Trains and tracks, scenery, accessories, books, videos, gifts, railroad memorabilia, and more. See progress on the new HO scale Rochester & Irondequoit Terminal. Free parking. Handicap accessible. Refreshments available. Close to many hotels and malls, and only 20 minutes south of downtown Rochester. ALL ABOARD!  

Saturday, December 14, 2013 - 10:00am - 5:00pm
Sunday, December 15, 2013 - 10:00am - 4:00pm

Admission: $5.00 Adults - $3.00 Seniors (65+)
Children under 12 FREE with paid adult 

RIT students, faculty, and staff FREE with I.D.

Main line track completed!

Well, it's been a busy couple of weeks down in Room A420! During the weekend of November 9, we completed the main line subroadbed, with the last section going in between CP 373 and High Falls. This past weekend we finished laying cork roadbed from Lockport through CP 373 to High Falls, which meant that we were ready for track! With two teams working throughout the day, track was installed from Lockport, through the CP 373 interlocking, all the way to High Falls.

An unofficial "golden spike" was driven on Saturday, November 16, at 7:15pm at a location in between Albion and CP 373 by vice president Matt Glazer. Everyone was very excited, since it was a little more than a year ago that we were faced with an empty room ready to be filled with a new layout! The electrical team will continue working over the next few weeks to get much needed power to our tracks. Our goal is to run trains on the main line as a demonstration during our upcoming Tiger Tracks Train Show & Sale.

This coming weekend we have cancelled the work session so that we can attend the WNYRHS 32nd Annual Greater Buffalo Train & Toy Show at the Hamburg Fairgrounds. The weekend after that is Thanksgiving, and we'll be home celebrating with our families. We return in December, and we'll be making the big push to clean up the layout room and get ready for Tiger Tracks on December 15-15! Follow along on our Facebook fan page as we get ready for the big show. See you in December...

 

Completed subroadbed leading from CP 373 around the bend towards High Falls. At this location, the roadbed is supporting the two-track CSX/R&IT main line as well as the parallel Rochester & Southern (ex-B&O) line.

Jimmy lays cork on the CSX/R&IT main line.

We're told this jumble of wires is what makes the trains go.

Kyle and David S. install track on the CSX/R&IT main line near High Falls.

Laying track through the future Albion scene on the R&IT Falls Road Secondary.

 The "golden spike" uniting all of the main line trackage was driven on Saturday, November 16, at 7:15 p.m.

Club members gather at the site of the "golden spike" to celebrate.

See more photos on our Facebook fan page!

Main line subroadbed completed!

On Saturday, November 9, at 3:03 p.m, Chief Engineer and alumni advisor E.J. Ryder drove in the last screw to join together the main line subroadbed at High Falls, completing the route from end to end! A crew consisting of Nick, Corey, James, and Otto completed the plywood subroadbed supports and began to lay cork to support the track. Elliot, Jimmy, and David S. worked on track in Niagara Falls. Charles and Matt Glazer started enforcing the wiring plan. Phil Tifone stopped by and offered assistance building a wooden cabinet to hold our power boosters and provide a place to mount auto-reverser components. A very busy day indeed! See more photos on our Facebook page.

Don't forget, our 2013 Tiger Tracks Train Show is only a month away! You won't want to miss Rochester's largest train show, held on campus at the RIT Gordon Field House on December 14-15. Please visit our web site for details.

Our next meeting will take place Tuesday, November 12, at 7:00 p.m. in Room A420 in the basement level of the Student Union. Come down and join us!

Work session this weekend

Subroadbed construction continues its march around the peninsula headed for High Falls. We will have several crews working this weekend. One group will work on subroadbed, another will work on completing track in Niagara Falls, another group will work on wiring and circuits, and yet another will be doing research on scenery and dioramas. It's going to be a busy day! Want to join us? We usually get started Saturdays at 11:00 a.m. in Room A420 in the basement level of the Student Union.

Syracuse Train Show, no work session this weekend

RITMRC will be visiting the Great New York State Model Train Fair at the state fairgrounds in Syracuse on Saturday. Because we expect to be there most of the day, we have cancelled our regular Saturday work session for November 2. Our meetings will resume on Tuesday, November 5 at 7:00pn in Room A420 in the Student Alumni Union.

Stilson visits, backdrop expands, roadbed extended

Many projects saw progress on Saturday, October 26. A number of people came down to help (and to cheer us on) as we advanced through the day.

 

Corey and Jimmy apply the first coat of spackle to hide masonite joints and cover screw holes. This helps complete the double-sided backdrop down the middle of the peninsula, separating the Main Street scene from the B&O interchange at CP 373.

 

Phil and Otto worked together to install subroadbed for the section of main line from the east end of Niagara Falls through the Lockport scene. The gap over the future Erie Canal was bridged with a temporary support that will carry our tracks until the permanent model of the famous "upside down" bridge is installed.

Alum Chris Stilson (EE '06) paid us a visit to help lead the discussion on our DCC wiring plan. Club president J.C. Mayer (left) and Charles (right) discuss a possible signal block solution for the future CP 373 scene.

Our next meeting will be Tuesday, October 29. This Saturday we will be visiting the Great New York State Train Fair at the state fairgrounds in Syracuse, New York. If you'd like to join us, we will be leaving RITMRC at 8:00 a.m. Because we will be attending the train show, the Saturday work session has been cancelled.

2013 Club Cars for sale!

Our 2013 Club Car is here! This is a model of a 50-foot steel boxcar decorated as if the Rochester & Irondequoit Terminal was a subsidiary of Penn Central. The design is based on similar cars that were built for the Pittsburgh & Lake Erie. These kits are HO scale, manufactured in the USA by Accurail. We have done several cars with them in the past, and are very pleased with the results. Each car is $20.00 plus $7.00 shipping (we will combine shipping on multiple orders). For complete details, please visit our Club Car page. Order today, supplies are limited!

Brick City Open House this Saturday

We will be hosting an Open House during Brick City Homecoming Weekend on Saturday, October 12, from 10:00am to 3:00pm in Room A420 in the Student-Alumni Union. Come by and see the progress on our HO scale model railroad, the Rochester & Irondequoit Terminal. Our club members will be on hand to explain the process of construction and answer your questions about the hobby of model railroading. Some trains will be running on the portions of the main line we have completed so far. This event is free and open to everyone, so come on down!

On Sunday, October 13, we will be attending the Batavia Train Show to help promote our own show, Tiger Tracks 2013. The Batavia Train Show is full of vendors selling everything from track to trains to buildings and scenery to books and timetables and more. We're glad to support our friends at the Genesee Society of Model Engineers. We will be departing from the club room at 8:30am if you want to join us.

PCRRHS Open House Photos

We hosted our first open house with the new layout under construction on Friday, September 27, 2013, for members of the Penn Central Railroad Historical Society. We laid out our construction drawings and placed trains in strategic areas so that visitors would get an idea of what kind of operations we have planned for the future. Mike Smith brought his Penn Central-era models to make our visitors feel more at home! Our progress so far brought many favorable comments, and it was a great experience for our members as well. Here's just a few photos from that day.

 

Welcoming the PCRRHS

 

Visitors in the peninsula area between Albion and CP 373.

 

Matt Gazer acted as gatekeeper, since we could only comfortably fit about 10 visitors at a time.

 

PCRRHS members at the B&O interchange near CP 373.

 

We staged a train in front of the old Genesee Brewery salvaged from the old layout.

 

Club advisor Dave Scheiderich paid us a visit during the open house. A blueprint of a New York Central caboose was temporarily posted to the backdrop as decoration for the open house.

 

Matt Glazer and Mike Smith talk to a PCRRHS member about future plans.

 

Elliot and PCRRHS members in the area between Main Street and Niagara Falls.

 

A PCRRHS visitor snaps a picture of our future B&O Main Street Branch.

See more photos on our Facebook fan page!

An open house, and more layout work

On Friday, September 27, 41 members from the Penn Central Railroad Historical Society paid us a visit to see our model railroad under construction. To give a sense of what our railroad would look like when complete, we staged several trains around the benchwork (thanks to Mike Smith for bringing in all his Penn Central and Conrail transition era models), along with the full-size track drawing and scene photos. Our visitors gave high marks to our design, and complemented our presentation.

Work continued Saturday on the supports for the Albion deck through the Lockport scene, thanks to Phil, James, Jimmy, and David S. Meanwhile, measurements were made elsewhere for benchwork adjustments on the peninsula. Matt G. and Brian soldered power feeders in Irondequoit Yard.

Our next meeting will be Tuesday at 7:00pm in Room A420, while our next work session will be Saturday at 11:00am.

Albion nearly complete, backdrop expands, and a visit to the train museums

On Saturday, September 21, our work crews were at it again. One group completed the deck supports for Albion. We will install the plywood deck here once the tracks below in the Geneva Block are wired and tested. Another crew worked on the backdrop, completing the straight wall in the middle of the peninsula and installing part of a curved section near the future CP 373. Matt Glazer repaired the LED strip lighting above the Niagara Falls scene. A general clean-up took place towards the end of the session before we wrapped up for the day.

On Sunday morning, we headed down to visit the train museums. We began our trip at the New York Museum of Transportation, which is focused on the bus and trolley transportation history of Rochester. We explored some of their exhibits, which includes many trolley car bodies, transit artifacts, and a large freelanced HO scale model railroad display and an N scale representation of the Rochester Subway. After touring the museum, we boarded our trolley (a former Philadelphia & Western car that was retired from SEPTA in the 1990s) for the ride down to Midway.

 From left to right: (rear) alumni advisor Otto Vondrak and Matt Glazer, David S., Connor, Elliot, alumni advisor E.J. Ryder, J.C., and club advisor Dave Scheiderich.

At Midway we boarded a diesel powered train that took us down to Industry Depot and the Rochester & Genesee Valley Railroad Museum. Our train consisted of a restored Erie Railroad caboose and a Penn Central transfer caboose hauled by a former U.S. Army switcher. Alumni member Otto Vondrak met us at Industry and gave us a tour of the museum's displays. Our club advisor Dave Scheiderich later met us and took us on a "behind the scenes" tour of the restoration shop and other areas not normally open to the public. It helps that many of our members past and present are also volunteers at R&GVRRM! After our tour we boarded the train back to Midway, and took the trolley back to NYMT. Everyone had a great time and we can't wait for our next visit!

Our next general meeting will be Tuesday at 7:30pm, and our next work session will be Saturday at 11:00am. Come join us! Leave a message at 475-2227 or find us on Facebook!

Work session Saturday, museum visit Sunday

We're having a work session again this Saturday, starting at 11:00am. We invite all RIT students to come down and see what we're all about! From wiring digital circuits to building roadbed and laying track to driving a paint brush!

Sunday we will be visiting the New York Museum of Transportation and the Rochester & Genesee Valley Railroad Museum. Cost per person is $10.00. We will be meeting in the club room and departing at 11:00am, returning in the afternoon. Join us!

Backdrop grows, Albion takes shape, new freight cars are here!

Once again, we had several crews working on the layout this past Saturday. One crew consisting of Charles and Eve tackled painting the Irondequoit backdrop sky blue, then moving on to sealing the Niagara Falls deck with brown paint. Another crew consisting of Phil, David S., Fred, James, and Elliot tackled the construction of the supports for the Albion deck. This is the highest point on the railroad, and is key to completing the rest of the main line roadbed. Matt G. completed the track connection from Irondequoit Yard to High Falls, while Otto and Tim installed the masonite backdrop at High Falls (more photos to come). Once again, we made great strides before cleaning up at 5:00 and getting ready for our annual pizza party.

 

Backdrop installation at High Falls

At 6:30 we hosted our annual Kick-Off Pizza Party for new and old members alike. Alumni member and club co-founder Otto Vondrak gave a presentation on the history and theory behind our fictional railroad, the Rochester & Irondequoit Terminal. Otto also shared a brief show that featured photos of completed scenes from the old layout. Club advisor "SuperDave™" Scheiderich followed that with a presentation about the history of Rochester's railroads. Did you know at one time there were five different railroads plus trolleys and interurban lines serving the city? Now the major player is CSX, but a whole new group of short lines have emerged to provide local service. Following a break for dessert, David S. showed a brief show of some of his railfan activities from this past summer.

Otto had another surprise for us... Our 2013 club cars have arrived from Accurail! They fit the late-1960's era and are based on similar cars that were in the Pittsburgh & Lake Erie fleet. The "1829" number refers to the founding date of RIT, though decals are included to renumber the car any way you like. For you historians out there, pre-1976, R&IT boxcars were in the 1000-series, they were later placed in the 10000-series. We will have information on how you can purchase these cars available soon.

Transferring from trolley to diesel train at Midway Station

We'll be meeting again this week Tuesday around 7:00pm, and again on Saturday at 11:00am. Also, please don't miss our club visit to the New York Museum of Transportation and the Rochester & Genesee Valley Railroad Museum this Sunday, September 22. Many of our club members past and present have volunteered at these museums over the years. We'll be meeting in the club room at 11:00am and depart together to enjoy museum tours and train rides. Cost per person is $10.00.

Follow us on Facebook!

New members pizza party this Saturday

Everyone is invited to our Saturday work session from 11:00am to 5:00pm in room A420 on the lower level of the Student Alumni Union (SAU). We'll be working on various projects, including laying track, designing roadbed, and wiring up the tracks for electrical circuits. After the work session we will be gathering for our annual Kick-off Pizza Party where we will welcome our new members, and show them a little bit about Rochester's railroading history and how we plan on recreating it in model form! Please RSVP to our Facebook page or leave a message on our answering machine at 475-2227 so we know who's coming.

Another busy work session

We had another great work session on Saturday, September 7. We split up into several crews to tackle different projects at the same time. One crew painted the Niagara Falls backdrop blue, while another crew primed the Irondequoit backdrop. Another crew made a slight adjustment and realignment to the tracks connecting Irondequoit and High Falls with the helix entrance. And yet another crew built the temporary subroadbed that will carry the branch from the main line, through the Genesee brewery, and over to Irondequoit Yard (in the foreground in the photo above). The tracks through here will be supported by a series of low trestles, but for now, plywood will do. Thanks to everyone who came out to help!

Want to join us? We meet Tuesday nights at 7:00 and most Saturday mornings. Visitors are welcome any time!

Irondequoit Yard connected to helix and staging yard

We held our first work session of the new school year this past Saturday, August 31. Main objective for the day was connecting the previously completed Irondequoit Yard with the entrance to the helix at Bailly Jct. (named for Ryan Bailly who designed and handlaid most of the trackwork in this complex area). Thankfully, we had a lot of help from new and old members alike. Member David Stavans contributed the first test train, consisting of his New York Central Hudson toting several era-appropriate cars. This section of track will be hidden beneath the Albion scene in the future.

Those tall uprights will support the backdrop for the brewery and High Falls area.

Phil and Elliot hard at work laying cork roadbed to support the track.

First train out of Irondequoit Yard heads east towards Bailly Jct. and Syracuse staging! 

Want to join us? We meet Tuesdays at 7:00pm, and meet for work sessions on Saturdays at 10:00am in our club room A420 in the lower level of the Student Union. Contact us if you want to come down to help! Membership is open to all RIT students, faculty, staff and alumni in good standing.

Welcome - First Work Session this Saturday

We'll be hosting our first Work Session of the year this Saturday, August 31, at 10:00am in Room A420. We'll be mostly getting the room organized and ready for construction projects once again. We'll be removing all trains from the layout and putting them carefully away, while clearing out work spaces and getting our materials in order. We'll be planning the next sections of subroadbed that will connect our tracks from one side of the room to the other. Please come down and help us out! We're looking forward to a lot of progress this year, be a part of it! Message us on Facebook or call us at 475-2227 (or 5-2227 if you're on campus).

Tuesday night meetings resume

Thanks to everyone who came to visit us during our Open House! Join us for our first club meeting on Tuesday, August 27, in Room A420 on the lower level of the Student Union. We usually get started around 7:00pm. We'll announce if there will be any meeting times or schedule changes going forward. Come on down this Saturday, catch up on some new developments, run some trains, and help us get ready for another exciting year!

Club Fair and Open House this Saturday

Welcome Freshmen and Transfers! You should join the RIT Model Railroad Club! There will be a special RIT Club Fair held in the Gordon Field House this Saturday from 12:00-4:00 p.m. That same day, we'll be hosting an Open House down in our club room in the Student-Alumni Union (Room A420) at the same time. Come down and see our model railroad already under construction. We'll have a few trains running and we'll be happy to show you our plans and where we could use your help... Come on down! If you can't make the Open House, call us at 475-2227 or message us on Facebook.

Getting ready for another school year!

It's hard to believe we're getting ready for another school year... And a new academic calendar based on semesters! We'll be back at school in just a couple of weeks and while we're excited to get back to classes (yeah right), we're also excited to continue work on the layout! This second version of the Rochester & Irondequoit Terminal was started last September and has seen a considerable amount of work accomplished.

We're also getting ready for our annual Tiger Tracks Train Show, our club's primary fundraiser that takes place December 14 and 15. Tiger Tracks is Rochester's largest train show, and it's an event you won't want to miss!

Are you a new or returning student with an interest in trains, electronics, or scale models? You should join our club! We generally meet on Tuesday nights, and we have work sessions on the model railroad on the weekends. Some of us even volunteer "on the real thing" with the Rochester & Genesee Valley Railroad Museum just down the road. We're located in Room A420 in the lower level of the Student Alumni Union. We're down the hall from the Ritz Sports Zone! Check out our Facebook page, or leave us a message at 475-2227.

Another school year draws to a close

We're getting ready to wind down for the school year as it's finals week here at RIT. We had a very productive month, hosting our first open house with the new layout under construction during the Imagine RIT fair. We had a few hundred visitors tour our progress and ask us great questions about the new version of the Rochester & Irondequoit Terminal on Saturday, May 4. It was a great day and we got a lot of encouragement and well wishes from the folks who came down to visit us. We were able to get Irondequoit Yard up and running for demonstration purposes, which gave some of our visitors the chance to run a train using DCC. All in all, it was a very successful event for us! Here are some photos from that day...

Some of our first visitors to the R&IT!

Club president J.C. Mayer talks with visitors about our future plans.

Club vice president Matt Glazer explains how we will be modeling portions of Rochester's downtown in HO scale.

Club member Connor shows off a slide show of our construction process from the past year.

Club member David Stavans demonstrates train operation in Irondequoit Yard.

Club secretary and construction manager Ryan Bailly looks on as visitors run trains in Irondequoit Yard.

A visitor inspects our mock-up of the proposed Albion scene.

On Sunday, May 5, we held our annual Year-End Dinner, which is a great way to look back on the year and make plans for next. Club president J.C. Mayer opened the dinner with a few congratulatory remarks and heartfelt thanks to everyone who supported RITMRC over the past school year. Club advisor David Scheiderich thanked everyone for helping to put together a successful Tiger Tracks Train Show, and also was happy we had made so much forward progress on the new layout this year. RITMRC's Chief Engineer E.J. Ryder ('00) thanked everyone for their hard work as well, and was very pleased with the progress made this year. Alumni member Otto Vondrak ('99) also made a brief presentation about our railroad's fictional history, and where it fits into the map of the real world. Otto also made a presentation about our next club car project (which will be revealed soon). The club enjoyed  dinner catered by local favorite Dinosaur BBQ, which was then followed by railfan slide shows by members Elliot Courtney and David Stavans. We also enjoyed Mike Smith's 4x4 switching layout, populated with buildings salvaged from the old R&IT layout. It was a great way to close out the year, and we're already looking forward to September!

 Club members enjoy Mike Smith's (gray shirt) 4x4 switching layout.

Club advisor Dave Scheiderich impresses the club members with his words of wisdom.

 Alumni member and club co-founder Otto Vondrak ('00) briefly explains the fictional R&IT history as a lead in to his proposal for our next club car project.

Club president J.C. Mayer enthusiastically thanked all the club members for their support and hard work over the last year.

David Stavans gave an interesting slide show that contained subjects domestic and foreign.

Quite the feast was provided by Dinosaur BBQ... Always a favorite!

While our school year is drawing to a close, you can continue to follow our progress on our Facebook fan page! We'll see you in September!