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.

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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.