Meeting Schedule

For the next few weeks, we will be holding regular meetings on Tuesdays at 7:00 p.m., in Room A420 (lower level of the student union). We usually work on the layout on Saturdays starting at 10:00 a.m., though sometimes that is subject to change if we decide to go out and take pictures of trains or go to a train show or buy stuff... So check out our Facebook page or give us a call at 475-2227.

Another work session this Saturday

We will be having another work session down in the club room (Room A420, lower level of the Student Union) starting around 11:00am. Matt Glazer will be working on wiring and installing switch machines, Elliot Courtney is going to be working on Irondequoit Yard to prepare it for ballast and other scenic elements. We will also be inspecting freight cars, cleaning locomotives, and preparing to remove the desk out of the club room to get ready for building a new workbench.

Our next club meeting will be Tuesday at 7:00pm.

Despatch Junction hobby shop to rebuild in East Rochester

by Justin Murphy, Democrat & Chronicle, September 17, 2014

Stan Slade isn't just rebuilding his train store that burned down on Memorial Day — he's finding a new way to tie the building itself to history. Slade's shop, Despatch Junction, was housed since 1987 at the former Penfield Depot in East Rochester, a passenger rail depot built in 1884, predating the village itself. The shop, and the building, burned to the ground in May, destroying thousands of model trains and accessories and dislodging the local collectors community for whom the shop was a gathering place.

After reviewing his insurance, Slade has decided to rebuild on the same site. He was before the East Rochester Zoning Board of Appeals on Tuesday night as part of the process. "I'm doing it because I want to, not because I have to — I should be retired on an island somewhere," he said. "(But) I had so many letters and things from people saying I should get back into it. And I miss it."

art of the charm of the old set-up was having a model train store in a former rail depot, directly adjacent to the railroad tracks. The location will be the same — no zoning variances are needed as long as Slade rebuilds within a year, the board decided Tuesday — and Slade has set upon another historical connection in replacing the old depot.

The new store will be about half the size of the former one, modeled on a Victorian-style rail station in Chelsea, Michigan, that he saw in a book of railway photographs. The depot in Michigan was built on land first purchased by a pair of 19th-century settlers who traveled west from Ontario County.

Work session this Saturday

We are hosting our first layout work session this Saturday starting at 11:00am in Room A420 (lower level of the Student Union). Time to clean up the room, test the layout, and get our trains ready for operation. Stop by to lend a hand! Message us here or call 475-2227.Visit us at www.facebook.com/ritmrc for details.