Historic Despatch Junction hobby shop lost to fire

On the afternoon of Monday, May 26, while most people were home enjoying what remained of their Memorial Day weekend, Despatch Junction Hobbies, located in the old freight house in East Rochester, burned to the ground. The first fire call came in around 5:15, but by then it was already too late. More than 80 firefighters from around Monroe County responded to the blaze, and the CSX main line was shut down while water lines and tower ladders attacked the flames.

The structure dates to the 1880s and was Penfield's first passenger station, before it was converted to use as a freight house by the New York Central railroad. It was later sold and was briefly used as a night club before it became Despatch Junction Hobbies nearly 30 years ago. Owner Stan Slade has been a friend and benefactor of this club since our start in 1996. A wide variety of model and toy trains in all scales could be found inside the store, as well as many new, used, and rare items that cannot be replaced. It is with heavy heart we say farewell to Despatch Junction, and we send our best wishes to Stan and all his employees during this most difficult time.

--Photo by Otto M. Vondrak

Imagine RIT Open House - May 3

Join us for our Imagine RIT Spring Open House! Imagine RIT: Innovation and Creativity Festival is a campus-wide event that showcases the innovative and creative spirit of RIT students, faculty and staff. Visitors experience the breadth and depth of RIT through interactive presentations, hands-on demonstrations, exhibitions, and research projects set up throughout campus. Inflatables, games and multiple performance stages with live music and entertainment are also a hit with visitors of all ages. Held annually each spring, Imagine RIT is the kickoff to Rochester’s rich festival season.

Visit our larger and expanded Rochester & Irondequoit Terminal (R&IT) Railroad, an HO scale representation of scenes from Rochester and western New York. See our progress as we build the second version of our popular model train display! Trains will be running and members will be available to answer your questions about the club and our hobby. We are located in Room A420 in the lower level of the Student Alumni Union (Building 4). We will be open from 10:00am to 5:00pm, and this event is FREE and open to everyone! ALL ABOARD!

April 19 Work Session

It was a relatively quiet work session since many members were away for the Easter holiday. However, those that stayed behind began the day by intercepting Union Pacific 2002 (painted to commemorate the 2002 Olympics that were hosted in Salt Lake City) as it led a train eastbound on the former New York Central CSX main line.

UP 2002 leads an eastbound freight on CSX at Attridge Road in Chili, NY, April 19, 2014. Photo by Elliot Courtney.

Heading back towards the city, we stopped off at Buffalo Road to do some field research at an area we will be modeling on the layout. This location is where the B&O's "Belt Line" crossed over the New York Central main line and Buffalo Road. This track is now operated by the Rochester & Southern.

 Elliot poses with his model of the bridge over Buffalo Road. He used a Micro Engineering kit.

A near perfect match!

After our little trip around town, we headed to the club room to do some work. Mike Smith delivered some parts we needed. Matt worked on wiring up the helix, and did not emerge until the end of the day, forcing us to deliver his Mighty Taco Nacho Buffito® by train (it was a special "high and wide" dimensional load). Elliot and Otto worked on installing some track in Niagara Food Terminal. Otto added some real estate to the scene at CP 373, then turned his attention towards plotting the location of the remaining customer sidings in Albion. David Stavans helped clean up and also added a couple of freight cars to his steam-era fleet. Otto and Elliot installed the remaining sidings in Albion (with some help from Matt at the end). E.J. paid us a visit towards the end of the day and gave our work the official E.J. Nod of Approval®.

Next meeting is Tuesday, April 22, and next work session is Saturday, April 26. Imagine RIT Open House is Saturday, May 3!