Visit to the North Shore Model Railroad Club

The Hudson Berkshire Division of the NMRA took a but tour recently to the North Shore Model Railroad Club. They are an HO and HOn3 club located in Wakefield, Massachusetts, about 15 minutes north of Boston. Founded in 1977, their layout it about 40' x 95' in total.  They call it the "Chesapeake System", which is a fictitious railroad based on the 'merger' of the Chesapeake and Lake Erie, the Cumberland Western and the Chesapeake and Hudson railroads. The layout is set in the Virginia/West Virginia area of the US, set in the 1950's. Operations include 'classic' operations where trains of the 1950's are run, and 'modern' ops where trains and freight from the 1980's-2000's are run.

They opened their club up especially for our group and had several trains running during the hours we were there. Like many other clubs that are multiple-decades old (the former RPI layout in Troy NY comes to mind) there was a mix of old and new; tired and fresh; hand laid and flextrack; standard and narrow gauge; sound equipped and barely DC; etc. 

I will let the pictures do the talking:

Here is an interesting shot. I asked the guy running the Amtrak-led train to stop on the bridge so I could take a picture without the train blurring. He graciously complied, and as he did so an opposing train split the switch on the other side of the bridge and came down the track towards the stopped train. Had it not stopped for my photo, they would have collided on the bridge (with perhaps disastrous results). In this shot the offending train has backed up several feet already. 

And here are shots of what it takes to make it work (including some proto operations paperwork and job assignments):

It was a fun trip.

NMRA MMR - Association Volunteer certificate

Last month I submitted the paperwork for my Association Volunteer certificate. It was a combination of serving as the Hudson Berkshire Division's Treasurer for six years, helping at NMRA train shows like the Great Train Extravaganza and the NMRA table at the Springfield show, and a few other things. Lots of little bits of service add up in half-hour increments to get my 60 total hours of service. It felt good to be able to send it off.

It recently arrived:

For those keeping count, that was number seven...

Fall train in October

One a crisp fall day in October 1982, three engines (#5004, #505, #405) work a mixed train. They must be waiting at a signal as there is no exhaust visible.

D&H #4112 becomes A&A #114!

What is old sometimes becomes new again. Such is the case with D&H RS3 #4112, which was rebuilt by the D&H in the mid-1970s along with some sister engines into a new class of RS3m (or RS3u). She started off as a regular Alco RS3, as shown below in March 1971.

Here she is in September 24, 1974, in Watervliet just months before being sent out for rebuilding. I have no idea if the word "bye" on the end was a D&H employee's foreshadowing of the event or not, but it is ironic if nothing else.

I wrote about the rebuilding several years ago on my blog here, and at the time mentioned that I was interested in this engine because it had been repainted by the D&H in a classy red/white/blue scheme and numbered #1976 for the Nation's bicentennial celebrations. I even opined here that there was a good chance that it took part in one of the many gathering of bicentennial locomotives that was sponsored by Kalmbach Publishing Companies' Trains magazine. Here she is nearly two years later on September 25, 1976 in Bellwood, Illinois. The Rock Island engine behind her suggests a gathering of bicentennial engines.

After the D&H renumbered her #506 to fit in with the roster scheme of the other RS3m engines it kept on going. This is what she looked like in May 01, 1977 in Bethlehem, PA.

Unlike many of the D&H's Alco engines, she survived through the period when the NYS&W was appointed operator of the D&H. This shot shows her in August 1989, working with another leaser engine. 

Finally, she was sold to the Tioga Central Railroad, then the Wellsboro & Corning Railroad, and then the Western New York and Pennsylvania Railroad in 2014. The WNY&P repainted her solid black with yellow chevrons in October 2014. Sadly, I didn't have the foresight to take pictures of it when it was on the Tioga Central in its faded but showing bicentennial colors. 

I lost track of the engine after 2014 and didn't think much of it until last year when it was acquired by the shortline Arcade & Attica Railroad, of which I have written about much on my blog. I have yet to go out and see her in person, but I hope to correct that soon. Here is what she looked like in August 2023 after just being received by the A&A. They numbered her #114, which was the next slot in line (they already have engines numbered #110, 111, 112, and 113). 

Note that Bowser has announced HO scale models of these engines in several D&H paint schemes, as well as one in the WNY&P. Can we hope that it will someday offer it in the A&A #14?

20 years in Albany

On Saturday, August 14, 2004, I left my hometown of Rochester for my new city of Albany where I was attending law school. I had full intentions of returning to Rochester upon graduation, but during the next three years things such as the retraction of the local economy (caused in large part by the collapse of Kodak and Xerox) and the offering of a good job in Albany caused me to stay here. I was so sure it would be temporary that I never changed my Rochester-based cell phone number (and I still haven't 20 years later!)

It wasn't my first time in Albany, though. Here I am in September 1989 at the ripe old age of 7. Who would have thought that decades later I would be working within seconds of where this was taken?

The first railroad tracks I explored were the concrete canyon just north of Kenwood Yard where the tracks snake through and around Interstate 787. It was night, I was naive, and there were absolutely no trains running at the time. 

A few weeks later, I used a paper road map I bought at a gas station to head to Pattersonville, NY, where there were no train tracks at all. I learned later they had been torn out only a year or so before. The map hadn't been updated, leading to my dilemma. Oddly, though, I could hear trains even though the rails had been pulled up. Turns out I was hearing trains just across the Mohawk River (which I couldn't see because of the trees). I later started railfanning in Amsterdam, NY. Here are some recent pictures taken right outside of Amsterdam.

My first real adventure was to Colonie Yard shops the following April, followed by other places. It is a great area to railfan, and I love Albany. We have taken Harrison downtown to the NYS Museum several times already. I will need to see if this knight is still on display and try to take a similar picture.

D&H and Chessie by Agway (April 1986)

I don't know much about this shot except that it is dated April 1986. Based on a comment received (thanks!) this is probably Binghamton, NY. I bought it because of the neat Agway and the Chessie locomotives, which I think have a sharp paint scheme (even though it screams 1970s).

Published: Sinclair Gas Station article in NER Coupler magazine

My scratchbuilt HO scale Sinclair Gas Station was featured in the NMRA Northeastern Region's (NER) September 2024 The Coupler magazine. It starts on page 5. 

For the full construction blog posts see here and here.

Favorite Engines - Conrail RS3 "hammerhead" #9920

This engine is one odd duckling! Some would say ugly duckling, and I would be hard-pressed to disagree. It also has an interesting, if not tortured, history. But, it is local (to this Rochester boy) so I like it all the same. 

The engine was original built for the Pennsylvania Railroad with a high short hood. That hood housed dynamic brakes and steam generator equipment for heating passenger cars. The reason for this unusual equipment was to allow it to pull passenger trains in a pinch, and it was one of a batch of five locomotives designed with these unusual features. Because of its appearance, they were nicknamed "hammerheads".

The engine was later part of the Penn Central merger, and through some paperwork exchanges it became a Lehigh Valley engine. Now numbered #211, it was used in western New York mostly in the Buffalo area but it did make it east to near the Rochester area. It lasted into the Conrail era and was selected to be part of the RS3 rebuilding program in their DeWitt shops in Syracuse. Much of the internals were removed and replaced with EMD parts. Conrail #9920, as it was renumbered, worked in Pennsylvania steel mills and in 1981 was stored.  In the shot below from November 04, 1979, in which it still is probably undergoing rebuilding (notice the shiny paint), it is odd to see the cab number is incomplete. 

 

A year later, this shot taken in Reading, PA in 1980 shows the engine evidencing wear and tear. But at least the cab number is complete!

Five years later, it was purchased by the Rochester & Genesee Valley Railroad Museum and it can be seen (and ridden behind) there today... though it was repainted in L.V. colors again. The postcard below shows #211 on the track connecting the R&GVRM and the nearby (and located at the other end of the track) New York Museum of Transportation. 

I can't say exactly why I like it, but I am always drawn to local railroad subjects. This engine isn't exactly "local", as it likely never made it into Rochester directly (except when it was being transferred to Syracuse), but it just feels homey. A few models of the engine were produced, but none that I know of were painted for Conrail. Perhaps it will go on my project bucket list for some day...

Railfanning with Harrison

A couple of weeks ago I rushed home from work so that we could quickly drive to Mohawk River Lock 10 near Amsterdam, NY to go railfanning. Despite the heat, it was lovely and lots of clouds did provide some respite. We were quite lucky, as within our first hour we saw 4 trains including three freights. We left after a fifth train, Amtrak's Lake Shore Limited, went by.

Harrison absolutely loved seeing the trains. Between them, we spent the time eating dinner, kicking a ball around, and looking for ducks. Several other members of the "Tuesday Night Group" were there railfanning and they had a tent set up for even more sun protection. They are pros!

We even brought Harrison's little Adirondack chair so he could sit and relax with us. However, he was too excited to remain still when the trains went by.

Then, this past Wednesday (July 10) we went out to eat and had some time after so I suggested going downtown to watch a few Amtrak trains pass over the Livingston Avenue bridge. There is a nice park next to it where you can get eye level with the train. On the way we spotted the C.P. local switching Surpass Chemicals in Menands, and we drove there and watched them cut off some tank cars. We even were able to talk to the crew. Harrison loved that.

Then, we drove to the bridge. Imagine our surprise when instead of the normal one eastbound Amtrak train crossing the bridge and pulling into Rensselaer station we saw TWO passenger trains running parallel over the bridge! This picture doesn't shot it well, but there are two trains running parallel to one another behind us that Harrison is staring at.

Within five minutes the westbound Lake Shore Limited left the station and crossed the bridge.

Next, the C.P. local traveled nearby heading south back to Kenwood Yard, shoving the train through the concrete canyon. Finally, the eastbound Ethan Allen Amtrak train (with engines on each end) crossed the bridge into the station. All of this occurred within a fifteen minute window.

About 20 minutes later we saw a CPKC light-engine move of two road units traveling south, presumably from Mechanicville to Kenwood Yard. That adds up to seven trains in my book (the CP local counts as two because we saw it in two different areas doing different things).

Harrison and I have never had it so good! Perhaps he is my good luck charm!

New D&H sign!

My good friend Peter stopped by after work yesterday and presented me with a brand new sign as a gift. I love it! He told me that a couple of local modelers had a small run of these custom signs made and they are currently sold out. I am very surprised that I didn't hear about this, as I thought I had a good pulse on the local D&H scene. But, several things lately have pulled me in other directions. I am very happy that Peter thought of me, and it now proudly sits on top of some of my display cases. 

It is based on a famous sign that hung in Colonie Yard for years. While I own an authentic D&H sign, I like this one a lot better.