"Great New York State Model Train Fair" in Syracuse

November 1-2 featured an appearance with the Central New York Chapter of European Train Enthusiasts at the "Great New York State Model Train Fair" in Syracuse. Despite the gorgeous weather we had good crowds and interactions with the public. The overall show layout was different making our Center of Progress Building seem more open (empty) but the extra space allowed for better visitor movements. Below are some videos of our modules at the show including a round trip on the Bend Track based modular layout. Descriptions of our family's modules can be found here.

Diagram of the overall layout

Follow the ore train pulled by a DB class 220 on a tour of the modular layout. Modules are (in order)by Mike Nataluk, Sofia Verheyen (game farm), Hope Kuniholm (abandoned quarry end loop), Sofia, Mike Nataluk, Peter Verheyen (2, incl end loop), Mike Nataluk ("T"), Brian Hilgenberg (Hauptbahnhof), Mike Heines (90 degree corner), Gordon Davis (split scene), Charles Grover, Tom Lynch (end loop), and back down.

A tour of Gordon's, Charlie's, and Tom's modules.

Sofia's module from both sides. The module depicts a game farm and playground. Sofia built it early this year at the age of 10 with very minimal assistance from papa (laying track, the fence around the deer, and some of the playground details). She's enjoyed sharing it with her peers.



The DB class BR65 pushing a local headed by a mitteleinsteigswagen and followed by four 3-axle umbauwagen, all of post-war construction. The steam engine in the back was controlled via the Hagenuk telegraphic system, much as on ships...



An eye-level shot of the ore train heading along my modules by going through an underpass before crossing the bridge and finally disappearing under the end loop. A DR class 175 diesel railcar comes towards the viewer. This was the pride of the DDR's fleet.



Final picture of the ore train and a TEE heading around my modules with a very tired Sofia sitting on her mother's lap.

Minoa end of the East Syracuse CSX yard

Decided to try out some new venues for train-spotting in the Syracuse area and discovered the pedestrian overpass at the Minoa end of the East Syracuse CSX yard. Nice view of the trains even if through a chain link fence. The warm air from the diesels was also welcome on this chilly day. Foliage is past peak, but still nice.

Hatte Lust mir mal an einem anderen Ort Züge in der Syracuse gegend anzuschauen und entdeckete die Fußgängerbrücke in Minoa am östlichen Ende des CSX Rangierbahnhofs in East Syracuse. Guter Blick auf die Züge wennauch durch einen Zaun. Die warmen Abgase von den Loks waren auch gut an diesem kühlen herbst Tag. Die Herbstfarben klingen ab, sind aber noch schön.

Location of pedestrian bridge | Ort der Fußgängerbrücke

View Larger Map

Stacktrain heading east | Containerzug nach Osten raus fahrend

The same train on the other side of the overpass | Der selbe Zug auf der anderen Seite der Brücke

West-bound manifest freight | Gemischter Güterzug in westlicher Richtung

Eastbound UP manifest freight in East Syracuse | Gemischter Güterzug in östlicher Richtung mit Union Pacific Loks

Playing with the Modules

In preparation of our club's work-session and open-house next weekend, I decided to set up our modules in the living room and run some trains. Highpoint was being to run my ore train (15 cars) and the BR65, all models I had been waiting for for a very long time. It's been a lot of fun to watch them. It's been a lot of fun to watch them endlessly going in circles.

Baseball in Syracuse

Went to a Syracuse Chiefs yesterday (Sunday) even though I'm not a big baseball fan. They even have a steam loco in their logo and an engineer as a mascot. As I said, I'm not a big baseball fan, but the tickets were free, my daughter brought a friend the the stadium is right by the main CSX east-west line here in Syracuse, NY. About a 1/4 mile west of the stadium a line down from Canada merges into the mainline in an 18" h0 radius turn. Very tight and they go real slow. Although the line is CSX one can also see engines from other lines such as UP, BNSF, and NS. During the 2.5 hours of the night game (Syracuse won 5-4 after a homer with one on in the bottom of the 9th) 13 trains with an average car number of 90 passed by. Lots of stacktrains and intermodals but also two Amtraks and a few mixed freights. The view from the stadium, behind the visiting team dugout is best, allowed for slightly less than the length of a Dash-9 between the trees, not a lot. Distance to the tracks from our seats was about 450'. Pics were taken with a 2.1 megapixel... Here an overview via Google Earth.

Bin gestern (Sonntag) zu einem Baseballspiel der Syracuse Chiefs gegangen... Haben sogar eine Dampflok im Logo und einen Engineer als Maskot. Baseball mag ich eigentlich nicht so, aber die Karten bekammen wir gratis, meine Tochter hatte einen Freund dabei, und das Stadion ist direkt am Bahndamm von der CSX Ost-West Hauptstrecke in Syracuse, New York. Ca. ein halber Km westlich (von links im Bild, sieht Ansicht unten) mündet das Gleis von Kanada in einer Märklin R1 Kurve in die Hauptstrecke. Obwohl CSX sieht man dort auch Loks vieler anderer Firmen, z.B. Union Pacific, BNSF, und NS. In den 2.5 Stunden die das Spiel dauerte (Syracuse gewann im 9. dank eines Homeruns 5-4) fuhren 13 Züge dabei. Durchschnitts Zuglänge war um die 90 Wagen, viele Stacktrains und Intermodal, aber auch 2 Amtrak und Sonstiges. Das Blickfeld vom Gleis hatte ganz knapp die Länge einer Lok, was Aufnahmen erschwerte. Distance von meinem Platz zum Gleis, ca 150+ Meter. Kamera ist eine kleine Olympus mit 2.1 Megapixels. Hier mal eine Übersicht mit Google Earth.

In the image below the train on the left is eastbound, train on the right westbound.
What a lucky shot!

Der Zug unten links kommt vom Westen, der von rechts von Osten. Glück gehabt!

Two videos. The speed of the game was synchronized to that of the trains!

Zwei Videos. Das Spiel hat sich dem Tempo der Züge angepaßt!

The regional farmers' market is also directly by the tracks, next to the stadium. Hard to get a clear view of the tracks, but lots of action.

Der Wochenmarkt ist auch direkt am Bahndamm, neben dem Stadion... Hier ist es wirklich schwer klare Sicht vom Gleis zu haben.

Werde demnächst noch ein Spiel fest einplanen.

p.