Funtrak was happy to participate in the Oswego Valley Railroad Association’s Annual Holiday Show.
Funtrak in Fulton
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Trains in Syracuse!
We had a great turnout at the Syracuse show.
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From the Desk: November 2013
It is with a sad heart that I write this month’s edition of From The Desk. Following a typical fabulous dinner for FUNTRAK’s annual anniversary gala, club member Jim Domser departed to take his lady friend home and deliver a meal to club member Clayt Farrall who was unable to attend the dinner. After delivering the meals to Clayt, Jim was taken ill and discovered at a local firehouse. He was attended to and taken to the hospital where he later died. It wasn’t until nearly a week later that any information as to what happened to Jim was forthcoming. There were no calling hours and the funeral was a family affair. Jim was an avid model railroader and a staunch supporter of FUNTRAK. Any time there was need for something, Jim was the first one to volunteer to help. He was especially helpful in arranging transportation for fellow club members who had difficulties in getting to meetings or shows. If there was a supporting detail that needed attending, Jim was the man to take care of it. He never complained and was always reliable in his efforts to support the club and club members. Jim was an innovator in his own right, also. He was one of the first
to bring along a train mounted camera in a Lionel engine that allowed the public to get an engineers view of the layout at FUNTRAK’s shows. He opened his home to many meetings where he always had something new and exciting going on, whether it be with Lionel, HO, or N scale. He tried all the newest gadgets and shared his experience with the rest of the model railroad world. Although Jim was rarely in the best of health, he never complained or let this slow him down. One thing Jim always did that impressed everyone was to keep people informed about his ability to participate. If Jim couldn’t make it for any reason, he was the first to let you know and why he was unable to help. This trait made Jim a most respected member because everyone else could plan accordingly without having to worry if Jim was going to be there. Jim has now gone to the great model railroad kingdom in the beyond and we wish him peace and great model railroading. He will be
joining another great model railroader who passed away this month also, Jim Fitzgerald. This Jim was known as “Mr. N-Trak”. He was the founding father of N-Trak in the early 1970’s. Jim’s influence on the model
railroad hobby is immeasurable and he will be sorely missed. Meanwhile, the rest of us will carry on the
great traditions of model railroading and continue with the legacies that our friends and predecessors have left for us.
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FunTrak Annual Banquet
The FunTrak Annual Banquet. We ran some trains, had a nice meal, and just enjoyed each other’s company.
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From the Desk: October 2013
Diversity! A grand concept in many different realms. So how does diversity apply to model railroading? No two layouts are alike. This keeps the observers interest high. Since no two layouts are alike, operations, scenery, motive power, and consists are all different. More diversity. How does this apply to model railroad clubs? FUNTRAK has incorporated diversity by having multiple scales, multiple styles of layouts from N-trak to modular G and Lionel, to T-trak in N scale as well as HO. Club members represent a cross section of society, so many different ideas and concepts are presented in numerous ways. All this diversity keeps model railroading exciting for participants and viewers alike. Diversity forces new ideas and solutions to new and old problems. It also contributes to keeping those involved actively thinking about better ways to do things, new ways to build supporting equipment and modules, as well as involving fellow enthusiasts.
Currently, FUNTRAK is in the process of developing an automatic reverse loop, making larger radius corners, updating and maintaining scenery on many modules, constructing new modules in both N and HO scales, as well as attending various shows, all at the same time. The model railroad season is upon us and we are getting ready to jump right into the middle of it. Check out pictures posted from FUNTRAK’s most recent endeavors, below.
Brian was MIA for this show. Fortunately, John and Lorenzo were able to attend and provide planty of excitement and trains for the public to enjoy.[/caption]The Fonda Fair has become an annual staple for FUNTRAK along with the Clayton Thousand Islands show. Both of these shows have contributed significantly to FUNTRAK’s exposure to the public and drawn much interest over the years. Work sessions are becoming more common to add to FUNTRAK’s growing collection of model railroad equipment and modules. All of these activities add to the diversity of the club and allow for many different ways to enjoy the hobby. Whether you like to build things, run trains, railfan, or just armchair model, FUNTRAK has something diverse for everyone.
Come to the shows or a work session and see just how much fun you can truly have when you get busy in model railroading. FUNTRAK’s next event is our annual dinner at the Family Fun Center in Mohawk. We anticipate having a small N scale layout with, hopefully, some of the newly completed modules to exhibit and test before some of the upcoming major events. This should include the one-trak tee along with the reverse loop and possibly the new wider corners. Other items include the smaller corners that John Fleming recently scenicked. Some combination of modules will undoubtedly arrive at the dinner and present an interesting problem for all the FUNTRAK members to work on solving. This how diversity manages to maintain a high level of involvement and interest in the model railroad world. If you find this intriguing, come see us at one of the many model railroad shows. See you there!
Brian
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Time to get to work!
Lots of hard work goes into building train layouts. But, our club members are so into their hobby that it’s not even like “work” at all!
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27th Annual Thousand Island Train Fair
FUNTRAK loves to get out and show off our trains!
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Fonda Fair 2013
Our participation in the Fonda Fair contributes to our exposure and is fun for club members!
runnin’ trains
amazing detail
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From the Desk: September 2013
A Banner Year!
It’s that time once more! The summer season is coming to a close, school is getting ready to reopen, and I am retired. No more school for me! FUNTRAK has completed the annual PicNik with the usual great success. Fun, food, games, prizes, trains, and people all gathered together for a fabulous time again this year. So now is the time to reflect on the results of all this activity and to review future plans for FUNTRAK. New this year for the PicNik were some innovations to attract attention and interest. The banner pictured above was designed and finished by Brandon White, long time supporter of model railroading and FUNTRAK. This beautiful banner is over ten feet wide and easily visible from nearly anywhere. There is finally a flag pole to hold the American flag, and after some searching, a Canadian flag, in recognition of our Canadian friends and participants for the past ten years with the PicNik. In recognition of the importance of this tenth anniversary, LED flashlights engraved with 10th PicNik were distributed to all guests. Besides the grand prize of half the proceeds in the fifty-fifty raffle, prizes were awarded as tickets were drawn from the hat. This gave many more participants a chance to win a prize and was very popular.
The usual food supply was wonderful and our great Canadian friend David King cooked everything to perfection. The littlest guests also had a great time. Games with squirt guns, balloons, hoops, and pylons kept the smaller participants busy and entertained all day. Even the weather cooperated! After an initial rain for a short time, the sky cleared up and the rest of the day was beautiful. Finally, trains were up and running in both N scale and HO scale thanks to club members John Fleming and Greg Brockway, who coordinated the layouts with the help of other FUNTRAK members and guests Al Wheeler and Mike LaCasse from Albany. Al and Mike brought some new modules to test and see how they operated in a T-Trak layout. Although not sceniked yet, the modules did operate flawlessly and were a welcome addition to FUNTRAK’s N scale T-Trak layout. These new modules presented some new advanced ideas as to construction and transport methods. T-Trak continues to grow and move forward in numerous areas.
FUNTRAK is currently developing a one-trak concept for an automated reverse loop using an Arduino micro controller. Revision 2 of the plan is shown in the pictures on page three. The loop can be used in multiple ways. The end spacing allows it to be used with the specialty reverse loop module or as a regular module that can connect to the two standard 33mm centered modules. This arrangement allows for increasing the size of the reverse loop but does limit the ability of handling larger motive power because of the radius of the curves. It also allows the use of a single tee module without a matching tee on the other side of the layout. Of course, a special length matching straight module is required to make the layout even, but FUNTRAK has two of those!
FUNTRAK’s next event is the Fonda Fair followed by Clayton and then Syracuse. Hopefully, the reverse loop project will be ready to test and operate at Syracuse. Come on out and join us for all the fun at these scheduled events. See you there!
Brian
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Check this out!
On a recent visit up to Canada, Brian had the opportunity to revisit a few home layouts. Excellent layouts included Justin’s, Walter’s and new this year, John Johnston’s. Justin Parry’s layout is featured above; John Johnson’s is featured below. These layouts all illustrate the craftsmanship and hard work that goes into building a quality model railroad.
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