Fall has arrived and the model railroad season is upon us! FUNTRAK’s adventures in September started out with a trip to Clayton, New York on the Saint Lawrence River. FUNTRAK and pal, Rich Petito, team up to form the “West Winds Train Club” and showcase their joint layouts.

FUNTRAK will next be setting up a small layout at our annual dinner in Mohawk at the Family Fun Center on Sunday, October 12, 2014. Setup should be around noon with dinner planned for 2 o’clock. This traditional event has become a favorite of club members and affords us the opportunity of introducing new modules that may not have all the bugs worked out yet but still want to be tested. 

Club members John Fleming and Brian King recently updated the one-trak tee module with some replacement track to alleviate some problems with the trains entering and leaving the one-trak portion of the tee. A new module is in the works that is more automated than the original, but that is still in the works for the future. The one-trak interface project is a joint effort with Canada, Australia, and America all involved in its construction. Progress is being made but delivery of some hardware items has been a problem. We will keep you informed of the progress on this project as it moves along. Meanwhile, John and Brian also managed to build a new double module that John is installing another crossover on and finishing up with scenery. We are looking forward to seeing it at the aforementioned dinner in October.

FUNTRAK is scheduled for a new show in Little Falls in the middle of October. The future looks bright as Syracuse approaches with FUNTRAK and the Genesee ‘n Ontario group along with other contributors from various places including our Canadian friends from Ottawa Valley. Next will be Fulton and then on to the Oneida County Historical Society for the annual Christmas display. ‘Tis the season so come on out and enjoy the displays.

See you at the shows!
Brian

August saw a full and exciting month for FUNTRAK!

The month kicked off with the 12th Annual FUNTRAK Picnik! Brian was delighted that all of his children and King nephews were at the family function. Attendance was up this year with almost 100 guests. Everyone had a great time and we’re already planning for next year. Mark your calendar: Sunday, August 2, 2015.

FUNTRAK was pleased to host the small fry from the local day care facility and share trains with them. FUNTRAK has long been an advocate of education and hands on participation in model railroading and will continue to promote the hobby in whatever venues present themselves.

Next up for FUNTRAK is the Fonda Fair. This week long event has become an annual ritual for FUNTRAK and club members are looking forward to it again this year.

See you there!
Brian

Local Cooperstown neighbors were treated to a personal tour of the FUNTRAK layout and running trains when Brian hosted some children from the nearby day care establishment. The children were fascinated with the trains and had many, many questions. Brian did his best to answer any and all that he could. The trains ran well with a few problems that were quickly remedied without too much fuss. Each of the children was given a flashlight which they found useful in investigating the details on the layout. This is where the future of model railroading is going to come from so it was a great opportunity to entertain them and answer their myriad of questions. Hopefully, this will peak their interests and get them more involved in model railroading in the future. It is always a pleasure to see the smiling faces of happy children who are having a good time while learning new things.

The 2014 FUNTRAK PicNik has come and gone. As usual, everyone had an outstanding time. Prizes were awarded to all the participants so nobody left without some kind of memento. These ranged from tarps to multimeters to screwdriver sets. There were enough prizes to go all around and one and all received something. The food was plentiful and cooked to perfection by our Canadian friend David King. There was the possibility of some confusion with names this year—What was the confusion? Brian’s brother and nephew were both in attendance, along with our Canadian friend: all three are named David King! Folks did manage to figure out who was who after a while.

With all three of David King’s boys in attendance, along with all of Brian and Roseanne’s children it made for one big happy King family. Attendance was up this year with total population somewhere near the century mark. The fifty-fifty went extremely well and helps support the PicNik. Bobby Miller was this year’s lucky winner.

Besides the fun and games, food, and camaraderie, there were plenty of trains running too. FUNTRAK club members kept six layouts operating in the basement for the entire PicNik. Friends Mike and Al from Albany supplied some additional T-trak modules which enhanced the overall size and running capabilities of the layout.

All in all, another fantastic time for all the revelers at the annual event. Number twelve is scheduled for August 2, 2015. Mark your calendar and don’t miss this exciting event.

It was a dark and dreary morning. You fool, it’s always dark and dreary at 4:00 am in the morning!

So this is the beginning of Whirlwind III. David and Brian started out in Cooperstown and headed out to pick up the remaining individuals going along on this journey. John was picked up in Herkimer and then onto Saint Johnsville where Lorenzo met the group to continue to Amsterdam. In Amsterdam the remainder of the troupe was collected with Mike and Al. Finally, when everyone was gathered, we were off to Boston.

First stop, George Sellios’ Franklin and South Manchester. We hooked up with Ernie in Peabody and proceeded to George’s. We were warmly welcomed by George and kindly allowed to take pictures of this treasure of a layout. The level of detail is indescribable! This is truly a wonder of the model railroad world. If the opportunity presents itself, do not miss this layout.

After a while, the group gathered together again and moved on down the street to a local hobby shop. The N scale selection was minimal, but Lionel, HO, and plastic models were abundant. On to lunch. Ernie led us to a local establishment where we were treated to excellent cuisine.

Following this it was off to Ernie’s wonderful N scale layout where we were afforded the opportunity to operate a great fleet of finely tuned locomotives.

Our schedule called for our meeting Pete Laier next around 3:00pm, so we left Ernie’s on our trek to Pete’s. After a small mix-up in directions we finally arrived at Pete’s place. Here we were warmly greeted by Pete and his wife who welcomed us with open arms. Pete’s Arcadia Terminal is a compact, highly operable, around the wall, shelf style layout.

Although not large, there are a tremendous amount of operations possible on this beautifully scenicked railroad.

After running the railroad for around an hour, we were off again on our way back. Along the way we managed to stop at Shepaug Hobbies where we were able to find a large cache of N scale supplies available.

The next leg of our trip took us to the Steaming Tender for dinner. This is an old railroad station turned into a restaurant with fabulous food and fantastic railroad surroundings. Following a very satisfying meal, we were off on the final leg of our trip back home. In Amsterdam we dropped off Lorenzo, Mike and Al then continued to Herkimer where John departed. Lastly, David and Brian finished up the trip when they arrived back in Cooperstown around Midnight. All in all, a wonderful and full day of all kinds of railroad fun. Whirlwind IV is being considered in the near future!

Brian

FUNTRAK made the tedious journey to the Boston area to visit some of the finest model railroads around. This is a picture on the Franklin and South Manchester of George Sellios in Peabody. Whirlwind III was a tremendous success and everyone was impressed with the entire trip. Stay tuned for more details of our trip.

We anxiously await the next outing for Whirlwind IV!

Model railroading is all about running small trains on scenicked layouts. Sometimes, though, it is good to be inspired by real trains, running through real landscapes.

David and Brian went on a short train ride with the Adirondack Scenic Railroad from Utica to Forestport for a lunch at the Buffalo Head restaurant the next day. This was a relaxing diversion from all the travel on the previous day. It was a rather gloomy day but at least it was not unbearably hot as it sometimes is this time of year. The meal at the Buffalo Head was marvelous, as expected. Pictures along the way up and back provided a different view of the railroad. A pleasant surprise found FUNTRAK’s friend, Adam Brunet, as the engineer on the trip. David was glad for the respite from driving. See the photos below.