A Look at an Operating Session

Operating sessions are a driving force for modeling railroading, and a primary goal for the Onondaga Cutoff.  We've seen some glimpses here and there over the years and this post will highlight scenes from a recent session, held on January 28, 2026.  The time machine was set to 1:30 p.m. October 2, 1994.  

I was 17 then, proud holder for 10 months of my first driver's license.  I owned the old family minivan, and the world was full of wonder, excitement, and optimism, despite shadows on the horizon.  The road was wide open.  And we went trackside!  

Onondaga Yard was being worked.  Yardmaster Al Tillotson, in the background, directs Gordy Robinson on the WAON-14 job.  This is the yard switcher, who is busy today with a full slate.  Gordy is the NMRA President, visiting from Orkney in the UK as part of his trip to the big Amherst Railway Society show in Springfield, MA.  

Meanwhile, Pete is over by the M&E, excited for ME-2 to start up...and excited for snacks!

Teddy joins the fun too and comes down with Uncle Al while ON-14 works the Niagara Propane distributor at the west end of Onondaga Yard.  

The railroad is starting to hum as guys grab a drink and enjoy time between jobs.  Jim Homoki, Joe Cook, Ryan Gerhardt, Tom Schmieder and Ralph Heiss all get a kick out of some sort of (definitely wholesome) conversation.  

Marty Jenkins, from Gold Coast, Australia, is working ML-403 west past Onondaga Yard while Ross Medine gets paperwork together for his first train.  The B36-7 leader chugs like the GE it is as Marty heads into dynamic brake mode for the trip down the hill.  

Marty this year brought along Aussie friend Rod Clifton who resides north of Perth, in Western Australia.  This is Rod's first international trip, proof that life is still going on for people willing to learn and adventure despite doom and gloom media.  Rod's guide on his first OC train is Ryan, always willing to pitch in and enjoy some time running trains!

Night has fallen, and railroading is different at night.  Dylan Waddell and Joe Cook are working train ELSE at Onondaga off of the main track, making a set out and a pick up, in different spots in the consist.  This is challenging work and especially at night!  But this crew nailed it, which was satisfying to them, me, and everyone working around them.  Part of the reward of operations is a prototypical puzzle well solved.  

And there is a theme to it all - no one works alone on the railroad.  Even if you're by yourself, you're working with others to protect you, or working in service of others.  Railroading is a team experience with a primary driver of camaraderie.  

Neat signal aspects, long after sunset.  This was a pleasure for me in my youth, and seeing this 'Medium-Approach-Medium' aspect is just as cool now in miniature as it was in 1995 on the prototype.  

There is a magic to operations, amplified as we work into the night with radio chatter and working signals.  And we all got there at this session.  

Winter and Progress: a component of change

 Winter is a great time to get some modeling done, and on the Onondaga Cutoff things can move well.  At the December operating session, we had our first 'revenue' move over the bridge at Butternut Creek:

The boys and I, thanks to help from Kristen and also Rich Wisneski and Ralph Heiss, made a great trip to the huge Amherst Railway Society's annual trade and train show at Springfield, MA.  This year the trip included the usual fantastic camaraderie, a few operating sessions and open houses, and a massive show with displays, vendors, manufacturers, and railroads.  The boys found an O scale vendor they loved.

We also knew of a few big announcements at the show, and one of the biggest for Conrail fans was Broadway Limited Imports with their upcoming model of CR 9 - the theatre car that brought up the markers on most of Conrail's OCS trains through the 1990's.  It was one of a kind, and it is very exciting to see this come to life!  Curtis was there and had one of the 3D prints for us to see.

Immediately, you can see the essential Conrail components, with the close-center marker lights, glass rear window, recessed grab irons, and lighting details on the rear.  But there is a lot more to this.  The interior is dead on, the two by two window stacking is correct.

On the 'front' end, we see proper diaphragms, MU connections, steps, grabs, rivet placement, marker lights and doors.  Simply awesome details.  

Finally here's the 'business' end, and this is just a 3D print - the actual plastic one will be superior.  Lighting will all work, and be ready for prime time with not just interior ones but also working markers and inspection lights all turned on with BLI's custom reed switch design.  At three places on the roof, you simply touch the car with a finger and the lighting feature turns on, then back off again with another touch.  Amazing!

We all left the show Saturday and headed home to avoid a major snowstorm that was coming Sunday, but that was the right call and allowed a family day in the snow which is a treasure.  Now those memories can last too.  This has been a great start to 2026, contrasting with some of the hardship and darkness in the world both in Minneapolis and around the US as well as in other parts of the world.  All of this requires some serious contemplation, but that is where this hobby is so valuable.  It's a steady force that can bring people together, especially in a world that feels uncertain at times.  

We simply need to remember, always, that change feels scary sometimes, and it is supposed to.  No progress is possible without change.  Face the fear, sit with it.  Progress is a part of change, just as maintenance is a required effort for longevity.  

Let's rely on making more effort to come together, overlook differences, tolerate opinions, and improve some part of our worlds each day.  That is a good and worthwhile goal for 2026.

Water and a falls on Butternut Creek

First, Happy New Year to you, once again!  It's 2026 now, with a swirling world around each of us.  This hobby makes me grateful for that and also for the downtime that brings me back to a center.  

I embarked on a big effort to finalize a key scene this winter. Waterflows on most model railroads are key scenes.  The prototypes often follow rivers and streams, and cross them at many spots too.  

Butternut Creek comes down through Jamesville, NY, south of Syracuse but several hundred feet higher in elevation.  Creek flows along the big limestone quarry down into the shale valleys and eventually into the marshy lowlands that head out toward Fayetteville and Dewitt, all of which eventually drains into the Oswego River and eventually Lake Ontario.  

It is a waterway that had to cross the Lackawanna Route coming up from Binghamton, and thus my Minoa & Euclid had to find a way across it too.  Early on I knew this scene would be at the entrance to the room, the bottom of the stairway.  But-pouring water on a complicated scene is nerve-wracking.  There is just no way around it - many hours of work, sometimes even years of planning and effort comes down to mixing and pouring epoxy and getting it right the first time.  

It took years to get the scene set, and years to commit to the pour!

We rearranged dry rocks, selected pieces of Marcellus Shale which forms the bedrock of the Finger Lakes, to see what worked in the basin.  The walls of the basin are tree bark carved and painted to represent limestone, which is the capstone in the regions south and east of the Finger Lakes.  

Eventually I asked Susie to help, as her creative eye has been a great help with ensuring scenery looks random and not unconsciously organized.  She found a great final arrangement that we glued in place.

Meanwhile I printed selected photos of CNY waterfalls, and with those as a guide, proceeded to lay things out.  The falls themselves were made from clear Dap paintable caulk mounted to celophane wrap from the kitchen, interlaid with 'angels hair' Christmas tinsel and drybrushed with white paints.  

A mix of epoxy and a pour followed, and I am thrilled with the results!

The overview takes us directly to the Finger Lakes, and brings a smile to my face each time I see it.

It is a wonderful relief to have this set - and opens a door into finishing several other scenes this winter on the OC.  It will be an exciting year!  

A Vision of Operations

Sharing the hobby of modeling railroading is to me one of the great strengths the community has.  The Onondaga Cutoff was created to share memories and passion for mainline railroad operations, and with a longtime goal of being able to share the operations through regular operating sessions.  Another important goal of mine was to share the railroad in the hobby media: magazines, this blog, social media, books, podcasts, etc.  

Those operations goals are met with a great group of local operators.  For nearly 15 years, the OC has supported regular sessions, generally on a monthly basis.  Here we have a group led by regulars including Al Tillotson, Doug Watts, Rich Wisneski, Jack Trabachino, Chris Lee, and Tom Schmieder. Those early sessions generated another layer of community, as guests of regulars from the North Jersey area gradually were invited to see what they had heard about.  

I am grateful for that larger community, and especially for Jerry Dziedzic who included the OC in November Interchange the first time.  Now more than a decade later the tradition continues in 2025.  The boys and I also pitched in, and our guests from the Washington, DC area did a fantastic job moving trains on the OC.  

Operations gives the railroad purpose, and gives us a reason to keep on railroading month after month.  It is essentially a role playing game for railroad people, and like any such activity it helps bring us together.  Each of the guys here has a life at home: family and friends, many with careers ongoing or from which they have retired.  And each makes time to bring that life experience here where we share it with a common goal of efficient operations.  The result is a really great camaraderie that is fun in the moment and generates anticipation for the next time.  

Look for opportunities to participate in operations.  Start with open invites or at regional shows, and see if you like it.  I think you might!

Giving Thanks

 As we head through Thanksgiving and into December, it is an annual time of Thanksgiving.  This is always a good time to take a breath and really think of things for which we are grateful.  And this year, it's an easy one for Conrail modelers.  

I love Thanksgiving.  I really do, it is my favorite holiday and a complete joy to host each year.  And a fun chapter of that night in the last few years has been the Abeles cousins all running trains around the OC after dessert.  Sure enough, that came to be once again!

Here's a grab shot in Island Yard, showing two fantastic 2025 deliveries that have helped the OC look the part.  In the background is Broadway Limited Imports' new business car, which is a PRR prototype that Conrail did not roster.  However, it's a great addition to my Office Car Special train, custom-painted, numbered and detailed by me to bring up the markers on the OCS train.  And of course, prominently in front of it here is the fantastic C36-7 by Rapido Trains.

As a thought exercise, either of these would have been sufficient for me this year.  The OC benefits quite a bit from both, and these models help with being able to share the story with others via operating sessions and with Facebook Live, with photographs for this blog or for magazines or books.

Those operating sessions specifically also make me thankful for the companionship and support of those that have helped with the OC from an operations aspect.  And there is no greater contributor from an operations perspective than Jack Trabachino.  I am grateful that we live near each other and can see each other regularly, that we work at the same company with the same mission, and most of all that it is still so much fun to hang out with each other.  We met in 1987 and so 40 years of friendship is right around the corner, and here we are enjoying a few drinks with each other in November.   

In fact if I take a minute to reflect on it, it is hard to not have other things come to mind for which I am thankful.  There's a text group, as a random example, with longtime friends I met through The Station Inn, and it brings me joy.  Alex Lang, Lou Capwell, Jon Kayes, Mike Filoni and I share images, reflect on happenings and get a few laughs regularly that way.  And all of this is only worthwhile because of Kristen, my wife and parter in all things, and 'DemClams' - those three crazy kids that make me proud and hold their own in a changing world.  

In closing, thanks to you too for reading this post and the blog, and for supporting the OC journey which is chronicled here.  There is no question that I have a lot to be thankful for!

Catchin' Up on November

We blink today in 2025, and in my later 40's, and the weeks and even months pass right by.  In so many parts of life we look at photos or videos and realize now and again that those months really did pass right by.  

Still, though, progress continues on the Onondaga Cutoff.  One of the hobby's best characteristics is that there is always something more to do, something to chip away at that will allow progress to continue.  

First, allow me one more post to just remark on how nice it is to see such beautiful models of 'Big Dash-7s' on the OC.  Through the 80's and '90's, the Albany Division was loaded with these locomotives, and these C36-7's especially roamed not only from Selkirk but also systemwide.  So you can't call a railroad the Chicago Line without them - and now here they are.  Amazing!

Just beautiful.  Those that follow my Patreon channel ( https://www.patreon.com/onondagacutoff ) are familiar with the improvements I did with the number boards, and aside from that I am simply thrilled with these models out of the box.  Someday, when there are also a bunch of C30-7A models (6550-6599) we will be all set.  

With the number board improvements completed, it was time to do a batch weathering of the new fleet, so I jumped into that quickly to get the series in service ahead of an operation session just before Thanksgiving 2025.  

They followed my usual procedures - details first, then masking, then panel liners and dullcoat.  These got a second layer of dullcoat as seen here, then got an overspray with a fade coat and grit coat on the underframes before final applications of pastel chalks and paint details.  

Here's three friendly faces, ready to join the 6621 in regular service.  Now, clearly to have seen four of the 25 total in one spot would be unlikely in Conrail days, but not impossible.  But what is a guy to do when one of the two most critical locomotives is offered commercially as a pre-order for limited production?  

Yep.  Get 'em all.  

I'll be paying for it for a while but this is the right thing for the roster now, like it will be again when the C30-7A is available.  

These are great problems to have!  

Best wishes to you all and I hope your Thanksgiving was great.  

One Little Improvement...

Sometimes you just gotta do what you gotta do.  

It's cliche, of course: definitely overused on the prototype railroad, and perhaps too in other operations.  And it is overused for a reason.  When something is bugging you about a particular aspect of a model, it is best to avoid pondering it for too long, and just take action to bring it up to your standard.

This new C36-7 from Rapido Trains is one of the best things to come along on the Onondaga Cutoff for a while.  It is an exceptional model.  But, when looking at the Conrail one from the front, there is just a bit of something off.  Turns out the numberboard numerals and font do not match the prototype well.  GE used an 8" bold font for the numerals, while the scale version is about 6" tall and a much less bold font.  

Here's the factory boards from Rapido Trains above, compared to the prototype below...

To my eye, the difference in the numberboards is enough to sit on my mind.  "Hmmm....," I would think to myself.  "That new C36-7 is just about perfect in detail, running, sound, even lighting...but those numberboards just don't quite do it for me."  Again, I can appreciate that most people won't even notice.  But to my eye the boards on the front are about as prominent as the eyes in a photograph:  You can't help but look directly at them each time you see the face.  

Well, thanks to some research over the years and help from other modelers, there is an option to change things here for the better. For some reason, many model decal sets have the wrong font or size for numberboards. Years ago as I wondered how to finish up some painted models I was doing and my good friend and brother-in-all-sorts-of-trouble Alex Lang suggested ShellScale Decals for numberboards - and boy was he correct.  ShellScale specializes in numberboards and has a complete array.  Even better, since that project ShellScale has released a white-on-black set designed for backlighting.  The first layer is the black board shape with blanks or whiteout rectangles, and the second layer is clear numerals, with black outlines.  

After a few days of delicate work removing the old boards, sanding off the back-printed numbers, applying Micro-Gloss to the face, and then doing the decals, things came together well.

Now THAT is more like it - the numerals fill up the board and are nice and rounded like the prototype.  Just for verification here's a side by side, with the new on the left and stock on the right:

It goes without saying this can be a rabbit hole - some may just shake their heads and say 'that is just not worth it' and scroll on.  And yet I must say this little project really for me brings the model to a different level of authenticity.  There is no question to my mind that it was worth it, to the point where I am doing this will all my big Dash-7s should they come with the thinner font boards going forward.  

Still, though - what a world.  It remains incredible to me the quality and variety available to the modeler in 2026 even as compared to when this blog started.  Consider that a basic, non-DCC and non-sound Atlas C30-7 that needed a bunch of work to fit the mantle was $100 in 1995, inflation made that model $213 today in 2026.  Tariffs have messed up the scale, but given the superior quality and detail (plus $100 in sound), and perhaps it's not too much to ask to spend $350.  

Just food for thought.  I have some time to smile about that sort of thing now that I have a solution for that one little improvement on the C36-7 fleet!  

Side note:  Thank you to our nation's veterans, serving us so that we maintain our freedom and have the opportunity to work toward a more perfect union.  May the best be yet to come!