The Art of the Grab Shot

 Hobbies need to fit around the rest of life in real time.  In 2026, that is to say that there is very limited time to pursue hobby activities, especially ones that don't directly deal with the operation.  This month of April started off with a day that was so important in several different theatres of my life:  Conrail's 50th birthday, and this year's first full moon after the equinox.  (The latter is also known as the Jewish holiday of Passover, something I host in honor of my dad each year.)  

To top that off, on behalf of my day job, we were invited to attend Conrail's 50th anniversary party in Philadelphia.  Amazing, and part of a post coming soon!

So, April 1 was a busy day, and the rest of the month has followed suit preparing at work and on the OC for major events.  How do we get through months like this, while following our dreams and keeping momentum on projects that will outlast the busy times?   We simply have got to make time as we can.

There is always the ability to take a grab shot - nickname for a photograph that was grabbed with minimal preparation and mostly good luck.  Fortunately, sometimes we can also simply get lucky on our modeled railroads, too.  Joe Relation, a good friend and regular yardmaster on the OC, is a fan of military history and armor.  He's also a great modeler.  When I took delivery of a handful of Spring Mills Depot DODX flatcars, Joe offered to add vehicles to them from kits I had around.  And last week, he showed up with car 1 of 3 - with a pair of Bradley fighting vehicles securely chained to the deck.  Wow!  This brings back immediate memories of the 'baby' military trains I remember from the 90's at both Syracuse and at Manville, NJ, with a Conrail unit or two and a few flats with vehicles enroute to or from major repairs.  Awesome! 

And while admiring this great work, I took a moment to breathe - and just look around.  Each evening, I try to get into the layout space, and simply stop and stare.  There are many ways to enjoy modeling railroading and sometimes, with life so busy that there is not time for a big project, we can pause to appreciate one that catches our eye.  This one is one of Lenny Harlos' amazing patch and weathering jobs on a car that lives on the OC.  This is a Roller Bearing Models resin kit for a 65' Greenville mill gondola, and is kitbashed to match the prototype of Penn Central heritage that lived around Dewitt Yard on the prototype for the 1990s in MOW service.

Having friends that are willing to contribute at this level is an honor, and helps build the camaraderie behind the Onondaga Cutoff.  Leaning into that camaraderie is a way for each of us to bring things together - now, and for the future.  We can all use more of that!

On the Eve of Great Change

 March 31, 1976, was a foggy day full of drizzle.  Spring was slow to come that year and it was a gloomy few days as April approached.  This was to be no normal March-to-April change, though, not for railroading in the northeastern United States of America.  

Fifty years ago, railroaders and their families went to bed knowing that it was hard to tell what was coming in the morning.  Like the foggy sky, the future was unclear and hard to see.  The largest change in the history of railroading in that region was about to become reality for them.  April 1 would be the start of Conrail's operations, bringing federal help and a bold new goal into sharp focus.  

Bob Camp, Detroit, Mort Walton photo

As amateur historians, many of us who love railroading reflect on the past to find some solace in the present.  Change is more constant than may wish it to be, and having an understanding of the past helps us to build a present and future that incorporates the better changes as we can manage it.  But there is no way to tell how it is going to turn out.  There is no crystal ball, really, no guarantee it will work better than it does today.  We have to credit the fallen flags, the companies that tried their best to survive an era that had turned against them.  They were forced to give up.  And when that happens, it feels like maybe we should give up, too.  

But like Conrail, we have to try.  It is an obligation of every person to try.  In order to push our families and our community forward, we must take action.  Gloom and the fog in the future is no reason to sit and wait.  To create a better today and tomorrow, you cannot wait for life to come to you.  Action, accountability, compassion, and perseverance are indispensable for improving our future.

And so, let's be like Conrail was, on Conrail's 50th birthday.  Let's take a chance, even if on a wild idea, to make things better.  Maybe tomorrow we can do it again!  

That grass is always growin'...

 As railroads in our area prepare to host a series of operating sessions this spring, we are all working hard to button up a few projects and smooth out any operational issues.  Hosting sessions is a great way to enjoy the railroad, and we want to ensure the best opportunity for good operations.  

For the Onondaga Cutoff, that includes some long-awaited scenery to be finished at Iroquois Paperboard, along with prepping and checking paperwork and cleaning up the area to eliminate distractions.  

Here we see a variety of scenery projects coming to fruition at Iroquois, with paved track and parking lots along with weed-strewn siding tracks and spurs.  Iroquois Paperboard is a profitable industry at this point, but it's old, and the variety of buildings speak to the on-again, off-again nature of manufacturing in Central New York.  

Of course, adding the glue to all of this is always a harrowing feeling, there is a lot that can get worse with ballast and glue.  But we pulled it off, with some help from the kids and with a good deal of patience.  It is really looking the part now!

This will be the last scenery project I include on the OC before the sessions in April, and I think it will help the visitors be immersed in what we are working to create.  Just gotta make sure those switches aren't glued shut first!  :-)

'Dizzying Times'

 I feel as though the last few weeks have my mind spinning in two directions and four or five directions at all times.  Everything has either gotten more complicated or more difficult, or both; people are struggling in different ways, some unexpected; fear seems to be growing everywhere that ignorance is not.  This is a wild time.  Even big success can pale in comparison to the dizzying array of information and emotion that rolls around it.  

As things twist and turn and veer with little regard to my whims, I am especially grateful to my wife and kids and community and also to the model railroad hobby.  It offers a respite along the journey and this is one of those years that really seems to need more respite!

And so I turned to the job of adding some more scenery around Iroquois Paperboard, which will include paved-in track in the industrial property.  This follows the prototype in Solvay, NY in the 90's, and is a fun thing to re-create, albeit a tedious task.  I used the Walthers grade crossing styrene kits to suggest concrete panels, which were trimmed one by one to ensure clear flangeways.  Once the canopy glue dried, I added yard ballast mix to the tracks around the panels.  

Ballast is carefully tucked into the sides and ends, and then spread around to fill out the tracks.  

This is gentle, careful work, just the sort of thing that requires focus and therefore gives the mind a break from spinning too quickly.  Little by little.  

It is deep in places to reach to the top of rail elevation, so I used some other stone I had purchased for ballast that was the wrong color to fill out a base, enabling more coverage for the yard mix.  I glued it down with my usual 3:1 mixture of water and white glue, with a few ounces of isopropyl alcohol mixed in, and with a generous pre-spray of just isopropyl alcohol to break the tension.  After 8 hours it is solid as a rock.  

When you need a break from chaos or life, the hobby is there to help!

A Year of Milestones

2026 is shaping up to be a year with a lot of commemorative anniversaries - milestones, if you will, marking progress along a journey.  Like the railroad mileposts today, milestones back in the early days of canals and turnpikes helped travelers keep track of progress, and to know where they were along the route.  The markers also helped them to realize how far they had come, and perhaps how much further they would need to go.  

There is more to unpack on that topic.  Future posts this year will no doubt delve further into those discussions.  Today however I wanted to share a surprise honoring one of the important anniversaries this year:  the 50th anniversary of the creation of Conrail, the prototype railroad for the Onondaga Cutoff.  

The surprise is that one of my articles made the cover of Model Railroader magazine with my piece honoring Conrail's anniversary!

Conrail was created by the US government in 1976 in an effort to save the industry.   Railroads were going bankrupt at an alarming rate and change was needed.  And the changes worked, despite hardships.  The hard work and sacrifices by managers and labor brought the railroad back.  We've discussed it here before, and it remains a compelling story.  50 years later, there is a lot to consider.

Cover shots, meanwhile, are kept as a surprise each month for the lucky photographer whose work is chosen by the editorial staff to grace the cover.  It is fulfillment of a boyhood dream - really a lifelong dream - to have this experience.  And now to have it happen in honor of the birthday of the railroad we model on the OC?  This one is a new high that connects more than one world for me.  I am so grateful for what the OC has become, thanks to a group of railroaders and modelers that have put uncounted hours into planning, operating, and maintaining the railroad.  In a year of milestones, this is a big one for us.  

It's only February, but this sure is an exciting way for momentum to build into 2026.  More milestones to come.  We are honored to start with this one!

Some scenery at CP 274

 As operations have continued on the Onondaga Cutoff, there is room for some scenery improvements as well.  Originally staging areas were imagined to remain without any scenery, instead just having the subroadbed painted black. The safety rerailers are working well, and I had installed some backdrop pieces as a view block, but it was a minimal scene in all respects.

And yet as guests have offered comments, I learned that my mind's eye of the railroad was different than the perception of visitors.  One offered that he appreciated the little bit of scenery I had added in part of staging as it added to what he considered to be his total run.  I noted that the rerailers, part of the Walthers grade crossing kit, were cast in a color that suggested concrete.  Those could be blended into a grade crossing scene, one of the smaller ones that would be used by crews and the mechanical department to facilitate trains getting under way.  

Maybe this little scene could have some merit, too.   

I started by adding ballast, my chosen mainline blend from Arizona Rock & Mineral:  UP Silverton, #1351 N scale sized and 1352 for HO.  The color palate is perfect for what Conrail used along the Chicago Line in the '90's and the mix of sizes matches the visual.  

This process is iterative, little by little.  I used a small brush to spread the ballast and a piece of internal packing foam from an old Athearn blue box locomotive to regulate the ballast.  Care is needed near switches especially.  I used a plastic spoon to drop in a very small amount of ballast stone around the points which ensures the ballast stays below the top of the ties.  

Once the ballast surface is smooth and the points are clear, it is time for glue.  The first step is a generous misting with isopropyl alcohol.  This step allows the white glue diluted with water to avoid surface tension and smoothly soak into the ballast.  Add the glue generously but gradually.   Now, it looks like a real mess when you've soaked it - but that will dissipate overnight, before fully curing after about 36 hours.   

Once the ballast is in place, adjacent scenery can be installed and similarly flooded with glue.  I used N-scale yard mix and black cinders for the adjacent lot and access road, finished with a bunch of different grass tufts.  This whole scene then sits for 36 hours to cure fully.  

The results, though, are great.  I have added a 'tank' to the column to the left, per Kristen's suggestion, which is a great one.  While the wide-angle lens makes it appear tilted, it is level and will be labeled with the logo for the Chittenango NY Water Authority.  Signage from ScaleSigns and LTI Inc helps complete the scene as well.

This process will continue to ensure that CP274 is loaded with scenery before the end of the winter, and that same process can then move up to Iroquois Paper to finalize that before tackling the last big area: Fayetteville. Plenty more to come!

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.