Rochester Institute of Technology Model Railroad Club

The Rochester Institute of Technology Model Railroad Club, known as RITMRC, was founded at Rochester Institute of Technology in 1996 to promote the hobby and preserve the rich railroad history of Rochester, New York. In the past eleven years, the club has built the HO scale layout of the Rochester & Irondequoit Terminal Railroad, or R&IT; put on increasingly successful train shows; built free-mo modules and put time in on the real stuff at the Rochester & Genesee Valley RR Museum.

Founding

The history of the club is as much a history of our model railroad, known as the R&IT. Noting that many other technical institutions hosted model railroad clubs, the environment seemed right for one at RIT. The club was started in 1996 by students Otto Vondrak and Tom Rohatsch, whom made contact with Jim Scudder, a professor at RIT. Jim Scudder had had many years of model railroading experience having worked with the National Model Railroad Association, other clubs and his own personal layout. Through his connections with other department leaders, space was secured for the club by February 1997. During the week of spring break, the initial bench work was constructed of what would become the R&IT. On April 1, 1997, a Golden Spike ceremony was held celebrating the first operating layout of the club. While it was just a simple double track race-way, it was the humble beginnings of the club.

Once the club had proved that it could in fact build a layout, it had become time to plan what would become the R&IT. Based on the concepts that had been pioneered by the likes of Tony Koester with his well-known Allegheny Midland, the R&IT was developed as a unique proto-freelanced concept. Since the club is located in Rochester, NY, that was the obvious choice to model. The R&IT was developed based on existing railroads and events that had shaped railroading in Rochester and Western New York. A back story was developed to guide the creation of the layout and help build a believable world.

The Evolution

The club grew by leaps and bounds in the first ten years. When the R&IT was started, there was little money available for construction. Bottles and cans paid for the first pieces of club-owned HO scale equipment. Due to space limitations and an odd-shaped room, the layout was designed upwards instead of linearly. From the flat level loop that started the layout, benchwork was built upwards coaxing the mainline up and over itself three times creating a longer mainline run. The representation of Goodman Street Yard was built along the front of the layout, originally with a fairly small engine terminal. Having these important facilities near the front of the viewable layout put more of the action closer to our club's visitors.

As time went on, the club grew in membership and funding. An expanded engine terminal was built to display and operate a larger quantity of club- and member-owned engines. In 2001, the club added staging yards representing Syracuse and Buffalo, which enabled the R&IT to simulate the flow of railroad traffic to and from its rails as it interchanged with other railroads. At about the same time, the club retired the dual-power pack DC-block operations and replaced it with DCC.

Many college model railroad clubs existed merely as a diversion and source of cameraderie amongst students with a common interest. Most follow no particular prototype or era of history. Of note, MIT's TMRC pioneered the use of discarded telephone relay systems to develop an automatic block control system to run their extensive model railroad. Currently, they are on their third system which now employs solid state circuitry and customized control cards. RPI's Model Engineer Society focused on recreating exact scenes along the Rutland Railroad and D&H circa 1950. At RIT, the club realized early on that there were many resources available that could be employed in an efficient manner. Rather than develop custom software or control systems, the club utilized off-the-shelf components and technology to advance the progress of their model railroad. Examples include custom-built wayside signals, desktop dispatching and control software, robust DCC systems, and highly detailed railroad models. As a result of classroom training, RITMRC members innovate through effective management of resources.

Today

The R&IT is mostly complete - scenery and maintenance keep the club busy when not running trains. The use of Digitrax DCC components and TrainController software allow the layout to be dispatched simulating real-world railroading; including a working signaling system based on signals from . While in years past, automatic block signals required miles of complicated wiring, today the entire system of logic is controlled by software code (in cooperation with the DCC system).

Operations on the R&IT can vary from just running a train to using car-cards to simulate the flow of traffic. During particularly heavy operating sessions, a dispatcher will be stationed in the tower, lining up routes using the desktop software and controlling movements via radio instructions to the crews. Regular FRS style radios are used for communication between dispatcher and crews. During the course of an operating session, scheduled trains travel from Buffalo and Syracuse to Rochester and drop off cars destined for local delivery. Rochester yard crews make up local trains that are sent out to switch customers in the area and return. At the end of the session, trains return from Buffalo and Syracuse to again exchange cars destined "off-line." While all this is going on, various Amtrak and through trains ply the rails. When scheduled operations are not taking place, members are free to come down and operate any train or group of equipment they please.

The club's activities also have grown over the years. For the past seven years, the club has been hosting train shows on the RIT campus. Originally starting out with two 1-day shows in October and March, the club has started doing two day train hows attracting larger vendors, layouts and public. As a way to expand involvement in the hobby, the club has been involved in constructing modules and participating in Free-mo setups with others from New York, Massachusetts, Ohio and Canada. Club members are also active in community events. Every March, Strong - National Museum of Play hosts a railroad-related exhibition that RITMRC partakes in. RITMRC has also hosted many Scout groups giving a tour of the club and teaching them more about the railroad industry and the hobby of model trains. Members also volunteer at the , where they can work on and operate real trains. As a result of heavy community involvement, many of the club members are also board members of local supporting groups, including Lakeshores Division of the NMRA, and the Rochester Chapter of the National Railway Historical Society.

This past year, the club celebrated it's tenth anniversary. As part of it, RITMRC was featured in the October 2006 issue of Railroad Model Craftsman. The cover story detailed the club's history, the development of our model railroad, and our group's driving philosophies.

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