Archive: Around Town

Everybody loves model trains.  And when you mention the annual Fingerlakes Railfair, everyone is enthusiastic about it.  Last weekend the Cornell Railroad Historical Society hosted their 25th Railfair at Lansing’s the FIELD.  The Railfair featured model layouts in just about every scale, with 54 exhibitors and vendors at 185 tables, test tracks, and door prizes.  While the price of gas may have been responsible for a smaller show this year, the Railfair is one of New York’s largest model train shows.  ”This is still a good sized show,” says Railfair Coordinator Jim Torgeson.  “It is by no means a small show.”


About 20 club members participate in running the show, representing about a third of the total membership.  The Society was founded in 1978.  It has been a member of the National Railway Historical Society for 25 years.  Its biggest activity is the Railfair, which attracts exhibits and vendors from a wide region.  Its members participate in other train shows as well, including the annual show in Syracuse.

Over the past 25 years the Railfair has had four homes.  It began at the old the Ithaca Youth Bureau, then spent a couple of years at Ithaca High School before moving to the armory.  The show moved to the 32,000 square foot FIELD facility in 2002.  “The armory was a rabbit warren of rooms," Torgeson says.  "It was unsuitable for anything but a very, very small show.  We had outgrown it for quite a few years, but until the FIELD was built we had no place to move to.”


Torgeson has coordinated the show every year but one since it moved to the FIELD.  A collector himself, he has been a member of the Society since 1981.  “I collect HO scale trains, modern back to the 1940s or '50s era,” he says.  “I am also a rail fan of full sized trains across the trains.  I visit them.  I prefer to watch them rather than riding them.  I'm in a minority -- most people like to ride them.  I would rather photograph them than ride them.”

Indeed there is more than one way to pursue a love of trains.  Artist Bob Frascella brought a collection of paintings for sale, including some of the Lehigh Valley Railroad that served the Ithaca area before going bankrupt in 1970.  Frascella is a civil engineer who specializes in track design and railroad engineering for real railroads.  He says he has been interested in trains since he was a little kid.  “When I started painting there was no question about it,” he says.  “I've done some landscapes and seascapes, but my heart is really in this.  I love the trains of the '50s and '60s.  You can't go back in time, but you can do it with an imagination and some creativity to create some scenes like this.”


Frascella says he paints scenes from all over the country using photographs he takes of railroad buildings, then recreating scenes from 30 or 40 years ago.  “I spent eight years living in the Elmira/Corning area,” he says.  “I've always been fascinated by the railroads in Central New York.”


The Railfair typically attracts 1,500 train enthusiasts according to club president John Marcham.  It gives modelers a chance to display their handiwork, often in large layouts made up of individual sections, each built by a different club member. "The LEGO model trains is the most popular exhibit we have," Torgeson notes.  "They bring different buildings and they have different track configurations, so it looks different every year.  A lot of people come to the show just to see that.  And they're disappointed at those rare shows the LEGO club can't come to for whatever reason."

They weren't disappointed this year.  The LEGO exhibit featured a huge collection of buildings with LEGO trains traveling past scenes including some LEGO boys playing soccer, and even a LEGO chess set.  Attendees enjoyed the HO and other scale layouts and hands-on exhibits were popular with the kids.  All in all, a Railfair worth waiting for.

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