2023 RPM-East speakers and presentation details
Click here for a tentative presentation schedule PDF file.
Andy Blenko – Modeling Prototype Highway/Railroad Underpasses
This clinic shows how the author and his son modeled two different underpasses based off measurements and photos, one a local street and one an interstate highway. Materials including 3D printed components, styrene, MDF board, and brass railings were combined to create convincing replicas of the two prototypes.
George Bogatiuk - Get the true-BLU scoop on Blunami Operations using SoundTraxx Products!
John Brown, MMR - Auto Frame Transport
My auto frame clinic is on the steel auto frames that were the original part of motor cars and rode in gondolas and eventually flat cars of many railroads, from frame manufacturers to assembly plants. I have photos of the cars that carried these frames from many different railroads that supplied the rolling stock and transportation.
Brian Carlson - Rust Belt Boxcars
A primer on the boxcars of several northeastern railroads, including the DL&W, LV, L&NE, CNJ/CRP, RDG, D&H, P&LE and WM. Brian will compare common boxcars on these roads in 1950 and 1957 to illustrate change. Information for the clinic is drawn from ORERs, equipment diagram books, photos, internet sources, and other resources. The inspiration for this talk came from the late Bill Welch, who asked for assistance on modeling boxcars from northern railroads.
Doug Chapman - Lake Erie Coal Dumpers
Transloading coal from rails to boats has been an essential part of transportation on the Great Lakes for the past 150 years. This clinic examines the ports, machines, and railroads that participated in this vital industry, by concentrating focus on the coal docks situated on Lake Erie.
Pete Clarke – EBT update
Kenton Colvin - Impact of Railroads on WW I
Shannon Crabtree - Paint schemes and detailing of RF&P diesels
This presentation will go over the RF&P Geep locomotives in their many paint schemes. We will also look at the some of the details that make RF&P locomotives stand out and how to model them.
Mike Crosby - Tracking the PRR T1 Duplex’s
Project to chart the movements of the T1 4-4-4-4. Research sources, Division assignments, types and sizes of trains, operations, and performance.
Ted Culotta - The Early 1950s PFE Fleet: Prototypes and Modeling Details You Might Have Overlooked
This presentation covers the PFE fleet at January, 1953 presenting data about all classes with more than 100 cars as well as many interesting details for modeling considerations that are easily lost in the scope of PFE's massive fleet. Interestingly, just about every class of car can be modeled in HO scale. This presentation will have updated material since Prototype Rails at Cocoa Beach.
Keith DeVault – Scenes from the B&O West End
Larry DeYoung - A Survey of the Erie Lackawanna Locomotive Fleet
I will briefly cover the major groups of diesels received by the EL from its predecessors, and those the company acquired during its brief sixteen year history and point out some of their distinctive characteristics that can make them appealing, and challenging, to prototype modelers.
Jerry Doyle - The EMD GP30: Dieselization’s Next Generation
An examination of the role the GP30 played in the modernization of railroads. Emphasis placed on the C&O and B&O fleets.
John S. Frantz - York County Crossroads
An operations-oriented, proto-freelance attempt at modeling one town and its surroundings.
Steve Funaro - Mathieson Dry Ice Reefers
Prototype history and photos, and a new model introduction.
John Greene - Building HO Gauge Passenger Cars using 3D printed and Branchline parts
Eric Hansmann - Baltimore & Ohio Allegheny Yard Branch update
Prototype details on a forgotten B&O branch and modeling ideas for an operation-oriented HO layout in a new basement.
Mike Hauk - PRR X29’s and B&O M-26’s: A Shallow Dive in a Deep Pool
Tips and techniques for building and detailing multiple HO scale models to represent the fleet.
Michael Hohn, MMR - Modeling the Lehigh Valley Railroad Before 1900
This clinic describes the use of insurance and railroad maps, historic photographs, equipment diagrams, published drawings of rolling stock, and equipment registers to build a model railroad representing the Lehigh Valley Railroad in the period before 1900. The layout is located in Auburn, NY, a small city with diverse industries and commercial enterprises, and Alderson, PA, a small town in north-central Pennsylvania supported by lumbering and tourism. Track layouts, structures, and rolling stock of the period are being built with as much fidelity as possible.
Hunter Hughson - Following Photos for Penn Central: Individualizing a Rapido SW1200
We follow our unlikely hero in pursuit of his goal to modify four simple things on a mass produced model in order to bring it closer to the look of a specific prototype. A project hat starts out as an easy couple of evenings at the workbench goes sideways and accelerates rapidly toward calamity. Can he save the model from the trash bin? Attend this clinic to see the outcome.
Matt Hurst - Got milk... PRR and Huntingdon & Broad Top milk operations for the Supplee Wills Jones company
Join Matt as he discusses the operations of the PRR and Huntingdon & Broad Top in order to move several milk cars of the Supplee Wills Jones Milk Company from Huntingdon to Philadelphia, PA. Along with railroad operations and history Matthew will discuss how to model this and how it can add so much more to model operations.
Will Jamison – The Mather Mine
Picklands-Mather coal company built a mine and associated buildings in 1917 at Mather Pa. Clinic will focus on the coal preparation plant as depicted in a Howard Fogg painting for the P&LE railroad.
Bernard Kempinski– High Tech approach to 19th Century Railroading
It is a well-known axiom that model railroads expand to fill all available space. Bernie will describe how he used system analysis tools to design the optimal plan for his expanding O Scale USMRR Aquia Line railroad. If you’re not interested in the techy stuff, there will be plenty of pretty pictures, bad jokes, and dancing girls. There will even be a movie. Just kidding about the dancing girls, but come anyway.
Ken Kobus - The Pennsylvania Railroad in Altoona
An historical presentation about the various Pennsylvania Railroad operations in Altoona
Den Lippert - Modeling Conrail's Cabins (and PRR, NYC, RDG, CNJ…)
Sometimes, we forget how good we have it. We’ll take a lighthearted look at the Conrail caboose fleet from 1976 to the end (1985?) with an eye towards modeling each class in HO, and a bit of commentary about the progress of the model industry along the way.
Marty McGuirk - Update on the Central Vermont Railway’s Richford Branch
From 1867 until it was abandoned and converted to a bike trail in the early 1990s, CV’s 27 mile Richford Branch skirted the Canadian border as it ran through some of the finest scenery in the Green Mountain state. It also served a number of interesting industries, including large feed mills, a paper mill, and a plywood plant. You’ll come to appreciate the variety of practical real world factors that conspired to make Marty decide to forego another layout depicting the CV’s mainline operations in favor of a layout depicting key aspects of the prototype line. Scattered throughout the presentation he will share tips on a variety of subjects ranging from research, benchwork, and model building to scenery (and other topics) that you can apply to your own modeling.
Mike Niedzalkoski - Small Town, Big Time Railroading
Did you know in 1953 the PRR took over $200,000 in business from Jeannette PA? In this clinic we will explore the various industries served by rail in Jeannette PA. The operations used by the local crew and a potential track plan for modeling.
David Owens – Magor DODX 38000-series flat cars
When the Army's tanks became too heavy for general service freight cars in the early 1950s, the Army ordered a fleet of heavy duty flats from Magor. Those cars served until the 1990s and can still be found in MOW service with Amtrak. An overview of the flats and what they hauled.
George Pandelios – What’s New on the Panhandle 2?
Jim Panza – Early Trailer Train Flatcars
The presentation will discuss the 500 Pennsylvania Railroad 75-ft. cars that became the first cars in Trailer Train’s fleet. Modeling the F39 and F39A classes in HO scale using the Walthers flatcar, including modifications to make it more accurate, will be discussed. In addition, the F30D and F30G classes will be discussed using the Rapido F30 flatcar.
Ramon Rhodes – A Shortline You Can Model: The Alabama Southern Railroad
In this fast-paced and in-depth presentation that uses hundreds of photos, maps, and charts, we will take a look at the Alabama Southern Railroad located in Tuscaloosa Alabama. The line has had an interesting history over the past 60-years through multiple owning railroads. The ABS features an all EMD second-generation roster that handles a large volume of interchange traffic from several class-1 railroads and serves multiple heavy industries in the area. It's an exciting railroad that begs to be modeled if you are a fan of small railroads that feature lots of action in a compact space.
Neal Schorr – Capturing the Commonwealth: How I Recreated Pennsy's Middle Division
Inspired by a trip to Pennsylvania’s Juniata River Valley in 1975, Neal has attempted to capture the scenic beauty of that area on his model railroad depicting PRR’s Middle Division. He will identify the critical geologic and scenic features of central Pennsylvania as well as those of the railroad’s physical plant that are necessary to create a highly accurate model of that railroad. The layout has appeared numerous times in the model railroad press including MRP and Kalmbach’s “How To” series.
Mike Shylanski - B&O, C&O and Western Maryland Airslide Covered Hoppers and How to Model Them in HO
The history and ownership of General American’s pioneering Airslide covered hopper will be summarized, and cars owned by the B&O, C&O and Western Maryland will be shown in particular. The most common HO models of Airslides will be reviewed with a focus on those three railroads. Available airslide decals will be identified as well. The author will show how he altered and weathered HO airslides for the Chessie System Railroads and several others. Many of the techniques can be applied to other airslides as well as to different types of covered hopper models.
Robert Sprague – Deconstructing a Prototype Track Plan
Bob describes in detail the development of a prototype-based track plan that was published in the November 2019 Model Railroader. Bob will cover developing the “givens and druthers,” dealing with a challenging layout space, researching the prototype, and the trial-and-error process of developing the best overall scheme. He will continue with filling in the details of track, structures, and scenery, and show how everything comes together in a satisfying plan that represents many of the defining features of the prototype route.
Mont Switzer – Loading the TTX F30 and F39
How to model semi-trailers typically found in intermodal service on the TTX F30 and F39 flat cars. These are 1950’s and 1960’s era trailers with a little dive into the 1980’s.
Chip Syme – How a Railroader Details/Operates His Model RR
Chip Syme – Pennsylvania, Penn Central, and Conrail Non-Revenue Equipment
Brad White - Developing Operations for My PRR Chautauqua Branch Railroad
Researching and using prototype information to develop operations for my PRR Chautauqua Branch RR.
Kaylee Zheng – EMD, SD3ASK… IDK… WTF?! A Guide on Identifying Diesel Locomotives
Have you ever been stuck while trying to describe what power is at the head of the train? Are you lost when foamers start to argue which loco is far superior than others? Do you think all diesel locomotives are the same? If the answer is yes to any of those questions, then you, have come to the right place. This clinic will offer a crash course on how to identify those darn diesel locomotives, as well as give a basic overview of how they operate. The clinic will mainly focus on second generation diesels and onwards. By the end of the clinic, you will have bleeding ears from not one, but two, surprise musical numbers by the presenter, but also know what key areas to look at, when trying to identify that loco.