Newsletter | July 2023

Hello , See you in September.

We are getting back into the unofficial “train season” again. There are plenty of upcoming local train related events upcoming in the calendar reflecting that.

We have our upcoming September meeting on Monday the 18th. Again, this month we will meet at Lavelle’s bar in Astoria Queens. The plan is for starting between 7 and 7:30 PM at Lavelle’s Bar at 45-15 Broadway in Astoria, Queens near the 46th Station on the R/M (E at Night) Subway line. If you are coming from Manhattan the bar is closest to the end of the train.

Our August meeting here was very successful with a good turnout. I brought some cheese and crackers and there were several trips upstairs for drinks. It is a cozy room with a couch and some chairs. We can bring in more chairs and tables if we need. There was an 8-member turnout and discussed our personal modeling projects, railroad history, the Manhattan Modelers Bylaws as well as some potential upcoming things for the group. Dan Free brought some very well-done European O scale cars he had been detailing. I must really thank Brad Smith for finding the bar and arranging with the owner to use his basement space for no charge to the group.

Since the meeting we have voted to pass the Bylaws and I am now in the process of applying for NMRA Special Interest Group Status (SIG). Having SIG status through the NMRA would grant us access to additional members, advertising our presence and give us another degree of legitimacy. No members are required to join the NMRA for us to achieve SIG status, but several members are already (full disclosure I am on the BOD of the Sunrise Trail NMRA Division).

I am also trying to apply for space on Governors Island. There is no guarantee this would happen in fact it is quite up in the air. Governors Island is a former military installation in New York Harbor. The island has a surprisingly strong railroad related history from the early years of the 20th century. Over half of the size of the island is filled from rubble made excavating of the IRT Subway lines. This newly created section of the island then became home to the Governors Island Railroad. A railroad with one small saddle tank steam engine that ferried military ordinance into and out of warehouses. In the early 2010’s workers on the island excavated a broken arch bar truck which has been placed on display there. The truck could date back to either of those two railroad events.

Governors Island is now owned by the city and mostly run as a park. Access to the island is by ferry from the ferry terminal next to the Staten Island Ferry. This year is the first year that access to the Island will become year-round. Most visitors go at the weekend, and they are looking for activities to do. I feel like a model railroad group would be a great fit. My thoughts are on how popular the San Diego Model Railroad club in Balboa Park San Diego CA is. There are several former officers’ houses that are granted to non-profit (mostly visual arts) groups. Groups are granted access to space in these former officers’ houses on a year-by-year basis with a potential for a longer term. One parameter that must be met is the space must be open to the public at least once a day a weekend. I think our group could meet that.

We have been offered two existing layouts and a large diorama to jump start a public display. I think this would be a great opportunity for us to get a low-cost meeting space that could be used for modeling space as well as gain a public face that could drive further membership growth. We could use this space to make a modular layout of our own as well as a chance to display the models we make. I would really like to hear what the group thinks of the idea of going forward with this.

As always, I would love to include articles from members about their modeling, small space modeling solutions and any other thing that other members may be interested in for inclusion in future newsletter editions.

Thank you.

Hope to see you on Monday at the meeting.

-Andy Estep estepandyprojects@gmail.com 

Manhattan Modelers Meeting

September 18th

We plan to start between 7 and 7:30 PM at Lavelle’s Bar at 45-15 Broadway in Astoria, Queens near 46th Station on the R/M (E at Night) Subway line. The Bar is closest to the back of the train if you are coming from Manhattan. I will bring some cheese and crackers and other snacks.

United Railroad Historical Society of New Jersey,

Railroad Museum for a Day

September 25th

104 Morris Ave. Boonton NJ.

Their collection will be on display for the public. Highlights of this once-a-year event will be their GG1s 4874 and 4879, NY Central E8 4083 in Century Green, restoration project Erie Lackawanna U34CH #3372 and newly donated electric NJT ALP-44 4424 among many others.

North Eastern Regional NMRA Convention “The Cannonball“

October 5th -8th in Uniondale, NY on Long Island

Registration is now open.  

https://ner-conventions.org/cannonball-express/htt

Several Manhattan Modeler members

will be showing or running operating sessions on their layouts, have models on display or are giving

clinics at this event.

NYSME/METCA joint Swap Meet

Saturday November 4th

St. Joseph’s School 120 Hoboken Rd. East Rutherford, NJ 07073

An all-scales sale and swap meet. The NYSME layouts will also be open and operating for this event. The

show is near the Jane St stop on the 163 NJT bus from the Port Authority

We are always open to sharing model events in the area. If you are aware of an event that you think others here would be interested, please share it with us and we will include it in future newsletters.

by Andy Estep 

 I have spent one-sixth of my year this year in Shanghai China for work and have experienced a good sample of how railroads in China really differ from those in America. The difference that would affect my daily life as a city commuter the most was the differences in the Subway or Metro.

The Subway system in Shanghai has been built since the 1990’s. It is extensive and still growing. Between stations the frequent trains run at 50 MPH and each station has countdown clocks with timing for the next three trains.

Entering each station there are small teams of police who are working X-ray viewing machines who examine every bag. This processing is done very quickly. There are a huge number of workers at each station unlike New York where many positions have been eliminated and most stations just have one worker in the booth. All signage is given in both Chinese and English. Station announcements are also given in both languages on board the trains, making it very easy to navigate for people who are unfamiliar with the lines. The Metro ran from 5:30 am to around eleven each night. Signs were posted that no tickets would be sold after 3 minutes before the last train. Never did I see a train wait of more than 8 minutes between trains.

Stations were all designed with full mezzanine levels with the security and ticketing infrastructure as well as track levels. Each station had multiple numbered entrances and maps of the immediate vicinity. All stairways were very wide, and some had escalators.

There were very few accommodations for disabled access but that was the case for the whole city (i.e., no curb cuts at street corners, narrow sidewalks, and very steep steps mid sidewalk). The ends of each platform have cleaned and maintained public bathrooms. Official bathrooms, unlike the unofficial NYC ones (LOL).

Each subway platform has automated barrier doors that keep passengers off the track. The trains arrive and both the trains doors and the platform doors align and open. At each station, the conductor on staffed trains (not all of them are) enters the end of the platform and visually verifies that no one was trapped between the doors before they re-board the cab and leave the station. I saw many very young subway fans with their parents pushing their strollers camped out to watch the drivers pop in and out of the cab to see the process. On automated lines there are platform viewers on small risers watching for stuck people.

The trains are all wide like the lettered trains in New York and they have full width open diaphragms between the cars. Each train line has a designated color strips and this carries over to the interior seat color. There are designated reserved seats for elderly, disabled and pregnant riders near each door. There are both metal hand grabs as well as plastic straphanger bars. The straphanger bars have advertisements in the plastic casing that are consistent the length of the train. There are route maps or monitor displays that update the train route along the way as well as announcements of upcoming stations and the time in both English and Chinese.

I am very happy to be back in the states and I appreciate the MTA and how much work has to be done to keep our 100-year-old plus system running pretty reliably on a daily 24-hour schedule. I know I depend on it and expect it to always be running. But it was very interesting to see a different system.

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