It was my pleasure to attend my third RPM East meet held this year in Greensburg PA with 220 hobbyists attending. It was held at the Ramada Hotel & Conference Center, Greensburg. Upon arrival Thursday afternoon I met Eric Hansmann, who along with Steve Ross organized the event. Later that evening I would attend Andy and Charlie Blenko’s Pittsburgh Mainline Operating Session.

Two years ago, when RPM East was last in Greensburg, I was privileged to be part of the second call for Pittsburgh Mainline guest crews. Since then the railroad has grown and hosted many Operating Sessions. Thursday night, Jim Montgomery and I were a crew and here are the trains we were assigned. It was a fun night for all!

On Friday and Saturday were the clinics I attended along with visiting the vendors and viewing the models on display. Here are the clinics I chose and what I learned from each one.

Friday
1:00 Bob Meir layout yard design – study the prototype and scale it to your plans
2:30 Darrell Swift Freight 1979 – I like all things seventies and bar code readers on railroad cars were one favorite memory of mine discussed. Also very interesting were new rules obsoleting old equipment put in place.
4:00 Michael Hohn Leigh Valley – Anthracite coal set in late 19th and early 20th century upstate NY. I was pleased to meet Michael after his presentation as he is past superintendent of Division 2 and a subject matter expert when it comes to the ‘Burgh, something I aspire to be.

5-7 Dinner

7:00 Larry DeYoung EL & PRR O Ravena OH – My two favorite railroads, bigger and better in O, if I only had the space.
8:30 Mike Zollitsch Excel Ops – build a database that’s what I need to do for so many reasons. There is the JMRI database and I just read in the NMRA Bulletin about using MS Access for entry and reporting.
10:00 Steve Funaro PRR flat NYO&W gondola – one of my industries has to be Struthers Wells and maybe PDM, Warren. I have memories of a really big oversize load that left Struthers before my dad retired. I’ll need these cars like these.

Saturday
9:00 Charlie Blenko Paper Signals for Prototype Operations – just as for any project mock-up and refine ahead of the finished project. At Charlie’s Op Session he placed the signals ahead of us as we followed the timetable. Eventually his layout will have permanent wired signals but immediately this works great.
10:30 E. Roy Ward HO WVC&P RWY – Roy’s layout is celebrating 40 years. His advice is think railroading not model railroading. He lost interest in his first layouts because they lacked purpose. A railroad has to have a purpose whether following a prototype or imagining your own.

11:30 – 1 Lunch

1:00 Rich Mahaney Tank Car Industries – United Refining has to be on my layout and I learned; read the placards on yur tank cars and study the hatches on top. Danger, do not mix up high and low pressure tank cars and the facilities they go with!
2:30 Eric Hansmann B&O Operations – Eric is also a subject matter expert on the ‘Burgh and has done extensive research on late 19th and early 20th century Allegheny City that became the North Shore neighborhood of Pittsburgh. He has a family connection to the Heinz plant that he intends to model.
4:00 John Teichmoeller PRR H21 hoppers – There are PRR H21 hoppers for most letters of the alphabet. One comes to appreciate how innovative the PRR was in all aspects of railroading.

5-7 Dinner

7:00 Neal Schorr Civil Engineering – the attention to prototypical practices make layouts realistice. I visited Neal’s layout Open House Sunday at on the way home and his PRR Middle Division realism is spectacular.
8:30 Bill Neale Modeling the PRR Panhandle – It is fascinating how the panhandle of WV initially prevented PRR from connecting PA & OH and how important it became once PRR was able to establish a right of way.

Here are some photos from Friday and Saturday:

Sunday my last stop was Neal Schorr’s impressive O scale Pennsylvania Railroad Middle Division. His railroad ages east to west, adheres to civil engineering principles, and has appeared in model railroad publications. Thanks Neal for hosting an awesome open house and it was a thrill to see your railroad in operation. Below are my photos and please watch my video playlist here.