A note from our friends at the Western New York Garden Railway Society:
In 2019, Easy Moving Equipment (EMC) of Canada again sponsored a building contest for Club members. They have sponsored this contest for several years, offering cash prizes to the winners. In past years, the winners have been picked by club member voting, sometimes coupled with fair visitors’ votes. In 2019, the winners were selected solely by fair visitors. A new feature this year was the use of turn tables so the visitors could see all sides of the model. The purpose of the contest is to encourage members to explore new techniques for model making and to make models for the train layouts that are not available from commercial kits. In the past, members have made models of the picnic pavilion on the Arcade and Attica railroad, the A&A station, the historic colored musicians club of Buffalo, and other local landmarks. This year, we had 2,700 votes cast by fair visitors, the highest number of votes ever cast.
There were five entries in this year’s contest, with one being submitted by our youngest member and one submitted by one of our older members with the ages spanning from preteen to the 80’s. We are please to announce the following winners.
First place went to Gary Tebo, one of the founding members of the club. He did Beetle Bailey’s car lot. Gary is an accomplished modeler, having submitted a bicycle sales store last year and a hot dog stand the year before. Gary uses several media for modeling. This year’s entry was made using for insulation board that was carved to represent brick construction. The interior was also detailed and lite.
Second place went to one of our club’s youngest members, Derrick Gillette. This is the third year that Derrick has entered the contest, beginning with the first year he was a member. Over the three years, we have watched as Derrick has increased his modeling skills. He did a submarine our of storiform, an airplane hanger from cardboard, and this year, a combination of cardboard and clay. His building was from a video game which few of our club members recognized, but many of the younger fair visitor knew exactly what it was!
Third place winner was Ron Brounschidle, the current club president. Ron is also an accomplished model builder, have several buildings on this and other club shows that demonstrates his abilities. This year, his classic water tower was something that everyone could relate to. He had the mandatory FAA warning lite on top to warn low flying airplanes of the water tower. He used a combination of carbon fiber tubes for the legs with coffee can for the actual water tank, and brass strips and wire for the railings and ladder. The inside of the pump house was also detailed with a pump, plumbing, and an electrical control panel on the wall for the system.
Fourth place went to Jack Henderson, again one of our founding members and oldest modeler in this year’s contest. Using wood as his modeling media, he modeled a filling station and car maintenance facility typical of the mid 20th century. Jack has made many buildings for the club both as part of these modeling contest and buildings for the layout in general. One of his pieces that many fairgoers might remember seeing in various club events is a model of the Arcade station.
Fifth place went to Charles Bartel for the CB Gizmo office and manufacturing facility. It was made using a 3D printer to create the outer walls and entrance doorway, and custom milled wood for interior floors and walls, as well as the loading dock and loading dock doors. Primary activity in this model was in generating the print program to simulate cinder block construction. Though not model for a specific building, it was designed to be representative of a small company served by a rail siding from the 1940’s.
It should be noted that some had their favorite models and visited the train display on multiple days, casting a ballot each day they were there! We appreciate the dedication of those visitor who took the time out to make a visit to the layout and trust that you thoroughly enjoyed this year’s display. We will be back in 2020 with a new display in the Grange building but in a different location. Please mark your calendars to attend the fair and vote for your favorite display. Unlike our political elections, please come often and vote often. No ID required!
For information on the Western New York Garden Railway Society, please visit our web page at https://wnygrs.com. Come join us and enter next years contest. You do not need to have your own trains to join, just and interest in Garden Railroading.
We always enjoy seeing the train display. Fun to read about this contest too!