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Dear Conventioneers: Putting together the Flower City Flyer has been an interesting adventure. This year’s regional convention was originally going to be held in Sudbury, Ontario, Canada this April, but the bid was retracted suddenly last March. Fortunately, planning for a 2008 convention in Rochester was already well underway by the Lakeshores Division. However, moving the regional convention up by a year, leaving us with less than one year to execute it, proved challenging. Finding an available and affordable venue on such short notice was nearly impossible. Arranging a guest hotel and banquet almost didn’t happen. If it weren’t for the mandatory spring NFR general meeting, this convention was well on its way to being cancelled. And then along came Luther Brefo, veteran RIT Model Railroad Club Treasurer and now LSD Assistant Superintendent, who was able to secure space for the convention at RIT in March. Although we were now forced to change the date, his yeoman work allowed us to book the Radisson Rochester Airport, who was unavailable for our April date, as our guest hotel and banquet. Now that the convention plan had been secured, we were finally able to confirm the excellent clinics, layout and rail tours, and local attractions we had lined up in addition to the usual model and photo contests (both rail and non-rail), raffles, and door prizes. Some of those notable clinics include Intermediate DCC with NCE’s Jim Scorse, Modeling Conrail’s OCS by Matt Snell of the Conrail Modeler’s Resource, Nickel Plate Diesels by Bill Quick of the Nickel Plate Historical & Technical Society, 30 Years on the Falls Road by the Niagara Frontier Chapter NRHS’s Neal Keirn, and An Introduction to Free-mo Modules, featuring the operating Free-mo layout at RIT Free-mo Meet by yours truly. Among the layouts, most of which have 100% scenery, are the RIT Model Railroad Club’s HO scale Rochester & Irondequoit Terminal, Dick Senges’ superbly detailed HO scale Oil Creek, John Marshall’s HO scale Montour Falls Railway (EL/PRR), Tom George’s scenic HO scale Pennsylvania, the Rochester Model Railroad Club’s huge HO scale Seneca Valley Lines, the Genesee ‘n’ Ontario Model Ngineers’ NTRAK modules (on display at Strong Museum), Red Whitman’s freelance On30 Colorado logging/mining, Joe Cordero’s S gauge B&O, and the Model Railroad Club of Buffalo’s HO scale Buffalo Central and O/On3/On30 layouts. In addition to the various Class I and shortline railfanning opportunities, rail tours include a visit to the Medina Railroad Museum and their large layout, a caboose hop and tour at the Rochester & Genesee Valley Railroad Museum, and a guided tour and slideshow at Buffalo Central Terminal. Highlights of the non-rail cultural attractions include the George Eastman House, Finger Lakes wineries, the Genesee Country Village & Museum, Strong Museum, and Susan B. Anthony House. March will be here before you know it, so register now! Also make sure to keep an eye on the official convention website at nfr-nmra.org/convention for updates, changes, and additional convention coverage. For those of you traveling from Canada, passports are only required for air arrivals into the US, and effective January 1, 2008 they will be required for land entry as well. However, until then, United States and Canadian Citizens can show an original birth certificate (with seal) or certified copy and a valid driver's license or government ID card. Once you arrive in Rochester, the Radisson Rochester Airport, just minutes from the New York State Thruway (I90) and adjacent to the RIT campus, will be the convention hotel and banquet location. Make your reservations today to receive the special convention rate of $89 for single/double occupancy or $94 for triple/quad occupancy. If you are arriving on Friday night, convention check-in will be at the Radisson, but there will be clinics at RIT. On Saturday, convention check-in and clinics will be at RIT in the morning, layout and rail tours will follow in the afternoon, and we will all return to the Radisson for happy hour and the banquet. Sunday will host the NFR general membership meeting in the morning and more layout and rail tours in the afternoon. In spite of the challenges, the 2007 Flower City Flyer is back on track. All aboard! Sincerely, Mike Roqué |
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