IN MEMORIAM

Frank Dziduch (aka Frank in Steam) one of the founding members of the Flower City Tinplate Trackers passed away Friday September 14 2012

He was a visionary in the club and in 2003 pushed strongly for upgrading the Tinplate modules to Hi-Rail standards that the club is well known for. He continued to advocate for higher quality scenes and structures.

He liked to talk with people and valued camaraderie. He would share his knowledge with everyone. He grew up in Amsterdam NY and his favorite railroad was the New York Central. Those who knew Frank would hear him talk about STEAM on the New York Central where he was very knowledgeable.

He proudly ran his Empire State Express Hudson with 21" steel passenger cars and a Mohawk or Niagara with a long consist of Pacemaker cars. He was partial to milk trains and designed and built a custom dairy using DPM wall units.

Frank was a builder of structures that always had some level of uniqueness. He would kit bash and assemble them from spare parts and bits of styrene. Every structure was well done. A favorite technique was to buy at least 2 of a kit and create a unique and much larger item.

OGR fans may remember a favorite sign-off in many of Frank's helpful comments, "If it's worth doing, it's worth doing to wretched excess". FCTT did just that when we hosted the 2012 LOTS Convention in Rochester, NY in July. We created a 132' X 68' modular serpentine layout with a 400' mainline and over a 500' walk around path. Frank had a significant contribution to this presentation; encouraging other members to create additional new scenes, adding his own industrial yard, and totally reworking a sixteen foot scene to his new vision.

The fire may have gone out in the earthly boiler, but I believe Frank is still steaming on the great layout in the sky. Peace be with you Frank. We will miss you.

check here in the near future for images of Frank and his structures