About Us

The creation of the Central Suffolk Operations Group (CSOG) appears to have its origin sometime in 2010 in the back room of the “Three Guys Hobby” store located in Smithtown, N.Y., Betty Michaels, proprietor. Three model railroad owners ( Howard Dwyer, Ron Engel and Ward Ruland) who frequented the store Saturday mornings decided to share there layouts and ideas which eventually led to the creation of an operations group. In the search for other modelers and operators the group grew to include John Feraca, Dave Barraza, John Jaklitsh, Jeff Brody, Stephen Vaughan, Ben Lederer, Joe Gregory, John Barone, Jim Schweitzer.

Operations consist of moving all types of freight, switching yards and industries, as well as coal and passenger trains. A typical session keeps six to eight operators busy for two to three hours. Some sessions have consisted of up to 10 members at one time based on the size of the layout. With each member bringing his expertise in the hobby of Model Railroading, the individual members home layouts have benefited by having operating session on their railroads with minimal disruptions.  Visit our Operations Page for more photos and information: Click Here

Top Image: Burlington 060 crossing the trestle bridge on Ron Engle " Great Northern Railroad"

Howard Dwyer and Jeff Brody working on the Jerome Central Railroad as yard master and assistant yard master at the Jerome Rail yard.

Part of the Operations team hard at work on the Stone Canyon Railroad.

See more of these photos on the operations page.

To see the operations page: click here

Operators in image (L to R): Mike Ryan, Ron Engel, Jeff Brody, John Jaklitsch, Byron Lane, Mike Jr, Howard Dwyer.

Ron Engel and Ward Ruland working out a Switching Maneuver on the Stone Canyon Railroad.