The Onondaga Cutoff: A Walking Tour with Dave Abeles 

The scenery, detailing, texturing and weathering on this layout is “off the charts!!!”🔥🔥🔥❤️

This is the sweetest layout I have ever seen ⭐️⭐️⭐️⭐️⭐️

This layout does a particularly good job blending the backgrounds into the rest of the scenery.

Spectacular David!

It's great to see the layout behind the man who wrote the book on switching.

NIce , Worked for CR a bit in the late 80's , made one trip to Selkirk..couple to Philly and Harrisburg.. but hated road service ! .....worked out of Oak island mostly , yard jobs........then the recession hit ,, list never turned , had to leave , but thanks for reminding me of the big Blues !

Every scene introduced with a smile. And an M & E Alco what could be better.

I am totally blown away by your model railroading. Everything about it is perfect, from lighting, backdrops, motive power and rolling stock. I can honestly say that John Allen would have been in awe of your work. I must admit that I noticed that HO spray paint bombs and graffiti artists have not found your masterpiece.

The one person who gave you a ‘thumbs down’ , let him go, DOPE is legal now and he hasn’t come down to earth yet ! It is truly a 5 star layout, ENJOY, I did watching the video! 👽

Beautiful, a work of art 👍👍👍👍👍👍

hello Dave, greate layout 👍🏽 ... very nice work 👍🏽# ... greetings from austria Modellbau Michl

This is a very nice layout and beautifully done . I'm a fan of all those old roads that have been absorbed, but also the newer ones also.

Thanks for the tour. I liked how everything was well worn & weathered, blending the whole scene together nicely.

Awesome! Your effort to document Conrail, even in a "what if" concept, is just cool.

Beautiful layout👍🏼 operations has to be fun 😃

This is amazing, especially in HO

Hey Dave, Thank You for taking the time to show me around! I have enjoyed very much!

Beautiful work, from a former DeWitt resident. Toying with an attempt incorporate the Jamesville Quary into a layout.

Very Cool 😊

This is amazing!

Loved the tour. Great job. Love Conrail Blue.

A foamer come to full bloom! Nice work.... That view of Syracuse, yep, I remember.... I lived in Cato, NY and Weedsport for a few years.... Loved the Lakes too!

Love this layout

Awesome, Dave! Howdy from Texas!

I love watching your excellent layout. Would like to see an operating session. I remember when Conrail bought up GP38s a hundred at a time and the B23-8s. This was back in the 70s when I used to watch Conrail every afternoon when I got off work. This was in Orrville, Ohio and train after train run heavy freights west with pushers. Thanks again for sharing.

Nice layout, well thought out and executed. Thanks for sharing.

Love Conrail & NS love the GP-15 All N All nice layout keep up the good work.

Nicely done layout.

I don't Know why RU-vid recommended this to me, but it is awesome Greetings from Germany

Well done Dave. You are an inspiration to all model railroaders. Thanks.

Very cool layout...

Outstanding!

A lot of familiar sights here- great work!

Is a beautiful layout. I like it! Luciano from florence

WOW! AMAZING! GREAT JOB!

Beautiful

An excellent video. Hello from the Tracy Mountain Railway in Colorado. 💙 T.E.N.

Nice railroad. 👌 operation.

I have so much appreciation for model railroaders for the time and effort they put in to making everything look so good and realistic, I had Conrail literally in my back yard way back in the 80’s as they used to switch the local solo cup plant now it’s a different plant and NS has them now but the spur they used to use has been abandoned and they use a totally different route

Wow, great job Dave!

Simply fantastic work. Really enjoyed the video, keep up the great work!

Very well done!

Nice MOW detail around 11:40, the pieces of CWR laying in the six foot.

Nice modeling. I worked out of Dewitt yard has a trainman for NYC and PC . I left around 1975 just before Conrail took over. Mohawk was my home terminal,also worked on Hudson and Buffalo Div.

Such an amazing layout!! Wish I could see this in person

Very nicely done. Thx

Awesome tour! I grew up in Rochester during the PC & Conrail area and your layout brings back a lot of memories. Nicely done.

Great job!

That's a great size. Spent time in Syracuse during the 80's

This brings back memories of my years as a Syracuse undergrad in the 1970s. I spent a lot of free time hanging out by DeWitt Yard, Kirkville, the Burnet Ave. grade crossing, and Janesville. Back then it was Penn Central and Erie Lackawanna, of course.

Great layout! I live in Rochester and spent some time on a Conrail tie gang in the late 70’s. Your line is very realistic.

Very nice layout, I still have the Model Railroader Magazine with your layout and have worn it out!!! I grew up on the BIG 4 Dow line and seen the transition from NYC to PC then Conrail and became a huge Conrail fan as there was a train either north to Elkart yards, east to Ohio and New York or South to Avon yards in Indianapolis!!!!

Awesome! I didn't know you had a RU-vid Channel. Great vid 👍

Great layout

Excellent!!

what a great host and amazing modeling. I will be looking into you work further as a new subscriber. Thanks for sharing, cheers Rob

Wow that's was real nice tour Dave and thank you,, that's what's Conrail is all about.. thanks big guy

Awesome layout. I remember growing up near Niagara Falls Canada and the emergence of Conrail from all the bankrupt railroads. It was quite a transformation.

Wonderful layout, and your mention of all the Central New York places made me homesick for my childhood Skaneateles and our frequent travels to Syracuse and hamlets between. 💚💙💜

Excellent job Dave! Great railroad

nice t see, hi from frankfurt Germany 👍 and Abo from Peter

Wow, really GREAT!!! Makes me home sick for upstate NY. I lived in Syracuse many years through the 90's and always loved the train history. Thank you so much for sharing this.

Great video!

Great layout tour. Thanks. 👍

Man this is the best darn Conrail layout I've ever seen. The detail of the scenery and operations is fantastic. I started photographing trains in the late 1990s when Conrail was King and Conrail has a special place in my heart. Well Done! I miss the GRS signals but the ones you have look fantastic....great memories.

Ditto what Soo Milwaukee Rd said! Great job describing this awesome layout. Looks really neat!

Very impressive layout!!! I'm a huge "BIG BLUE" fan fan, having worked for pacific rail services in the S Kearny NJ pig ramp. But , very happy to see "Susie Q" power at the shop, having lived in Sussex County NJ, and watched the rebirth of the NYS&W. Please keeping posting your exquisite layout!

Fantastic!

I posted my 1st comment b4 the TV9 segment! If memory serves me, when I occasionally worked the N. Bergen ramp, that was an outbound I used to load! Again, thx & keep posting!

Great tour, Dave. Thanks for showing the layout off to us.

Thanks for the tour! I had some flashbacks of 1996 watching this. Love the detail and the working signals!

Very nice layout! This is especially exciting to watch this video for me, since I live in Syracuse! I'm only about 10 minutes from DeWitt yard in E. Syracuse where I railfan as often as I can. Great job on the video, too, it was well done and you did a great job of describing your railroad. Cheers!

Totally awesome layout and locomotive models thank you for showing us your video I subscribed to your channel!

Wow Dave, well done. A nicely done tour. I want to run the local out of Euclid Yard. The best parts of the video are when ya pop in and out of frame. Well spoken & great personality. You’re probably a great writer too. 😉 Congrats on the book!

Thanks for the great tour Dave. Been hearing a lot about your layout lately and have heard you on the AML podcast

Such a beautiful layout! I'm so impressed with it and would love to see it during an operating session. I just started listening to the AML podcast recently and learned about you and the OC. Really enjoy listening to you, Lionel and guests. Just ordered your book and can't wait to start reading.

Wow! There are so many neat things about your layout, it is so well done and I especially like the control points and even w/ approach lit signals.. ! Thxs for sharing.. 🤗

Very nice job blending the scenery into the backdrop. Looks seamless.

Absolutely fantastic!

Your layout is beautiful!

Nice layout! I especially love seeing my home state modeled. I’m from Harlem, NY so rarely did I see any freight trains growing up.

Very nice layout. I like the detail on your signals and track work.

Awesome!!!

Greetings from the Ohio Porters. 🤩 Good Conrail action! Good run on that big layout. 😎 Love the detail, gold Cadillac and the cabovers! 🥰 Good stuff!

Al Tillotson? I knew both of them in Troop 80 in Park Ridge, NJ.

Enjoyed the layout tour...you’ve got a really nice layout...brewery and farm scenes are 👍🏽👍🏽👍🏽

This looks fantastic!!

Great tour! Thanks for a well-done video. Very interesting!

This is certainly a layout you should be proud of. Staging is good too. I've been thinking about tearing mine down for a simpler design. (Getting older.) My layout is static now.

Wow this is so great to have this pop up in my feed! Great to see what you and Lionel talk about on the Modelerslife pod cast. Beautiful work. Superfan 9.

Great looking layout Dave! It looks good in the pages of Model Railroader magazine, but so much better in video! Love your attention to the smallest details.

Thank you for an excellent tour! You have a fantastic layout! The attention to detail and realism is amazing!

Thank for the tour. After seeing how put Syracuse campus into your layout. Now l am goings to model Knicks stadium, Iowa Hawkey's. So look out, next time Syracuse comes to town. They can bring

Hi Dave - I'd like to compliment you on so many things, so well done. You covered the big things (well-ballasted mainlines, well-worn sidings are always nice to see; as is appropriate weathering - some lightly weathered and others ain't seen a wash rack since never!) but you also covered little details like power lines and superelevated curves. Your layout signage is superb (did you do it yourself or out-shop them?). And the topper was you didn't make a half-baked video. Your hard work has paid off, as we can plainly see in all the positive comments. So do you consider your layout "done", or are there still lots of little projects to complete? Sure looks good from here. Layouts like yours make me wish I lived down the street from you so I could come over every so often! Alas, your house is a bit of a drive from California, darn it! Thanks for 'fly-by' view - you've done a masterful job. Now I have to catch up with the rest of your videos, and website. Highball the Rollby! Ghost of SP

That's awesome

Nice layout

Show! Parabéns.

Hey Dave, Enjoyed your layout presentation! Being o former Syracusan and a model railroader myself. (been in Atlanta 40 years) Beautifully done !Thank you! (where is the Stickley Furniture plant in Fville) lol

Please do a video showing somebody using the ATCSmon for the layout

So realistic...