News Story

LCCA Members Shuffle In Buffalo (6-1-13 SE recap)

The Lionel Collectors Club of America (LCCA) had a great Special Event (SE) on 6-1-13 at the homes of Lou and Roseanna Merzacco and Lou and Sandy Scozzafava.   Over 67 guests enjoyed the impressive operating layouts in Lou M. and Lou S's home basements.  Members from NY, Pennsylvania, Ohio and Michigan gathered together and enjoyed an outdoor catered lunch consisting of hot roast beef sandwiches, oven roasted chicken and numerous side dishes and desserts.  Sue Craver and her daughter Marie Still created beautiful, homemade steam train engine, train track and RR crossing gate cookies.  Everyone thoroughly enjoyed them as they tasted even better than they looked (and they looked great!)  

Lou Merzacco has an impressive Union Pacific RR themed layout while his neighbor Lou Scozzafava is fond of the NY Central RR lines.  Lou S's custom home made trees look fantastic on his NY Central themed layout.  Dylan (age 10) and Anthony (age 8) DiCarlo were the designated train engineers for the day.  Both Dylan and Anthony operated the Lionel Legacy UP Steam locomotive trains with Lou Merzacco's TMC, Legacy hand held controllers flawlessly all day long.  LCCA  Immediate Past President (IPP), Al Kolis, attended this event and presented Dylan and Anthony with a Certificate of Appreciation along with a Lionel Train hat. 

In keeping with LCCA President Dennis DeVito's goal of reaching out and having direct contact with 2200 members this year, every member who attended this event received a LCCA Special Event commemorative pin along with an un-cut sheet of LCCA SE Billboards as a token of appreciation for their attendance and support of our club.  As an expression of appreciation from the club for hosting this SE,  IPP Kolis presented Lou and Roe Merzacco with a LCCA commemorative switcher  engine made by Lionel for our 42nd annual convention in Norfolk VA.  Lou also received a LCCA UP 1941 Ford Diecast police car which was produced by Die Cast Direct exclusively for the 2010 LCCA convention in Denver CO.  This UP police car will be a good addition to Lou's UP themed operating layout.  Lou and Roseanna worked tirelessly to host this fun, family  oriented SE.  In keeping with Lou Scozzafava's love for NY Central, IPP Kolis presented Lou with a NY Central LCCA commemorative water tower with blinking light.  This piece was developed by Lionel for LCCA's 2008 convention in Buffalo NY.

Everyone enjoyed the beautiful summer day in the backyard tents provided by Lou and Roe Merzacco.  The rain held out and we enjoyed a beautiful day playing with trains on two impressive operating layouts while experiencing the camaraderie of fellow LCCA members.  Lucky door prize winners were ecstatic when their winning ticket was pulled and they received one of the numerous valuable LCCA product prizes.  It was a fun day that was enjoyed by all.  When people were leaving the event, they were asking "when can we do this again, we had so much fun?"  I am certain that the LCCA will be back again in the Buffalo area to host additional LCCA Special Events.

Our sincere appreciation goes out to Lou and Roseanna Merzacco, Lou & Sandy Scozzafava along with all of the members and guests who attended this June 1, 2013 LCCA special event.  It is the members such as yourselves that makes the LCCA such a wonderful club.  Thank you again and we look forward to seeing you again back in Buffalo NY area.