Rochester Model Railroad Club
Rochester
New York USA
ROCHESTER MODEL
RAILROAD CLUB HISTORY
In
1939 five model railroaders began
construction of the first "Seneca
Valley Lines" located in the
basement of a small radio and
electronics store on Genesee Street
near Brooks Avenue. The organization
was called the
Kodak City
Model Railroad Club in honor of
Rochester's popular nickname during
that time. The club gradually
attracted others with a similar
interest in model railroading and
the club continued to grow.
The club
would not have a long term home
until 1989, and over the years would
move several times. First, to
the Buffalo, Rochester &
Pittsburgh Railroad's office at 155
West Main Street in 1943 and then
after six short years the club was
on the move again, this time to a
former horse stable on Ravine
Avenue. Located in the back of a toy
store that fronted Lake Avenue,
construction on this layout moved
rapidly at this location and by 1952
half the layout was operating. The
club held its first open house in
1954 with additional open houses in
each of the following two years. In
1957 the club secured a location on
the second floor of the Pennsylvania
Railroad building located at 357
West Main Street, which was across
the street from the former station
that currently houses Nick Tahou's.
The previous layout was salvaged
with a size of 15 feet by 45 feet
and a thousand feet of track. This
layout had the capabilities to run
12-15 trains simultaneously. Open
houses were held at this location
from 1958 to 1961.
The Pennsy
sold their building forcing the club
to move to the third floor of a
building on 49 South Avenue (The
Riverside Convention Center is
located here now). After much
rebuilding and rewiring, the club
held its first open house at this
location in 1966. The club stayed at
this location until 1979 and
completed much of the layout. The
Fortieth Anniversary of the club was
a major event during 1979 with the
club being featured in Model
Railroader magazine. In early 1980,
the club tore down the layout and
moved to the basement of the Elks
Club on South & Gregory Avenues.
In 1983
the club changed its name to the
Rochester Model Railroad Club, Inc.
and became an educational
not-for-profit organization. During
our stay at the Elks Club much of
the original layout was replaced
with all new scenery and track work.
The open house in January 1989 was a
huge success. Newspaper, television,
and word of mouth helped bring a
club record 3,000 people in to view
the final operation of the Elks Club
layout which coincided
with celebrating our 50th
anniversary.
In mid
1989 the club moved to its current
location in the basement of the
First Universalist Church in
downtown Rochester because the Elks
sold their city building after they
built a new lodge in Henrietta. An
entirely new layout was started and
designed to take advantage of the
available 40 foot by 60 foot space.
Progress has been steady since with
a now fully operational layout and
scenery work almost complete. Annual
open houses have been held at this
location yearly since 1995. The
layout, originally built with DC cab
control, was converted to a digital
command control system made by NCE
from nearby Webster around the turn
of the century, when DCC became a
prominent part of the hobby. The
club layout was once again featured
in Model Railroader magazine in
September 2008.
In 2014,
we celebrated our 75th Anniversary
and continue to grow as a club and
make improvements to our layout. We
have had many successful open houses
that draw fans both young and old
year after year and look forward to
many more years of sharing our hobby
with you.
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