Welcome to the Columbia Gorge Model Railroad Club (CGMRRC), one of the largest model railroad clubs in the Western United States. Founded in 1947, CGMRRC seeks to provide a home for the HO Scale model railroad community in the Greater Portland, OR area, as well as provide education to youth groups and others interested in railroads of all sizes.

Columbia Gorge Model Railroad Club is located at 2505 N Vancouver Ave, Portland, Or 97227. We meet once a week (Tuesdays starting at 7:30pm) to work on the layout, handle club business, and (most importantly) have fun operating our trains. While the club’s layout is devoted exclusively to DCC HO Scale models, fans of all scales are welcome.

Origins

Organized in October 1947, the club’s first layout was located in the basement of a store building within sight of our present location. Unfortunately, that layout was short-lived, as the club lost its lease and was forced to find new quarters. The members decided then that finding a permanent home for the club was vital to the club’s longevity.

First Home

Their search yielded a vacant lot on North Montana Avenue, on which the members constructed a 30 x 80 foot building with their own hands. The building was completed in 1948 and served as home for the club for 34 years. In 1982, expansion of the adjacent hospital campus surrounded the club and it was time for find a new home for the club. In 1982, we sold the original building and property to the Kaiser Foundation. With the proceeds of that sale, we were able to construct our current home.

Current Home

This time around, we left the construction of the building to professionals so we could focus on preparing the inside for the new layout. After taking possession of the building on January 1, 1983, we began construction of the layout.

The main layout room is 58 by 70 feet (nearly 2.5x bigger than our old layout) with a 14 foot ceiling. We use all that ceiling height to provide stand-up access to the layout operations from underneath, and plenty of vertical space for the dramatic mountains along the Columbia Gorge.

The building has a large meeting room for the weekly club meetings, kitchen facilities for events, large library, board room, wood shop, and plenty of specialized areas for working on projects for the layout.