Penn State Model Railroad's Search for a New Home

The Penn State Model Railroad Club has been a recognized Student Organization at Penn State for 62 years. In this time, our club has built five different layouts in several different locations. Our current layout is in the basement of Pinchot Hall, at University Park. This layout represents over fifteen years of work by dozens of club members over the years. We host open house events three to four times a year, where we welcome students and families from the area to view the work we have done on our layout. Hundreds of people visit over each weekend event, where we talk about our club's history, we demonstrate different aspects of the work we do, and we even teach young children how to drive trains on our layout. Additionally, we often open our club to University classes to discuss historical and logistical details about railroads. We love sharing the work we do and showing the significance of the model railroading hobby.

Due to impending renovations to our current home building, the Model Railroad Club is losing our space. We need support and recognition from our University administration so we can find a new building to call home. Fifteen years of work on our current layout will be wasted, as we are forced to dismantle our main layout and relocate a significant amount of tools, small layouts, and historic artifacts. After 62 years of work, the Model Railroad Club needs help so we may continue sharing our hobby with the world. We only hope the University administration will help us in our quest for a new home.