The TMB Club History

In the beginning:

In March 1994, the TMB Model Railroad club was formed from a nucleus of six O-Gauge model railroaders. Having no place to start a layout, their first meetings were held in the Argyle Hose Company firehouse in West Babylon NY. It was there that the club’s master plan slowly began to develop.

One day a large, dusty, damp, dark basement in the Elmwood Shopping Center was uncovered. Even though a flashlight was the only light source available, we instinctively knew this could be the ideal home. Sure enough, on August 1, 1994, the lease was signed, and we were on our way. Even though there never seemed to be enough money, wood, paint, sheetrock, screws, tools, wire and other electrical materials were bought or donated. After stringing a few naked light bulbs to the beams of the ceiling, the first months were spent cleaning and painting. Slowly, word got out and by August 1994, the membership ranks swelled to 17. With the members meeting every Friday, the layout began to take shape. An all-new electrical and lighting system was added.

Meanwhile, some members began to design a complex track plan and a philosophy. The philosophy was simple: a model train layout does not have to be toy-like in appearance or operation. The track plan was designed so that four complete trains could be run independently of each other. In order to maintain the illusion of a real railroad, a train would never be in view at all times. It may travel into a tunnel that will bring it under the table or reverse it’s direction. This insures that the same train will never approach you from the same direction twice in a row. You will lose sight of the train as it goes around the layout. In other words, it will never look like the engine is following the caboose.

With the addition of a new sheetrock wall and the painting finally completed, the basement was turned into a train room. Now we had to build the bench work! It was decided that the bench work would be composed of L-girder construction, and most members did not even know what that meant. The layout would have three basic levels on it. For better viewing, the table height would be 42 inches at the lowest point, gradually increasing to a maximum height of 60 inches. The steepest grade would be no larger than 1 percent. Within a few months, all the bench work was complete. For visitors to better enjoy the layout, it was decided that the outside aisles would be 7 feet wide. The tables were finally laid out in their proper position; but still very few could see the image of the design. The next step was to lay the track. With the track plan having the smallest radius of 6 feet, (the largest is 9 feet), we had to master working with Gargraves Phantom track. The track work started slowly, but as we learned how to bend, cut and connect the track, the plan started coming together. A keg of track screws was purchased. With the size of the layout, an unbelievable amount of track was laid at what seemed to be a snail’s pace. Finally, on Sept 27, 1995, the Golden Spike was driven into place. All the mainline track work was completed and we had a model railroad.

Now all that had to be completed was the running of the wire to electrify all the lines. Miles of wire was “spooled out”. Scores of terminal blocks were bought and installed, wire was soldered to tracks, hundreds of spade connectors were used. Hours were spent soldering the hundreds of LEDs, toggles, and push buttons to their proper wires on the panels. The basement seemed to constantly smell of paint and solder.

On November 11, 1995, we had our initial run as a New York Central Hudson, pulled the “20th Century Limited” around the outside mainline. There was no scenery or signaling system installed as of yet, but we knew we had a layout that we could be proud of! As word of our progress began to spread though the Long Island model railroading community, our membership grew again to 28 members.

By the end of 1996, we had built the following layout: the bench work is 46 feet by 54 feet, there is over 2,000 feet of track divided between a 900-foot “outside mainline” and a 450-foot “inside mainline”, and ample railroad yards and sidings. These two mainlines are capable of running 4 trains independently of each other. There are 8 staging or storage yards, with 5 of them being hidden from view. We use this area to store up to 16 different complete trains, with the Yard Master being in control of what train will leave this area. The layout was divided into 70 electrical blocks, and there are 76 turnouts The entire layout is wired and controlled from our central operations center.

The track was laid so everything from the smallest 027 set to the largest scale equipment could be run on the layout. Atlas, Industrial Rail, K-Line, Lionel, MTH, RichArt, Right of Way, Weaver, or Williams, equipment can be observed running on the layout at anytime. Initially, power for the mainline was supplied by 4 venerable Lionel ZW’s, with various size American Flyer and Lionel transformers being used for many other jobs. As our trains grew longer with the addition of both cars and engines, we realized these ZW’s were not up to running all the modern equipment on the layout. At that point, the club upgraded to the new MTH Z-4000 transformers for the mainlines, and these transformers have performed flawlessly.  The ZW’s are still being used to supply power to yards, sidings and accessories that are slowly being added.

With all the track work completed, we thought all that was left to do was add scenery. I don’t think anyone understood the magnitude of adding scenery to the layout. Slowly, as more scenic areas were added, the layout began to come together. Being of a democratic nature, meetings were held and members were surveyed to determine a majority view point of what scenery should be placed on the layout. Factories, houses, stations, roundhouse, structures, mountains and trees were added as the members assembled and placed items into the layout. As a club, we could only go so fast and went at the pace our club budget would allow. Scenery is one area where you are NEVER complete.

With the new millennium upon us, the club was now 40 members strong, and we had what was the largest O gauge layout on Long Island. All went well for the club for the next three years. Through our open house sessions, trains were kept running, and the layout was viewed by close to 10,000 people. Some came back again and again to gauge our progress.

Three Fridays a month are designated as work nights, with the second Friday of the month being set aside for our business meeting. A club member can run their trains any other time during the month. We open the layout to the public about 4 times a year. There is no admission charge, and you can stay as long as you like.  Oh, by the way, the best thing about business meeting Fridays is that before and after the meeting members can run their trains and enjoy the fruits of their labor. After all, isn’t that what model railroading is about?

Then in early 2003, we got some devastating news that the building was being sold. We lost our lease, and after a nine year run, the layout had to be dismantled. It took three months to carefully take apart the layout. We began to inventory and store the components in various basements and warehouses across Long Island. On August 31, 2003 the last pieces were removed, and the lights were taken down. We left our home in the basement of the Elmwood Shopping Center for the last time. During the final three months while dismantling the layout, we knew that the true strength of our organization was not the layout but the bond of the membership. We all knew that we would be back, but when and where?

History repeats itself:

Without a building, we were suddenly confronted with 40 members and no place to get together. Luckily, and through the generosity of the Argyle Fire Company, we had a temporary place to meet. The organization continued to hold meetings once a month at the firehouse. Membership dues were kept up and with no expenses flowing out, we set a goal of expanding our coffers to fund a new and better layout. Several months passed, and we were beginning to get a little discouraged by the lack of progress in finding a new home. It seemed that we made hundreds of calls to answer every ad for available space on Long Island. Then one day in March 2003, we connected with the Intercounty Baking Corp. in Lindenhurst, NY. After some negotiation and approval by the membership body, we had a new lease and were on our way again.

The space was raw and undeveloped, but the with creativity and resourcefulness of the members, we constructed a train room. 

While some of the members worked on the construction, the remaining body assembled ideas of what the layout should become. After surveying the members interest, (we remain a democratic society), the layout committee presented a design to the membership, which was approved. From the design and artwork, a detailed floor plan and blueprint was developed. The members raised 4 new ideas to be incorporated into our new design:

1. Increased visibility of the trains or less underground track work

2.  A raised control tower located outside the layout

3.  More sidings to store trains and improve access for set-up and take down of trains

4.  An improved logging operation

The design calls for a dual mainline, with each mainline capable of handling 2 operators at a time. We incorporated a point-to-point subway line also capable of handling two operators. The subway was modeled after the NYC transit system in that the line will originate as an overhead Elevated line, traverse to two underground subway stations, and reappear at our main passenger terminal. The logging line was developed as a switch back operation, whereby two operators could run trains and remain challenged in a relatively small space. We are also planning a trolley line, or two, for our urban and suburban scenes.

Overall, we have more than 2,500 feet of track. Each of our two mainlines measures over 700 feet, the subway measures out at 400 feet, the logging line at over 250 feet and the sidings and yards use approximately 500 feet of track. There are 40 turnouts on the mainlines, and another 20 on the logging lines. For equipment, we opted for Gargraves Phantom Track with Ross Custom Switches. NJ Switch machines, mounted on Rix Rax brackets, control our turnouts.

The layout construction began in September 2003 and through planning, we knew where every piece of bench work and track would go. Work steadily progressed as the bench work weaved its way through the room. The track crew was right behind. Our poor foreman was literally in three places at once. Through dedication and hard work, the mainline track work was completed. On October 11, 2004, a Golden Spike was driven into the layout.

As we arrive in the present, day we are now confronted with running miles of wire from track to the control panel. As progress is made, we will continue to update our history page.

We thank you for visiting our web site and hope it becomes a regular stop in your online activity. Likewise, we hope to see you at one of our open house events.

Updated, December 2004