Traveling back in time since 1947
Over 75 years of model railroading in Portland, OR
THANK YOU!
The CGMRC wishes to thank all our visitors who made this years Open House a very special time .
We had such a great time meeting some of you for the first time and seeing our long time fans returning . So many wonderful memories and new friends were made .
We wish you all Happy Holidays and we hope to see you again at the next Train show .
Humble Beginnings
Our railroad club was first established in October of 1947, located within a basement not far from our present home. Unfortunately it was not long before our club was forced to move to a new location, but we did so with high hopes.
Making Ground
Our first new home was established in a vacant lot on North Montana Avenue, where members of the club constructed a 30 x 80 foot building from scratch. This building finished construction in 1948 and served as the home of the Columbia Gorge Model Railroad Club for 34 years.
With the expansion of the nearby hospital, we had to leave our home behind. We looked toward the future with bright eyes at our current location on North Vancouver Avenue.
This time we left the building construction to the professionals so we could prepare for our new space with the main layout room being 58 x 70 feet, which is nearly 2.5 times bigger than our previous layout! Thanks to our amazing 14 foot high ceiling, we were able to create the gorgeous mountain landscape with plenty of room underneath to have our own operations space.
We finally had everything we needed and now we continue our great legacy, operating and maintaining one of the largest model railroad layouts in North America.