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A HISTORY OF THE MIDDLE GEORGIA MODEL RAILROAD CLUB
(c) By Gary L. Howard
History Part 1 History Part 2 History Part 4 The Club Now
Part 3: Resurrection, Growth and Success
By early 1982 the active membership of the Middle Georgia Model Railroad Club had dwindled to where it became pointless to continue meeting - those few members who were left simply moved on to other pursuits. For almost four years the freight room and layout simply sat fallow, having only the occasional visitor looking in on what little of the clubs equipment and rolling stock was left there. Fortunately there was still a large amount of layout building material left on the floor and up in the roomy loft. Around 1985 the idea of resurrecting the MGMRC was spreading in local model railroading circles and by early 1986 enough people were showing an interest that it was decided a meeting should be held to see if people were really serious about reorganizing the club. During the second week of April about a dozen or so folks gathered at the freight room and voted to resurrect the model railroad club. On Thursday April 17, 1986 the "Second Section" of the MGMRC got rolling.
From its start the second MGMRC attracted modelers from the immediate Houston and Peach County area. But it also attracted folks from Bibb County, and occasionally from as far away as Dublin and Wrightsville. In fact, since its rebirth, the club's membership has never dropped below a dozen active members and most of the time has held steady at between 20 and 25 names on the membership roster. Throughout the late 80's and into the mid 90's the club met weekly to do what most clubs do - discuss the world's problems and how to solve them, and sometimes, if necessary, work on the layout and run trains. More importantly, many members established close personal relationships that have lasted to the present day.
The first sign of big changes for the club appeared in late 1996 when rumors began circulating among members that the city wanted to reclaim the depot for much needed renovations and to use for a new City Information and Welcome Center. By this date the building was over fifty years old and beginning to show signs of deterioration - there had been almost no maintenance on it since Southern Railway closed it 26 years earlier. It desperately needed a new roof, exterior paint was almost gone, several bricks were loose, plumbing pipes were rusting, and a few windows were cracked. The rumors were soon confirmed and the club would have to find a new home. It would come in the form of longtime club friend Ted Pulsifer, who managed the old Houston County Fair and had several historic buildings on the fairgrounds. Mr. Pulsifer had long wanted the club to leave the depot and move the entire layout to the fairgrounds for display and operation during the annual Fair. This would benefit both parties by hopefully drawing in fairgoers and giving the club much needed public exposure, and the club would again have a permanent year-round home. Although he'd long pursued the club - only to be rejected over and over - this time he only had to ask once. In mid 1997 the club moved into one of those historic buildings, the 75 year-old Elberta, Ga. depot - complete with a real, actual ex-Seaboard Air Line Railroad "wide vision" caboose built in 1963 (original road no. 5700) sitting on a piece of track alongside. This arrangement would last until late 2001 when, owing to competition from an ever-increasing number of fairs and festivals, as well as the loss of the coveted annual RV Round Up event to rival Georgia National Fairgrounds, Mr. Pulsifer decided to end the Houston County Fair and sell all the Fair related buildings and equipment. The club dismantled and discarded most of the original layout - keeping a small portion for potential future use, and began meeting regularly at member Marc Beaven's combination recreation room and basement, complete with a large, complex HO scale layout, where monthly meetings and operating sessions were held. And here, over the next couple of years, the idea of a traveling-modular-layout would begin to take shape.
By the turn of the 21st century the Georgia National Fair had established itself as a popular and growing attraction, and Fair organizers had observed that even though the MGMRC was unable to draw enough customers to save the Houston County Fair it might make a popular addition to their festival. At about the same time wise and farsighted club leaders were having similar thoughts, and soon the two groups began making plans to present a working model railroad layout during the 2003 Fair. Club members knew there was only one practical way to exhibit a temporary working model railroad layout - one that could be assembled within a reasonable time with less than a dozen people - modules. Modules are short - usually two, four, or six foot - structures with legs, upon which dioramas are built around one, two, or three railroad tracks. Two or more modules can be joined together to form a circular or end-to-end layout. Modular-layout clubs have been around for many years and are popular in Europe and Asia, and where limitations in house or apartment sizes prohibit building a home layout. The club members decided they should - and would - become a modular layout club - not just for operating at the G.N.F., but at almost any venue - from the largest outdoor festivals to the smallest indoor exhibits. In fact the MGMRC motto - paraphrasing a famous 1950's TV western - is "Have Layout, Will Travel." And this is just what the club would do, many times, when their run at the Georgia National Fair ended in the fall of 2006.