Our great hobby of model railroading provides the opportunity to allow us to use our vision to be creative, use carpentry skills, electrical skills, model building skills, and develop scenery. Another opportunity that we can benefit from is the friendships and helpful assistance from fellow model train lovers. The NMRA is the association that helps bring all this together. The Piedmont Division has monthly meetings and clinics that provides a place to interact and expand friendships, but we encourage out members to form Operating Groups.
The Intown Atlanta Model Railroaders was started in 2008 by Crew Heimer and Tom Gordon to help develop the layouts and operating skills of modellers who actually live ‘Inside The Perimeter’. Our membership is open to all scales, and you don’t have to have a layout to be a member (you just have to wish you did!). We operate, of course, but we also get together to help members build, plan, and in some cases, clean up!
We have 17 full members, two associate members and one we really aren’t sure about. There are eight operating layouts, two others are under construction, and five are in planning. Meetings are ad-hoc but usually monthly, and membership is open to everyone who lives in or near the City of Atlanta. We have no dues, no officers and almost no discipline. The only requirement is that when a member hosts an operating session, he or she must supply the crowd with a bag of Oreo Double-Stuffed cookies. We don’t really know how this came to be, but them’s the rules. Many of our members’ layouts have been on the Piedmont Pilgrimage.
Contact doug_alexander@bellsouth.net.
We are a loosely based group of narrow gauge modelers in Georgia, Tennessee & Alabama. Our infrequent meetings are at members’ homes or other locations of note for narrow gaugers.
Contact: Pat Turner, fecrr@mindspring.com, 423-453-0468
This is an all scales group and meets every Wed at 10am, at various locations. We have about 40 folks on the active roster. The group started in Jasper at a coffee shop with 2 guys talking trains around summer 2010. It now includes folks mostly along I-575 from Marietta to Jasper and gets 7 to 25 members every Wed depending on where we meet.
Contact: Phil Stead, trainman07@aol.com
The Joint Railway Association of Georgia (JRAG) is a group of model railroaders dedicated to Prototype Model Railroad Operation. We are a loosely knit Round Robin operating group. We have been meeting almost every Friday evening since 1981 operating one of the layouts in the group. We currently have 8 operating railroads in the schedule. We operate in a professional manner but we also think operation should be FUN!
If you are interested in Model Railroad Operations based on prototype practices, we would be happy to have you join us for a session!
Contact: Norm Stenzel stenzeln@mindspring.com
Website: https://sodigi.com/calendar/
Serving the I-85/I-985 corridor, the North County Interchange (NCI) is organized with the goal of operating model railroad layouts. To that end, the 100% NMRA operating group assists its members in building home layouts from start to finish. Our group is comprised of members with diverse model railroading interests, skills and experience. Additionally, the layouts are quite varied in terms of scale, era, railroad, location, size, and proto- and free-lanced design and operation.
We are friends, first and foremost, and the group is a wonderful source of fellowship, support, and encouragement. There are no formal rules governing the group, although each person must be member of the Piedmont Division and the NMRA. Membership is limited to a maximum of 9 individuals due to space limitations around member layouts. We meet regularly on Friday evenings operating using a loosely knit round-robin format. The person hosting that evening is in charge of organizing the work or operating session.
If you are interested or would like more information about the operating group, please contact Mark Reed at mreed@gsu.edu.
This operating group was started by Howard Goodwin to accommodate the model railroaders on the northwest side of Atlanta in an effort to assist those who are building or starting home layouts, to teach the skills it necessitates and to be a source of fellowship, support base and encouragement to those in the group. In the nine years since it’s creation, one of the most important accomplishments has been the fellowship derived from participation in the group. Our group currently numbers 19 and we are a 100% NMRA Club, one of only two in the Division.
Currently there are 18 home layouts in varying stages of completion. Nine of our layouts are currently capable of having operations with a tenth starting by the end of this year. All of the layouts have trains running to some degree, but progress is continual on all the layouts. All the layouts are currently using some form of DCC (Digital Command Control), Digitrax, Lenz and NCE, although the vast majority are using Digitrax DCC. While we were not anticipating adding any new members when there were only eight of us in the group, our numbers have more than doubled since the group was chartered in 2005.
We are dedicated to promoting the hobby of model railroading in addition to our above stated goals and to that end are involved in a project called “Model Railroad Magic” where we construct 4′ X 4′ layouts to display and donate to worthwhile children’s organizations in the Atlanta area.
If you reside in the Cobb, Cherokee and Paulding county area and would like information on our operating group, get in touch!
Contact Howard Goodwin, horn69@bellsouth.net
Website: www.NorthAtlantaRailBarons.com.
S-COG serves modelers living South of I-20. There are no formal rules or requirements for membership.
Contact: David Gelmini 770 707-5019 atcgel@gmail.com
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