Where did the MGB get its name, you ask? The MGB Railroad Club was founded in 1995 by Matthew Harris, Gary Moore and Brett Scott. The Club was incorporated as a non-profit organization in 2006 under the name MGBRR, Inc
Version 1 (as it is now known) of the MGB was located in a storage shed behind Brett and Jeanne Scott's home. Our inspiration for this first layout came from the Peace River RR track plan found in the 48 Top Notch Track Plans book from Model Railroader Magazine. Be sure to check out the photos of version 1 on our Photos page.
The MGB Model Railroad Club is now nestled within Brett and Jeanne's home. The MGB's model railroad will eventually fill most of the 18' by 49' room above their garage. The MGB is an HO scale layout, and is currently being reconstructed. Our railroad is operated through the use of a Digitrax Digital Command Control (DCC) system. Each locomotive contains a computer chip (a decoder) which allows it to receive instructions from the DCC system. Each locomotive has a unique DCC address (sort of like a house number), which under our system, is the same as its locomotive number. We currently have many locomotives with decoders installed in them.
Upon moving into Brett and Jeanne's home, we began construction on a new layout in May 2005 (now known as version 2 - see Photos). We didn't finish version 2 before realizing that we'd made some serious errors in judgment. Mainly, after visiting some other really outstanding layouts, we decided that version 2 was just not going to offer much in the way of rail operations. During the summer of 2008, we scrapped almost all of version 2 (except for Mt. Pilot) and are now working hard on version 3 (see Reconstruction page). Our new "ultimate" layout will focus on railroad operations and will, we believe, be a trainload of fun to operate (both literally and figuratively).
We don't expect everyone to understand our motives, but the members of the MGB Model Railroad Club believe on having a good time in all that we do. That's why our motto is "Where Life is Nothing but Fun!"
The MGB Model Railroad Club welcomes questions about our Club and its layout. Here are a few that we've been asked:
A. Good question, looking back over the guest log, we have had visitors from Florida, South Carolina, Virginia, Ohio, Pennsylvania, Arizona, and California. However, the furthest seems to have been from the country of Brazil.
A. We typically meet once a week to "work" on the layout, which means we are not running trains, but doing other things (for example expanding the layout, repairing rolling stock, painting buildings, etc.) Two Saturdays each month we meet to "play", which means we don't do anything but run trains! Visitors are always welcome and are encouraged to come by as often as they like.
A. Sure, just ask any MGB member about how to join the Club.
A. Sure! We have a 5 minute course on how to operate a utility throttle and how to safely drive a train. After this, you are welcome to drive trains anytime we are operating the layout.
A. We call it Mt. Pilot.
A. For two reasons-first of all, it's a salute to Mayberry and the simple life the Andy Griffith show represents and secondly, it sits atop our first module and is therefore the MGB version 2's pilot project.
A. At its highest point, Mt. Pilot is 144 feet tall in HO scale (that's an elevation of 681 feet). For comparison, Thelma Lou Lake sits at an elevation of 537 feet, while Foggy Bottom Station is at an elevation of 538 feet.
