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The Depot - Our Home
In June of 2003, Scale Rails of Southwest Florida purchased a building to use as a club house. It is
located just off Pondella in North Fort Myers, close to the center of gravity of the clubs membership. The address is
1262 Piney Road, North Fort Myers, FL 33903. Renovations were complete and the building was used for the first
club meeting in August, 2003. We are now busy building our new HO layout. To see progress go to the Trainroom
page.
The New Club Layout
Every Tuesday, Thursday and Saturday from about 9am to about 3pm, club members go to the Depot to work on the construction and
operation of the new HO scale layout. There is lots of work yet to do but we are now able to run trains. All
Club members are encouraged to come help.
OPEN TO THE PUBLIC
Even though we still are working on our new HO scale layout, we do welcome the Public to drop by and see what
we are doing. We have our modular N scale layout set up and operational, as well as a small HO scale layout designed
for young kids (as opposed to us older kids!) to operate. We also will give you a tour of the HO layout and sometimes
there are trains running. So you can observe progress, see how it is done, and sometimes see and hear
the trains running. Who knows, you might become inspired to join us!
Routine Club Activities
Monthly meetings are held at our Clubhouse, the Depot, at 1262 Piney Road in North Fort Myers, FL. These meetings
are held on the Second Saturday of each month at 1:30 pm. Sometimes other events cause us to change the day or
time of a meeting. Please check the Calendar page for the latest information. Spouses are always welcome
and are invited to attend.
Each year Scale Rails hosts a Train Show in Ft. Myers on the Saturday and Sunday following Thanksgiving. Attendance
averages about 800-1000 people. The show also includes about 100 tables of dealers, selling model railroad equipment.
Each winter, starting in January, the Club conducts Clinics on the many varied aspects of model railroading.
These Clinics are open to the public and will be held at our clubhouse, the Depot. Please check the Calendar page for
specific topics and dates.
We occasionally host a NMRA Regional Convention. The last one we hosted was the
April 2006 SSR Convention.
We also take trips together to both Regional and National Conventions, go on shopping trips to the east coast, Orlando,
and the Tampa area, and visit other layouts, hobby shops and museums.
Many members are working on the various NMRA Achievement Program certificates of Merit, earning their way toward the
Master Model Railroader Award.
Recent Events
Scale Rails Holiday Train Show
We held our 30th annual Holiday Train Show on Thanksgiving Weekend, Nov 24 and 25, 2007, at the Ambassador Riverfront at 2500 Edwards Drive overlooking the Caloosahatchee River in Ft.
Myers, FL
This year we had
six operating layouts.
Plus we opened our club layout (the Depot). In essence our new, museum quality HO layout became
part of the Holiday Train Show. It is just a short drive across the river to North Fort Myers.
People who went were
very impressed with the quality and
size of the layout. We also
have decided to leave the kids
operation layout at the Depot. The show was very
successful, with lots of kids
(young and old) enjoying the Operating Layouts in many scales at the Hotel and at the Depot, and the
kids HO layout that they could operate themselves. Many visitors purchased holiday gifts from the dealers too. We
raffled off an operating HO layout that the club members built using donated materials and equipment.
In addition, we conducted a silent
auction for an O gauge layout.
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