Olympic Model Railroad Society

History of the Olympic Model Railroad Society


...as told by Warren Kerr (Past Superintendent of Public Information)

We are fortunate to have several members of the club who have been with us for many years. What follows is their description of the early years and the development of the club and it's layout that is now housed in the Heritage Building on the Thurston County Fairgrounds.


Gordon Robinson:
I first joined the club in 1978 or '79. At that time we had a layout in the front of an old grocery store & house on the east side of Olympia. It was a single track mainline that went around in curves. The thing I remember most was that we had to go outside to tinkle in the bushes as the gentleman did nott want us using the bathroom in the house. We were there only a couple of years and we had to move because the house owner got married and the wife wanted us out. So, we had a chainsaw party and put what was left in storage in another members house.

One day in spring of 1980 the president of the club called and asked if I wanted to go look at a space at the fairgrounds. He came by, I got on the back of his motorcycle and we rode to the fairgrounds, what a ride! (I took the bus home). The fair manager said he had one possible space for us but wasn't sure we would be interested. He took us down in the basement and showed us the space, and we jumped at it! Our first layout was one level with double track. We had a roundhouse about where the current layout makes a turn for "Hill City" on the current layout.

From 1980 to 1989 we struggled to keep the club viable. Our president was David Rakestraw, our Club "Everything Else" was Rich May. We had about 6 or 7 members, 3 of which paid dues. This is when Guy Bishop and Ray Coons were considered members. Construction went slowly because we were only there one night a week. We eventually had a layout from the current "Post Falls" around to about "High Bridge" on the lower level. No scenery yet. We did have an engine house next to the post. We had a lot of electrical problems. For the county fairs Rich and I would take leave from our jobs for the week and run the layout. We could not open on Wednesdays; we were handling eggs. Saturdays meant the Commissioners breakfast and no power for us. We would come in on the Saturday and Sunday and Monday and Tuesday before fair to try to get the bugs worked out. Fortunately rent was only $25.00 a quarter, so we ran it out of our back pockets, so to speak.


Ted Curphy:
I joined OMRS in mid-2008, after having moved to Rochester from Spokane in late 2006. I had belonged to other clubs in other locations in previous years but had not done much in model railroading at the time of my moving. I was heavily into "virtual railroading" making 3D models for train simulators. I got to know several model railroaders in the Thurston County area as I was working as a locomotive engineer at the Centralia Steam Plant and that got me back into the model side of the hobby.

Late in 2008 it was decided to do something with the large open area on the lower deck under hill city. We wanted an industrial city with industrial trackage, and the post gave it the name, "Post Falls" named after Post Falls, ID near Spokane. After some discussion, I drew up a plan in November and it was approved in December I believe. I drew up my plan using mostly #4 turnouts, but Chuck Ricketts had a "Fast Tracks" jig for #5 turnouts, and the thought was that we could save a lot of money on turnouts, but it did tweak the trackage somewhat from the plan. A curved turnout was also used near the edge. I built the steel yard with the overhead crane and the freighthouse which I envisioned as a cannery (hence the tanks), but I never really finished the other details I needed to make to make for a convincing cannery. Marvin Schurke went to town on most of the rest of the buildings, creating most of the larger structures. I also made all the crossings and "paved" the roads. I tried to make them in deteriorating shape that one would find in an industrial area. I also cut up some paper sacks and black plastic shopping bags to give it a trashy look. I wish I could find an image of what the area looked like prior to the work when it was just a place to store papers and stuff. By mid 2009 "Post Falls" was really coming into shape.

When I joined Jim Elder, Marvin Shurke, John Nelson and Chuck Ricketts were the principle people at the club. Much of the basic configuration was in place, the two scenic levels with the twin helixes and double track mainline, plus the lower staging level. There were many unfinished areas that would soon receive attention and filled in with additional scenic elements. I think that the Digitrax DCC system was still pretty new at that time as well.

With "Post Falls" largely completed by the middle of 2009, we were starting to think about operations. One problem was that "Half Moon Yard", the largest switching yard on the layout wasn't very well designed for heavy switching and trains arriving and departing at the same time. So, with some discussion during September and October of 2009 plans were developed. In addition to redesigning the yard, we would add a paper mill and a locomotive rebuild shop over the tracks going down to staging. Jim Elder did a lot of work on the shop and putting up a backdrop behind the yard, as well as the mirror in the corner. Look at the photo from 2008 to see how drab the area looked before the overhaul. There was some thought of additional industry at Franklin Jct., but that was left for the future to decide. I think we approved the plan for "Half Moon Yard" in November of 2009 and work was largely completed early in 2010. I kick myself for not documenting the changes with photos. By the end of 2010 my work on the paper mill was well underway.

Ryan Bates also started work at Hill City by ballasting the tracks, and I assisted by adding more "land" to place buildings and load cars. We even found some neat forklifts for loading flatcars.


Marvin Schurke:
I first visited OMRS when it was on Eastside Street near downtown Olympia. (Gordy's memory is at that time we had a layout in the front of an old grocery/house on the eastside.) It was a single track mainline that went around in curves. "My first impression was that Gordon's description of "curves" is a gross understatement. I very specifically recall the planned railroad curving in-artfully around a structural post, and an absence of any tangent track reflecting a Class 1 mainline. I went home and restarted work on my home layout (the third of four I built in various locations), which was to represent the NP and Milwaukee Road mainlines running parallel at Easton, WA. I didn't take any photographs during that one brief visit, and so have none to share for an OMRS History webpage.

I next visited OMRS during its early years at the Fairgrounds (mid-1980's?), after hearing that the club had moved out there and built a layout. Gordon wrote: "The fair manager said he had one possible space for us but wasn't sure we would be interested. He took us down in the basement and showed us the space [and] we jumped at it. Our first layout was one level double tracked. We had a roundhouse about where we turn for Hill City." My first impression of that layout was that it resembled a bowl of spaghetti with some nice components but nothing reflecting a Class 1 mainline. I went home and restarted work on my fourth home layout which represented the Milwaukee Road mainline from Avery, ID to St. Paul Pass. Once again, I did not take any photographs during that brief visit, and so have none to share now.

My third visit to OMRS was in the late 1990's and was the event that got me involved in the club. One of my professional colleagues had a son who was interested in model railroading and was a Junior Member of OMRS. I showed the father and son my home layout (which had fallen into disuse once I drove the golden spike and quickly concluded it was cumbersome to operate) and helped them with some modeling issues. They invited me to visit OMRS and to bring along a train to operate. I accepted their invitation and brought along my then-model of the California Zephyr (owner-painted Athearn ALCo PA-PB-PA and 11 Con-Cor cars). Needless to say, I was very impressed with the OMRS layout. I had totally missed the club taking over the front wall of the basement all the way to the exterior stairs and building the "South" helix to complete a 3-level layout (starting and completion dates are written on the benchwork under Seaport Union Depot). I loved the 1 scale mile mainline of straight running between what is now REMCo and the exterior stairs, and I loved watching my full-length passenger train glide through the #10 turnouts at Chinook Junction. I was too busy watching the Zephyr to take any photos on that trip. I signed up to join OMRS, and that Zephyr ran a lot of miles during at least the 1999 and 2000 Thurston County Fair seasons.


John Nelson:
In the spring of 2005, the Fair management advised the club officers that the entire log cabin building was going to undergo a MAJOR renovation, both outside and in the basement. The work will begin after the Fair and we were advised that the club would have to close for at least six months.

The officers met with the Fair and the Project team and discovered that the logs that make up the outside of the building (in the front) were going to be either replaced or sealed and treated to prevent further deterioration. In the basement, the project team discovered that the three major posts holding up the structural beams were all rotten and were no longer adequate to support the weight of the structure. All three posts would have to be replaced!!

The officers reported back to the membership and we realized that all of Hill City and Post Falls would have to be removed to give the contractor space to pull and replace the post inside the South Helix and in front of the boiler room by the staircase. We all protested and asked the project team if some other solution could be found that would save the layout...(we didn't really want to have to tear the entire layout down and move.)

After some research and discussion, the contractor allowed that they could add steel posts on both sides of the peninsula to support the structure beam there, and replace the original post to the left of the wooden stair with a third steel post. The layout would be saved, but we would still lose six months of running and have resulting damage of unknown sorts that may occur during the construction phase.

We immediately began figuring out how to protect the track throughout the layout, especially along the long south wall. Part of the project work was to add support strips to the inside of the basement walls up through the floor to the walls for earthquake support and we were advised that they would be crawling/or kneeling on the layout to get this part of the work completed. Also, the sewer line that runs along the south wall was rerouted to another part of the basement, so that drain line was going to be removed, the officers met with the construction folks and they decided to leave the whole thing (would have trashed the backdrop along that entire wall) and cap it off so the sewage from the bathrooms would go to the new lines under the ballroom floor.

After the (2005?) fair we immediately began protecting the layout. All structures on the lower lever at Seaport Station were removed and 3/4" ply was purchased and used to cover the entire Seaport, Chinook Junction and Half Moon areas of the layout. Support pieces were placed between all sidings and the main lines to support the plywood off the track. The entire upper level was wrapped in large sections of thick plastic and tucked close to the walls so that the main part of the layout could be knelt or walked on. The entire Post Falls/Hill City area was wrapped, taped together and stapled to the layout frame.

I don't remember the exact date when work began, but during December when the project was halted for the holidays we were allowed to "look" into the basement but only stayed for several minutes. There was plastic draping, the plywood on the mainline and the holes cut into the floor for the posts at the bottom of the wood staircase. Photos were taken in mid-December and I think the work was done by late January (2006?).


Myron Vanatta:
Is interesting to see how the club has grown. I remember several years when Jerry (?) and I were the only people without a day-job, so we opened the "exhibit" on Wednesday, Thursday, and Friday of the fair and ran until 1800-1830 when a couple people could get off work and come in to relieve us. Maybe only six members at that time??!! It is also humorous to see some of the same issues rise that came up (several times) before the turn of the century!