Rail road club welcomes public, hosts open house

The Grand River Valley Railroad Club held an open house at 2405 Porter Street in Wyoming. It was open to the local area residents of Grand Rapids between 1 p.m. and 4 p.m. Saturday, April 27. The club is located next to Lamar Park.

"It helps to keep the mind active," says Bud Johnston, a retired electrician. "I come here a couple times a month to work on my trains or help out with projects at the club."

Model train scales such as S, HO, N and Z were all on display for visitors to see and enjoy watching them go around the tracks. A steady flow of visitors walked through the hallways and into the the big rooms where the layouts were constructed.

"It has taken us about a year and a half to construct this HO scale layout," says William Abraham, a computer consultant. "I try to come here every Thursday night to work on the trains, but I come from Rockford, so sometimes it doesn't work out that way."

The highlight of the open house was watching the steam locomotive puffing its smoke stack and sounding its whistle as it pulled a total of some 32 model Tropicana Orange Juice cars all around the big train tracks layout.

The next open house meeting for this railroad club is Saturday, November 9, at the Home School Building in Wyoming.

For more information, visit the club at its website at www.grandrivervalleyrrc.org.