HO club layout for employees at EMD La Grange factory (approx. 1947-1999)

I reached out to a good man who retired from EMD LaGrange a few years back.  

I will post his response when I receive.

As a long time member of the ELMOD Lines (EMD Model Railroad Club), here are some bits of information:

1) The club was started in about 1947, by about 3 or 4 employees, and more employees added as construction progressed.

2) The club was located across the hall from the Hourly Employees cafeteria. The room was about 65 to 70 feet long and about 20 to 24 feet wide. There was a main door in the middle of the wall out to the hallway, however for shows (the annual EMD employee's Christmas Party), the visitors could enter through a room to the north end of the room, walk past the whole west side of the layout, and then exit through another door on the far south end of the layout room.

3) Upon being promoted to the Sales Engineering Department, in late 1971, I naturally became an active member of ELMOD Lines. In 1972, there were only about 5 or 6 active members, plus some non-employee regular visitors. The club met every Tuesday night.

4) Even after the main manufacturing building was closed & vacated, we were still allowed to meet every Tuesday night. The plan was to sell the building, including the big 200 ton overhead cranes in the main erecting bay. Over about two years, many prospective "buyers" inspected the place, but it never sold. Thus, the decision was made to raze the whole place, and the model railroad was scrapped, after removal of key structures.

5) There are very few "public" photos of the various stages of construction, and the "finished" layout. During the last few years of the ELMOD Lines, I had the EMD Engineering Dept. Company Photographer do a complete photo shoot of the whole layout. Thus, I have a box of some 2 or 3 dozen 8X10 color photos of the whole layout. 

I never belonged to the EMD club, but visited there many times in my youth.  It was an impressive layout in its day, and it sure delighted and inspired kids like myself that attended for open house and Christmas parties. 

Trains that always stood out in my mind was Bill Gardner's Pennslyvania Broadway limited, and I have since forgot the gentlemen that used to run a lashup of Varney A-B-B-A units decorated in a paint scheme reminiscent of the Minneapolis and St. Louis.  Usually had between 80-100 cars in the consist.   There was another guy that used to run a three unit consist of Athearn SD45s, they were in a light colored green scheme, think the private road was "Great Lakes Central".   I always remember those running on the line with the wooden trestle. 

My dad started model railroading somewhere in the early to mid 1950s, and his first locomotive was an International Models GP7, painted of course in Great Northern.    That paint scheme stuck with me after all those years. 

Regards,

Jerry

Hot Water posted:

As a long time member of the ELMOD Lines (EMD Model Railroad Club), here are some bits of information:

1) The club was started in about 1947, by about 3 or 4 employees, and more employees added as construction progressed.

2) The club was located across the hall from the Hourly Employees cafeteria. The room was about 65 to 70 feet long and about 20 to 24 feet wide. There was a main door in the middle of the wall out to the hallway, however for shows (the annual EMD employee's Christmas Party), the visitors could enter through a room to the north end of the room, walk past the whole west side of the layout, and then exit through another door on the far south end of the layout room.

3) Upon being promoted to the Sales Engineering Department, in late 1971, I naturally became an active member of ELMOD Lines. In 1972, there were only about 5 or 6 active members, plus some non-employee regular visitors. The club met every Tuesday night.

4) Even after the main manufacturing building was closed & vacated, we were still allowed to meet every Tuesday night. The plan was to sell the building, including the big 200 ton overhead cranes in the main erecting bay. Over about two years, many prospective "buyers" inspected the place, but it never sold. Thus, the decision was made to raze the whole place, and the model railroad was scrapped, after removal of key structures.

5) There are very few "public" photos of the various stages of construction, and the "finished" layout. During the last few years of the ELMOD Lines, I had the EMD Engineering Dept. Company Photographer do a complete photo shoot of the whole layout. Thus, I have a box of some 2 or 3 dozen 8X10 color photos of the whole layout. 

Great info, Thanks !!!  Seems that the ELMOD Lines deserve more recognition. I can't find any real info about it on the internet.

EMD was the source of so many locomotives that O-gaugers run models of.  Is there any chance OGR magazine could bend their format to do a feature on that unique HO layout with your photo collection?

Ace posted:

 Is there any chance OGR magazine could bend their format to do a feature on that unique HO layout with your photo collection?

I would suggest you contact Rich Melvin about such a story.

Ace posted:

Hot Water posted:

As a long time member of the ELMOD Lines (EMD Model Railroad Club), here are some bits of information:

1) The club was started in about 1947, by about 3 or 4 employees, and more employees added as construction progressed.

2) The club was located across the hall from the Hourly Employees cafeteria. The room was about 65 to 70 feet long and about 20 to 24 feet wide. There was a main door in the middle of the wall out to the hallway, however for shows (the annual EMD employee's Christmas Party), the visitors could enter through a room to the north end of the room, walk past the whole west side of the layout, and then exit through another door on the far south end of the layout room.

3) Upon being promoted to the Sales Engineering Department, in late 1971, I naturally became an active member of ELMOD Lines. In 1972, there were only about 5 or 6 active members, plus some non-employee regular visitors. The club met every Tuesday night.

4) Even after the main manufacturing building was closed & vacated, we were still allowed to meet every Tuesday night. The plan was to sell the building, including the big 200 ton overhead cranes in the main erecting bay. Over about two years, many prospective "buyers" inspected the place, but it never sold. Thus, the decision was made to raze the whole place, and the model railroad was scrapped, after removal of key structures.

5) There are very few "public" photos of the various stages of construction, and the "finished" layout. During the last few years of the ELMOD Lines, I had the EMD Engineering Dept. Company Photographer do a complete photo shoot of the whole layout. Thus, I have a box of some 2 or 3 dozen 8X10 color photos of the whole layout. 

Great info, Thanks !!!  Seems that the ELMOD Lines deserve more recognition. I can't find any real info about it on the internet.

EMD was the source of so many locomotives that O-gaugers run models of.  Is there any chance OGR magazine could bend their format to do a feature on that unique HO layout with your photo collection?

Why bend the their format?   OGR has a niche, they should stick to it. 

Maybe the better forum for such an article would be "Model Railroad Hobbiest".  

http://model-railroad-hobbyist.com/

Regards,

Jerry

The last time that I visited the EMD employee layout was December 8, 1980.

Why do I remember that date?  It was the day John Lennon was assinated.

There are a number of EMD people that attend this and they may be able to answer the question about the trains setup.  My EMD bud will be attending.

TShearer posted:

 

There are a number of EMD people that attend this and they may be able to answer the question about the trains setup.  My EMD bud will be attending.

There may be a number of "EMD people" there, however none would have been members of the EMD Model Railroad Club, as I'm reasonably sure the I am the only one still living.

What questions need to be answered, that I didn't answer above?

Hot Water - Yes you sure did type up a mouthful,  sorry I had not revisited the post since responding to Ace that I would ask my EMD Buddy ( Thomas Bump if you know of him ) .  BTW   why is Ace Profile shaded out.   Has he left the forum or temporarily banned ?!?

TShearer posted:

Hot Water - Yes you sure did type up a mouthful,  sorry I had not revisited the post since responding to Ace that I would ask my EMD Buddy ( Thomas Bump if you know of him ) .

Yes, I remember Tom. He was not a member of the EMD Model Railroad Club.

 BTW   why is Ace Profile shaded out.   Has he left the forum or temporarily banned ?!?

I noticed that too, just today. Don't know what happened to him. I'll report his "blanked" avatar.

I had the opportunity, by shear chance, to see that EMD experimental electric.  It was at the grade crossing of the Trenton Cutoff and County Line Road in Huntingdon Valley, Pa.  That was about 1978 I believe.  There's a short video of it on Youtube.  

Dan Padova posted:

I had the opportunity, by shear chance, to see that EMD experimental electric.  It was at the grade crossing of the Trenton Cutoff and County Line Road in Huntingdon Valley, Pa.  That was about 1978 I believe.  There's a short video of it on Youtube.  

Which electric? There were two; the GM6 and the GM10B.

Hot Water posted:

TShearer posted:

Hot Water - Yes you sure did type up a mouthful,  sorry I had not revisited the post since responding to Ace that I would ask my EMD Buddy ( Thomas Bump if you know of him ) .

Yes, I remember Tom. He was not a member of the EMD Model Railroad Club.

 BTW   why is Ace Profile shaded out.   Has he left the forum or temporarily banned ?!?

I noticed that too, just today. Don't know what happened to him. I'll report his "blanked" avatar.

 

Any word from Ace ?!?  Been  quite a while.  Hope he is okay.

Given the era when the layout was built and the space available, it is surprising to me that this was a HO club instead of an O gauge club.   I wonder why the builders selected HO gauge instead of O gauge.

It would have been fun to see photos of this layout someday.

NH Joe

New Haven Joe posted:

Given the era when the layout was built and the space available, it is surprising to me that this was a HO club instead of an O gauge club.   I wonder why the builders selected HO gauge instead of O gauge.

Interesting you mention that. The club originally was both O Scale 2-Rail (around the outside edges of the layout) and HO in the center area. Gradually the O Scale guys desired much more space, so they moved out and then the layout became all HO.

It would have been fun to see photos of this layout someday.

NH Joe

Hot Water posted:

As a long time member of the ELMOD Lines (EMD Model Railroad Club),

5) There are very few "public" photos of the various stages of construction, and the "finished" layout. During the last few years of the ELMOD Lines, I had the EMD Engineering Dept. Company Photographer do a complete photo shoot of the whole layout. Thus, I have a box of some 2 or 3 dozen 8X10 color photos of the whole layout. 

Forget an article. Sounds like you have the makings of a nice little book. Between your photos and the recollections of you and other members you know there might be some interesting reading and viewing.  $$.

WITZ 41 posted:

Hot Water posted:

As a long time member of the ELMOD Lines (EMD Model Railroad Club),

5) There are very few "public" photos of the various stages of construction, and the "finished" layout. During the last few years of the ELMOD Lines, I had the EMD Engineering Dept. Company Photographer do a complete photo shoot of the whole layout. Thus, I have a box of some 2 or 3 dozen 8X10 color photos of the whole layout. 

Forget an article. Sounds like you have the makings of a nice little book. Between your photos and the recollections of you and other members you know there might be some interesting reading and viewing.  $$.

I have done many articles/columns for the old "Pacific News Magazine", as well as "Railfan & Railroad Magazine".  The late Jim Boyd (Editor of 'Railfan & Railroad Magazine) was a very proficient photographer and author, and upon researching a "project" for a book, I quickly discovered that, for the effort, there really was NOT much $$ for me, after all the publishing expenses.