History

The Eastern Maine Model Railroad Club, Inc. was formed in April of 1976. Our first layout was in the basement of a church parsonage in Brewer, Maine. Unfortunately that layout and location lasted less than a year. We then existed as a round-robin for a couple of years. Even though we enjoyed the game of RailBaron and viewing slides, we really wanted another layout. We were offered a temporary home in the basement of a convent serving St. Joseph Hospital in Bangor, the space was not permanent, so when a local dentist, Dr. Aaron Greenwald offered us space in the basement of one of his apartment houses, we jumped on it.

The Bangor Years

Our basement home in Bangor was better than nothing, but it was wet when it rained, cold in the winter, had a low ceiling with plenty of head knockers, asbestos covered pipes, and at times it just smelled bad. The rent was reasonable, when Dr. Greenwald owned the apartment building. However once he sold the apartment building, each succeeding owner raised the rent, it became obvious that we needed to find a new home.

To raise some funding, in 1983, we started selling custom decorated HO scale freight cars. From the beginning we pledged to strive for accuracy in paint jobs, colors, and lettering. Although we did not have a lot to choose from for commercially available car bodies, we did well with our custom prototype offerings. A surprise to us was that freelance and prototypical industrial cars sold equally well.

The Move to Orland

In 1991, after several years of looking in the Bangor area, for a suitable building that we could call home, we finally gave up. We decided to purchase a lot from the father of a club member, Scott Whitney. That summer we cleared most of the lot, had a septic system installed along with the parking area and a gravel pad for the building. The spring of 1992 brought fine weather and lots of concrete for the foundation. The only labor we had to pay for during the entire construction process was $200.00 for the man to run the floor finisher. As the members of the club pitched in, the building rose quickly. All outside work was completed by late August, we had the heat and utilities installed by late October. We then spent several months on the hardest part, sheet rocking and painting the interior.  The building was finished by the summer of 1993.

We now have a 2100 square foot clubhouse with a 30' x 40' layout room, large workshop, rest room, storage room, and a 20' x 20' lounge with library. The workshop features many tools and a compressor and spray booth for members to use. The lounge features a TV, VCR, DVD, comfortable seating and our extensive library. The library features many videos, reference books and complete sets of various model railroading magazines.