History and Facts
The Central Iowa Railroad Club was formed in 1967, some 40 years ago and a temporary HO layout was eventually built at the Science Center of Des Moines during 1970 & 1971. A permanent layout was started in March of 1972 in rear of a building at Drake University but this layout was destroyed in a fire in November of 1982. One year later the salvagable remains were moved to the Iowa State Fairgrounds in a small building where the Club remained untill Spring of 2006. After 23 years at that location, we were asked by the Iowa State Fairgrounds to move to a different and new location and make way for the " Susan Knapp Ampitheater." The club had grown to about 40 members and our space was small and cramped and we readily accepted the challenge of moving to a newer and larger space. We removed all of our belongings from our old location, stored them at the fairgrounds and finally moved into our present building located on Walnut just east of Walnut Center and North of the Horse Barn about 3 months prior to Fair of 2006. We worked very long ,hard hours and actually displayed our earlier layout and ran trains at Fair 2006.
The present building is approximately two and a half times bigger than the size of our former building and affords us many opportunities to build, operate and display a layout that we feel will be one of the most outstanding model railroad layouts in this part of the Country. We have started and completed a portion of the bench work and layout that will be very impressive and afford the public a great adventure when they enter the building. We have wider viewing isles and have also raised the viewing isle floor so the public can enjoy and view a great portion of the layout, including the younger tykes.
THE CLUB MISSION STATEMENT:
"To promote the hobby of model railroading and the History of railroading in America and the Midwest by building and maintaining a model railroad layout and museum for the benefit of the membership, the public and the citizens of the state of Iowa."
The club was incorporated as a non-profit, tax exempt museum in 1971 as Central Iowa Railroad Club and in October of 2004 the fictitious name of " Iowa Railroad Museum" was officially adopted. We are open to the public free of charge the second, third and last Tuesday of each month from 7:30 P.M. to 10:00 P.M. The first Tuesday of each month is set aside for our Monthly Business Meeting. We are also open to the public from 9A.M. to 9P.M. daily during the Iowa State Fair. It is estimated that around 70,000 people tour the layout during the fair. We have never charged admission to the layout but our agreement with the fairgrounds is that we will begin to charge in Fair of 2008 in order to repay the building expense and replenish the club funds.
The Club owes the State Fair and Board of Directors a great deal of gratitude for their confidence and willingness to provide the building space and amenities and allow us the opportunity to building, displaying and operating the layout that will be every modelers dream.
