About the St Joe Valley Model Railroad Club

The St. Joe Valley Model Railroad (SJVRR) Club is a diverse group of individuals who gather each week to discuss railroads and railroad modeling while building, operating and maintaining the clubs extensive HO scale model empire.

The SJVRR, while fictitious, is based on a north/south, standard gauge bridge route running from St. Joseph Harbor, Michigan, through South Bend then southward to Evansville, Indiana. Our modeling attempts to duplicate, in HO scale, the types of towns and cities that would (if they had existed) be located along the route, and as they would have appeared in the late 1940's/early 1950's. Modeling this 'transition era' allows members to run steam or early diesel while the layouts broad curves and long mainline trackage allows for prototypical length passenger and freight manifests.

Our layout is of the double-deck walk around design and features over 450 linear feet of mainline trackage, yards and branch lines. Also present are passing sidings (capable of holding 30 to 40-car trains), a large division yard, dual hidden staging yards, and an enclosed helix. An eight-track, 14-foot 'stub-end' passenger yard is nearing completion along with a new engine facility. While the emphasis is on real railroads that would have been native to the area, the SJVRR provides connection and running rights for neighboring railroads and allows occasional running rights for the members 'home' flags. Much of the layout is finished with towering bridges, hand-painted buildings, rock outcroppings and hundreds of hand-built trees.

The SJVRR utilizes a Lenz Digital Command Control (DCC) system and each locomotive is equipped with a miniature decoder with its unique address. This system eliminates 'block-wiring' and allows simultaneous running of hundreds of locomotives. Members can truly be engineers and/or be assigned other prototypical operational responsibilities. (jc4-06)

History of the SJV

Our early years

The St Joe Valley Model Railroad Club was formed in 1964 with the goal of building and operating an HO scale model railroad layout. The clubs first quarters were in an old house next to Bob’s Hobby Shop on North Main Street in downtown Mishawaka Indiana. As was common in the era, the plan was a spaghetti bowl of track that was shoehorned into numerous rooms of a former residence.

When Bob demolished the house for a new business venture we were forced to relocate. Fortunately that early experience in layout building formed the nucleus of a group that built our next railroad.

One of our founding members families just located some pictures of this early layout which can be enjoyed on the 'Photo' page (4/10/06 jac, 4/11/06)

Our years at Hobbyland....

In 1977 the club secured a new home in the rear of the Hobbyland store on Lincolnway West in South Bend Indiana. This layout featured standard gauge, narrow gauge, and interurban operations. The block DC control system was built by Phill Chasey to control trains over our 250 feet of mainline. The layout featured western scenery and steep mountain grades. Another interesting features of the layout were the viewing windows. A total of 5 windows were accessible from Hobbyland to view the layout. This layout was featured in Model Railroader and Railroad Model Craftsman.

In February of 1995 the building was sold and we had to move out. The old SJV was not designed to be moved and had to be destroyed. The search then began for a new home. Luckily the search did not last long.

Our Present Home

After being 'homeless' for about 6-months, we came upon a wonderful place to rebuild our layout. A vintage 1890's Lake Shore and Michigan Southern freight house, located in downtown Mishawaka on the former New York Central mainline, became available. What better location than in an old railroad structure located next to an active railroad mainline?

The first year was spent doing non-railroad renovations but in early 1996 real modeling efforts began and by 1999 we had the mainline operational. Current projects include rebuilding earlier sub-roadbed and trackage, new curved backdrops, lower level lighting and a professional helix to connect the upper and lower decks. We are anticipating the arrival of a new 8-track 'passenger yard' and engine terminal by summer '06.

Who We Are

Below you will find out about some of our members. This is where you can get to know some of our members.

A few of us relaxing

Here we are relaxing after some doing some "hard" work on the layout. From Left to right Ken, Jim S, David Korkhouse, Rich Ivins (back to you), Richard Z (aka Goose), and the back of Don's head.

Photo by Jason Ciastko

David Working

Here is David working in the Dalton area. David does most of our carpentry work around the club.

Membership

Interested in Joining the SJV?

Membership to the SJVRR is open to all interested parties and everyone is always welcome. Currently, we have ‘Regular’ members who participate (financially and creatively) on a regular basis. Our ‘Sustaining’ members contribute to the club (financially) but are not expected to always attend regular meetings or participate in layout construction or maintenance.

If you are a current or past modeler and would like to ‘advance’ your skills by actively participating in building and maintaining a first-class HO model railroad, we invite you to contact us. We are currently seeking modelers with advanced skills in kit/structures, rolling stock, scenery and electronics.

For information on either of our membership categories, dues or just general questions, we invite you to stop by the club or send an email to info@sjvrr.com