The Rockledge Model Railroad Museum Jenkintown PA is the home of GATSME Lines, a model railroad club with more than 30 members. The group meets monthly to build and assemble models, as well as to teach members about how to make a better layout.
After searching for a new building for more than six years, the GATSME Model Railroad Club is now open to the public in an old mill building in Rockledge. The club, which has been operating for over a decade, has renovated the space and will showcase its 3,000-square-foot model railroad on Sept. 9 during the Rockledge Fall Festival and Car Show.
In the past, GATSME has been based in several locations, including Jim Greener’s basement in Fort Washington, the basement of a pizza shop and the former Fort Washington Elementary School on Madison Avenue. In July of 2016, the club renovated a mill building in Rockledge, which it is now using as its home.
Rockledge is a borough within Montgomery County, Pennsylvania. It shares a zip code with Jenkintown and is surrounded by Abington Township and Philadelphia.
Located at the intersection of Sylvania Avenue and Montgomery Avenue, it is home to the Rockledge Model Railroad Museum and the GATSME Lines model railroad club.
The club has a HO scale layout that includes over 1750 feet of track and 100 turnouts. It also has a few narrow gauge sections and a working lift bridge, as well.
This club is made up of people who are very enthusiastic about modeling and trains, which makes for a fun and rewarding hobby. Their main goal is to educate others about the history of trains and the art of modeling them, according to the club’s website.
Its main exhibit is a walk-through HO scale model train that depicts sections of the Pennsylvania and Reading rail lines in the 1950s. It has over 900 feet of main line track and is open to the public on selected dates.
In addition to the 3,000-square-foot model railroad, the museum will feature a display of historical photographs and other memorabilia from the local area. It also will have a small shop and a large room that can be used as an event venue.
The Rockledge Model Railroad Museum will also include displays of other model railroads from the area, including those that are currently built and those that are under construction. The club hopes to have a rotating schedule for exhibits, Dervinis said.
After purchasing the building, the club was able to secure its certificate of occupancy and began renovations. Initially, the repairs were done for safety reasons, but now the club wants to transform the interior space into a museum that will showcase its trains and the railroads that have shaped the region.
Before the club can begin constructing its fourth railroad, it needs to apply for and receive a certificate of occupancy from the borough and make repairs. These repairs will take about a year, and they will include installing bathrooms, heating, painting the walls and repairing damaged bricks.
