Cowtown Model Railroad Club
Fort Worth, Texas
Home of the Gulf & Denver HO-Scale Model Railroad
The Cowtown Model Railroad Club is located on the second floor of:
The Historic Handley Development Center
3024 Forest Avenue
Fort Worth, Texas 76112
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Purpose:
The Cowtown Model Railroad Club, a 501(C)3 non-profit organization, is a club whose purpose is to promote the hobby of model railroading to the public in an effort to encourage future participation. The Club is committed to the sponsorship, organization and ethical participation in events which promote the railroad interests and activities shared by the members including the realistic operation of the club's HO-scale model railroad layout. The Club is a member of the North Texas Council of Railroad Clubs.
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Membership & Documents
Membership shall be open to all persons interested in model railroading as defined by the CMRRC Bylaws. To maintain active membership, Club members must be current in dues and are expected to participant in the Club’s activities, such as the monthly meetings, layout work sessions, operating sessions, etc. Membership is limited to individuals who are the age of fourteen (14) years or older. A member under the age of eighteen (18) years must be accompanied by a parent or legal guardian.
The following Cowtown Model Railroad Club documents can be down loaded by clicking on the appropriate PDF file.
(1) Constitution (2) By-Laws (3) Membership (4) Brochure
Our Layout
The Gulf & Denver Railroad Authority is a freelance standard gauge HO-scale railroad of the Cowtown Model Railroad Club. The Authority consists of the Gulf & Denver Railroad, the St. Charles & Western Railroad, the Lone Pine & Eagle Pass Railroad and the Port Allen Terminal Railroad. The layout room is approximately 50’ x 30’. The layout runs along the side and back walls with the exception of a 3 foot aisle on the side with the HVAC units. There is a center peninsula with backdrop dividing the sides and a large dog-bone section coming off the center peninsula. The layout theme is set in the transition era but clearances have been set for modern height freight cars. The Club owns all the freight and passenger cars on the layout but each member runs their own locomotive power. The layout has a walk around design using the Easy DCC (digital command and control) system. The track is mostly Atlas code 100 with Peco turnouts powered by Tortoise Switch machines laid on a Homasote or cork roadbed. Track work is 100% complete while the scenery and backdrops are 90% complete. Operating sessions are controlled by the RailOp computer based software which generates freight switch lists and engineer orders. (The layout diagram below, not to scale, does not include all actual track.)
Meeting & Work Sessions
General Meeting
The general meeting of the membership is held the 3rd Monday night of each month beginning at 7:00 PM at the Handley Center (address above).
Normal Work Sessions
Thursdays at 6:30 PM - 9:00 PM reconstructing the layout.
Special Note: During hot Texas summers if the Thursday temperature is forecast to be above 95 degrees or
the heat index is forecast to be above 100 degrees by the proceeding Tuesday, the Thursday night work-session.
will be cancelled. We may meet that Thursday morning at 9:00 am instead, if so, an e-mail will be sent out.
Saturday work sessions are the 1st and 3rd Saturday morning of the month from 8:30 AM - noon.
Operating Sessions
Operating session will be posted in the monthly newsletter and/or sent to the membership by e-mail.
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Newsletter
Each month the CMRRC publishes an informal newsletter for the membership and any other interested individuals. It contains club news as well as model railroading tips and hints, information on the upcoming monthly membership meeting and any other items that may be of interest to the membership. The current issue can be downloaded by clicking on the link below. For older issues, use the contact form located on the contact page of this website and request what month you want to receive.
Current Month Newsletter
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Cowcatcher Magazine Article
This article is an update on the Cowtown Model Model Railroad Club which was formed after the closing of the Lockheed Martin Recreation Association Railroad Club
As featured in the March /April 2021 Cowcatcher. With Permission (www.cowcatchermagazine.com)
Webmaster - Dale Schmidtbleicher
All photos by Dale Schmidtbleicher