Descending the steps of Davison Hall to its basement is like taking a trip back in time. When you reach the bottom, you emerge into the world of 1950 in 189th scale. The Rensselaer Model Railroad Society has filled the 33-by-123-foot basement with historical scenes off the Rutland Railroad in Vermont and the Delaware and Hudson Railroads. The RMRRS layout uses a fabricated mainline they call the New England, Berkshire, and Western Railroad, which runs from Troy to Canada.
The layout consists of model houses and buildings, small car replicas, figurines of people, lakes and streams, trees and mountains, and approximately 500 feet of track. The Model Railroad Society has utilized great space management skills; the track winds through the three small rooms of the basement.
Landscaping pieces to look for in the display are the water and the trees. The Society did a great job with the model streams and lakes; they look real. The trees depicted in the display are made of a plant indigenous to the area.
The Society started in 1938 when RPI acquired a live-steam locomotive, No. 870, which was about waist high. A group of students created a track layout where the RPI Playhouse now stands and refurbished the locomotive. During World War II, the Society died along with most other extracurricular activities on campus and No. 870 was put away and later sold.
When the club started back up again in 1947, it focused on 189th gauge instead of live steam. After moving the display through several different buildings, the society established itself in the basement of Davison Hall in 1972. In moving to the new buiding, they redid most of the display.
The display is not complete yet. As of family weekend, there were still pieces that were under construction, missing trees on the mountain side, and a couple of random supplies like paintbrushes and squares dotting the display. Not many of the trains were running either.
You can tell that the Rensselaer Model Railroad Society has put a lot of time and effort into their display, both in research of the history and setting up the actual display. The display is a great preservation of the past, and a fun teaching tool.
As such, it should be laid out in a place of easier access to the public, not locked in the basement of Davison Hall. Some of the pipes have leaked water onto the display, staining and ruining parts. It is also a tight fit; there are some areas of the display that only one person can fit to see the display.
The next open house for the Model Railroad Society is Saturday, December 4 from noon until 4 pm. For more information, check out their website at http://railroad.union.rpi.edu/. If you can’t get around to seeing the display, the website is full of historical information about the New England, Berkshire, and Western Railroads as well as many pictures.
