2025 Meets and Events

About Our Meets and Events

The San Diego Division holds monthly meetings and events (12 times per year), every second Saturday of the month, held at various times. For your information, instead of naming our meetings, "Meetings", we call them "Meets".

• Our Meets and Events include private model railroad layout tours, Quarterly Meets (Held February, May, August, November and can include Silent Auctions, Hobo Auctions, Clinics, Show & Tell, contests, swap meets, Bingo for Trains, raffles, door prizes and food) and other events.
• To learn more about the San Diego Division, please feel free to attend one of our Meets or Events as a guest by contacting Rudy Spano, Membership Services, at (858) 761-1424, or email Rudy at membership.
  • Please provide Rudy with your first name, last name and your phone number to be a guest at one of our events. Or to join the San Diego Division, please call Rudy by phone or by email and he will assist you.
• You may also join the National Model Railroad Association on your own and the San Diego Division will be notified of your new membership status. The National Model Railroad Association has an introductory membership offer good for nine months, for $19.95 and it is called the Rail Pass.
• We welcome all National Model Railroad Association members from the Pacific Southwest Region or any other region in the world to attend any of our Meets or Events.

Meets and Events for 2025

January 11, 2025, Saturday - Model Railroad Layout Tour.

Layout Tour: The new year will be kicked off with Dick Trotter's HO scale freelance Coyote Pass and Northern Railroad model railroad layout. This is a fantastic layout. If you've never seen Dick's model railroad layout or haven't seen it in a while, it will be worth every minute of time while visiting his model railroad.

• Date: Saturday, January 11, 2025.
  
• Time: Noon-3 p.m.
  
• Location: San Diego County.
  
• Parking: There is on street parking and you'll enter the property through the driveway.
• Accessible: Unfortunately, the model railroad layout is not accessible.
• Masks: Not required.
• Beginnings of the Layout: The museum quality HO scale  freelance Coyote Pass and Northern Railroad was first started in 1972. The layout was designed for switching operations and has been upgraded and expanded since. The railroad was also upgraded to use DCC and Sound to control the locomotives.
• Operation Sessions: The railroad continues weekly operations today with some of his crew taking part in switching operations for over 20 years. Operations can take place with a minimum of two people and a maximum of eight people. The average number of people during operations is six people. Operations typically take about two hours. The most important part of this model railroad is for the entire crew to have fun.
• Location of towns: While the layout is freelance in design, the era includes steam engines and 1st & 2nd generation diesel-electric locomotives. The railroad features four train routes based loosely in the Southwest (in the USA) and has modeled towns such as Tucson (Arizona), Yuma (Arizona), and Santa Fe (New Mexico).
• Expansion of the layout: The layout was re-built once and expanded twice throughout the years, allowing years and years of model railroad operations for model railroaders in the San Diego area. The scale miles of the railroad have increased greatly over the years due to the two expansions. One of the layout expansions was to make the aisle ways wider, making it easy for people to pass each other during operations.
• Things to look for: The layout has multiple industries including factories located in a downtown city location, a coal loading industry spur, a cement factory, an oil industry spur, grain storage industries, a milling company, a pickle company, an ordinance factory (No smoking near the building, please!), an ice company and more. There are so many industries with industry spurs, that the switching combinations are probably close to infinity, providing a new experience to operators every time operation sessions occur. 
• More things to look for: The railroad has multiple tunnels, multiple bridges, many kitbashed buildings and industries, kitbashed rail cars, kitbashed rail car loads and kitbashed locomotives. The layout itself has lots of detail including cars, people, signage, fences, trees, shrubbery, roads, railroad crossings and more. The railroad also has a large fleet of locomotives and rolling stock. In front of a doorway, there are two custom built bridges connecting track. When these bridges are put in the storage position, several switches automatically cut off the track power on both sides of each bridge, so that trains can't accidently run off the track. The back drops use a combination of painting, photos, very thin 3D buildings and half buildings.

February 8, 2025, Saturday - Winter Meet.

Winter Meet: The Winter Meet is being held at the San Diego Electric Railway Association (or what I call the Trolley Museum) in National City and is shaping up nicely with all activities confirmed from having two interesting clinics, lunch, Show & Tell, a Silent Auction and more.

• Date: Saturday, February 8, 2025.
  
• Time: To be determined.
  
• Location: San Diego Electric Railway Association, Inc. and the National City Depot Museum (also known as the Trolley Museum), 922 W. 23rd Street,  National City, California 91950
  
• Parking: There is free parking.
  
• Lunch: Lunch will be provided or it will be a pot luck.
• Activities: Clinics, Show & Tell, lunch, Silent Auction and door prizes.
  
• Accessible: Yes, the facility is accessible.
• Masks: Not required.
• Clinic 1: How to Give a Clinic by Pete Steinmetz.  Pete's clinic will go over the mechanics of how to organize, structure and make a clinic for new clinicians. The clinic will also be helpful for experienced clinicians, their input will be welcomed. The clinic will help make an average clinic turn into a really good clinic.
  
• Clinic 2. Stockton Sub by Gene Forbes. The HO scale model railroad layout is a prototype railroad modeling the Stockton Sub. The Stockton Sub is subdivision of the ATSF Railroad. The era of the model railroad layout is the 1950s through the 1990s. The railroad has been designed for Operation Sessions. The subdivision runs from Stockton, California west to Richmond with a connection to Point Richmond via a regional railroad. The entire layout is based in California. The railroad was built in 2014 in a dedicated 9 X 13 foot building in his backyard. The railroad has all its track laid and industries are still under development.
  • Some of Gene's Hobby Background: Years ago, Gene got into the hobby in the 1980s due to his wife pushing him into the hobby because she said he needed one. In the early 2000s, Gene was was contemplating either building a garden railroad or an HO scale railroad. The inspiration for Gene to finally build an HO scale model railroad layout came from Gene attending 33 consecutive National Model Railroad Association national conventions and throughout the years having purchased lots of HO trains and structures.
• Lunch: To be determined
• Show & Tell: This is a time to bring a project or model and show off your model railroading work or discuss any topic about model railroading. You can also talk about something concerning any real railroad, either historical or present day information. Most people keep their presentation to about five minutes. We would like several people to participate in the Show & Tell portion of the Spring Meet. Please contact Ryan and let him know you'd like to participate in Show & Tell.
• Silent Auction: There will be a Silent Auction where every Division member can bring an unlimited number of items to sell. Note: The Division will be assessing a 10% fee off the grand total of what you make at the auction.
  • Please remember that all items you have for the auction must be related to model railroading and/or the real railroad. You can bring things such as rolling stock kits, used rolling stock, new rolling stock, books, railroad memorabilia, posters, pins and anything else you would like to sell.
  • Every item at the Silent Auction will have a bidding card. The person selling the item will list the starting price of the item. Then anyone can bid on that item by writing their name and bid amount. Whoever has the highest bid amount at the end of the auction, wins the item.
• Door Prizes: There will be door prizes.
• Model Railroad Layout Tour: There is an O scale model railroad layout self-guided tour at the museum.

March 8, 2025, Saturday - Model Railroad Layout Tour.

Layout Tour: Tim Foote will be presenting his HO scale freelance Desert Highlands Railroad. It is a freelanced model railroad layout based on California's High Desert rail line from Barstow, California to Kingman, Arizona during the transition era of the 1950s.

• Date: Saturday, March 8, 2025.
  
• Time: Noon-3 p.m.
  
• Location: San Diego County.
  
• Lunch: Tim will be graciously providing hot dogs, chips, drinks and cookies.
• Parking: There is on street parking and you'll enter the property through the side of his house. Signs will be posted.
  
• Accessible: Unfortunately, the model railroad layout is not accessible.
  
• Masks: Not required.
• Inspiration, Era and Layout Information: The Desert Highlands Railroad was inspired by Tim's fondness of high desert railroading and rail fanning in Southern California and Arizona. The era of the layout is in the transition era and specifically is loosely based during the 1950s and 1960s. The single level model railroad layout sits in a three car garage and takes up an area of approximately 14 X 22 feet. The layout includes track which has code 83 track for industry spurs and railroad yards and code 100 track for the main track.
• More About the Railroad: Even though it is a freelance railroad, the towns and location of cities are real such as the city of Barstow, the Ludlow Railroad Station, buildings in Needles, a Kingman water front, Mineral Park and the small town of Borate (the city is contemporarily named Boron). The layout has the Barstow railroad yard, many spurs, a staging railroad yard, several freight depots, a machinery industry, a Borax mill, several mines, a high voltage transformer substation, mountains in Arizona, a body of water with a tug boat and more.
• Electronics, DCC & Sound, NCE Power Cabs and More: To power the locomotives, Tim uses DCC & Sound (DCC = Digital Command Control) using NCE Power Cabs. There are three power districts, each power district having a circuit breaker and has one power booster for the entire layout. As an option, the railroad is also set up to use apps on your phone and wifi, to control the locomotives. Most of the signals are scratch built and are working signals which change based on the switch being in normal or reverse position. Future plans for Tim's railroad include lighting inside of the buildings, adding working street lights and more. He also has some future plans to set up sound devices such as animal sounds and factory sounds. Animation are also in future plans.
• Rolling Stock: Tim mostly uses GP7 and GP9 diesel-electric locomotives and some steam locomotives during Operation Sessions. He usually uses 4-axle diesel-electric locomotives due to the tight curves on the layout. His railroad cars include box cars, covered hoppers, tank cars, flat cars, gondolas, livestock cars, reefers, maintenance of way cars, cabooses and more. Tim's favorite locomotive is the ALCO PA which he typically only runs on club layouts and not on his own layout.
• Operations Sessions: While the railroad was not originally made for Operation Sessions, Tim had already built railroad yards, sidings and plenty of spurs, making it easy to make the railroad Operation Session ready. Tim uses JMRI (Java Model Railroad Interface) to plan operations and uses a manifest system to run Operation Sessions.
• Operation Session Lessons: Tim is offering anyone in the Division who visits his model railroad layout tour, to take part and learn about Operation Sessions. This is something to look forward to if you haven't participated in any Operation Sessions. Please email Tim to schedule your place during his layout tour.
• Current Status and Future Plans: The model railroad layout is over 65% completed with most of the structures placed on the layout. He continues to add new structures and new scenery to the layout when he can. The railroad still needs fine detailing, scenery and some landscaping, according to Tim.

April 12, 2025, Saturday - Model Railroad Layout Tour.

Layout Tour: This Z scale (1:220) model railroad module layout tour will be hosted by David Lancaster. This will be the first time David has provided a model railroad layout tour for the San Diego Division. We are looking forward to his model railroad layout tour.

• Date: Saturday, April 12, 2025.
  
• Time: Noon-3 p.m. (This time to be finalized at a later date.)
  
• Location: San Diego County
• Parking: There is on street parking and you'll enter the property through the driveway.
• Accessible: To be determined.
  
• Masks: Not required.

May 10, 2025, Saturday - Spring Meet.

Spring Meet: Details of the Meet will be finalized later in 2025.

• Date: Saturday, May 10, 2025.
  
• Time: To be determined.
  
• Location: North County Model Railroad Society in Oceanside.
  
• Parking: There is free parking.
• Lunch: Lunch will be provided or it will be a pot luck.
• Activities: Show & Tell, clinics, door prizes and more.
• Accessible: Yes, the facility is accessible.
• Masks: Not required.

June 14, 2025, Saturday - Model Railroad Layout Tour.

Layout Tour: The model railroad layout tour will be hosted by Justin Rasas with multiple modules and scales. His one module is an On30 Foam Only Module Approach, also known as FOMA. This will be a very interesting model railroad layout tour.

• Date: Saturday, June 14, 2025.
  
• Time: Noon-3 p.m. (This time to be finalized at a later date.)
  
• Location: San Diego County.
• Parking: There is on street parking and you'll enter the property through the driveway.
• Accessible: To be determined.
  
• Masks: Not required.

July 12, 2025, Saturday - Model Railroad Layout Tour.

Layout Tour: This HO scale model railroad layout tour is almost confirmed.

• Date: Saturday, July 12, 2025.
  
• Time: Noon-3 p.m. (This time to be finalized at a later date.)
  
• Location: San Diego County.
• Parking: There is on street parking and you'll enter the property through the driveway.
• Accessible: To be determined.
  
• Masks: Not required.

August 9, 2025, Saturday - Summer Meet.

Summer Meet: Details of the Summer Meet will be determined at a later date.

• Date: Saturday, August 9, 2025.
  
• Time: To be determined.
  
• Location: Linda Vista.
  
• Parking: There is free parking in the church's parking lot
  
• Lunch: Lunch will be provided or it will be a pot luck.
• Activities: Show & Tell, clinics, door prizes and more.
• Accessible: Yes, the facility is accessible.
• Masks: Not required.

September 2025 - PSR Cajon Convention

PSR Convention: This is the Pacific Southwest Region (PSR) Cajon National Model Railroad Convention. Details will be determined at a later date.

• Date: September 2025.
  
• Time: To be determined.
  
• Location: Orange County
  
• Parking: To be determined
• Activities: Clinics, model railroad layout tours, prototype tours, contests and more.
• Accessible: Yes, the facility is accessible.
• Masks: Not required.

October 11, 2025, Saturday - Model Railroad Layout Tour.

Layout Tour: This HO scale model railroad layout tour will be hosted by Gene Forbes. This will be the first time that Gene has provided a model railroad layout tour for the San Diego Division. We are looking forward to his model railroad layout tour.

• Date: Saturday, October 11, 2025.
  
• Time: Noon-3 p.m. (This time to be finalized at a later date.)
  
• Location: San Diego County.
• Parking: There is on street parking and you'll enter the property through the driveway.
• Accessible: To be determined.
  
• Masks: Not required.

November 8, 2025, Saturday - Fall Meet.

Fall Meet: Details of the Fall Meet will be determined at a later date.

• Date: Saturday, November 8, 2025.
  
• Time: To be determined.
  
• Location: San Diego Model Railroad Museum.
  
• Parking: There is free parking behind the museum.
  
• Lunch: Lunch will be provided or it will be a pot luck.
• Activities: Show & Tell, clinics, door prizes and more.
• Accessible: Yes, the facility is accessible.
• Masks: Not required.

December 13, 2025, Saturday - Model Railroad Layout Tour, Dinner and Holiday Party.

Model Railroad Layout Tour, Dinner and Holiday Party: Details of the Model Railroad Layout Tour, Dinner and the Holiday Party to be determined at a later date.

• Date: Saturday, December 13, 2025.
  
• Time: To be determined.
  
• Location: Santee
  
• Parking: There is free parking on street parking for the layout tour and free parking in the restaurant's parking lot.
  
• Accessible: No and yes. The model railroad layout is not accessible. I apologize in advance. Yes, the restaurant is accessible.
• Masks: Not required.

Meets and Events for 2026

Note:

We have already begun scheduling model railroad layout tours for 2026. If you have a model railroad that you'd like to provide a tour for the San Diego Division in 2026, please let the webmaster know. We have months and days of March 14, June 13, July 11 and October 10, 2026 open for model railroad layout tours. Thank you.

January 11, 2026, Saturday -

Model Railroad Layout Tour.

Layout Tour: The new year will be kicked off with Duncan McRee's HO scale dead rail model railroad layout. This will be a fascinating and unique layout tour due to the dead rail component (and some other unique details) of the layout.

• Date: Saturday, January 11, 2026.
  
• Time: Noon-3 p.m.
  
• Location: San Diego County.
  
• Parking: There is on street parking and you'll enter the property through the driveway.
• Accessible: Yes, the model railroad layout is accessible.
• Masks: Not required.

April 11, 2026, Saturday -

Model Railroad Layout Tour.

Layout Tour: Joel Shank will be hosting two model railroad layout tours for April 2026. Joel has two model railroad layouts. One railroad is the Rio Grande Southern Railroad narrow gauge Sn3 scale 32' X33' museum quality layout which is located in a 1,500 square foot air conditioned building. The other model railroad layout is HO scale and is located in an air conditioned intermodal container. This will be a very fun-filled and exciting model railroad hobby day. It will be worth it to plan now for this model railroad tour in advance, so you don't miss it.

• Date: Saturday, April 11, 2026.
  
• Time: 11 a.m. -3 p.m. (or later).
  
• Location: Imperial County.
  
• Lunch: 11:00 a.m. We will meet for lunch at a local Brawley diner at 11:00 a.m. and then proceed to the model railroad layouts. The tour is set up to have lunch first, allowing everyone to stretch their legs after the long drive from San Diego to Brawley, have a bite to eat and then use the facilities before moving on to the layout tours.
• Rail fanning: You can rail fan before and/or after the layout tours. There are several areas to rail fan. There is standard gauge and narrow gauge rail fanning available to you.
• Parking: There is on street parking and you'll enter the property through the driveway.
• Accessible: To be determined.
  
• Masks: Not required.

Note: Pacific Daylight Time starts March 12, 2023 and Pacific Standard Time starts November 5, 2023. In the USA, in general, Daylight Time starts the second Sunday of March and Standard Time begins the first Sunday in November. In Europe, summer time begins the last Sunday of March and ends on the last Sunday in October.

We do not have a physical office, permanent meeting room or layout. Each month, we meet at various locations throughout San Diego County. With the exception of during a pandemic, we hold virtual meetings.

[Covid-19 Information: Our Division provided virtual Meets during the Covid pandemic of 2020 and during the first half of 2021. Our in-person Meets started back in August 2021. Masks are optional at our in-person Meets and Events in 2023, unless otherwise noted or when required by state or federal law.]