GSV Club History

In 2003 Harry Black asked for space for his “O” gauge 17 by 25 foot layout when moving to GSV.  He started a club and found more people interested in trains.  The first open house was at Christmas of 2004.  Our first recorded attendance of 1594 started in 2005.  As of 2024 our total attendance was 53,798 visitors. 

In 2012 a new “U” shape layout was built.  In 2013 a wall was taken down to allow the first “E” shape HO gauge layout with narrow aisles.

In 2013 a camera was installed in one “HO” gauge locomotive to show a live video on a 55 inch color wall monitor which allowed the visitor to view the action at track level.

 In 2015 the art room was moved to the south wing to allow another wall to be removed.  This allowed the O gauge to double in size to a large table top layout with five trap doors for scenery access.  The HO layout was cut up into sections and moved to allow much wider aisles.  Photos taken at the ceiling level were pasted together to plan the new layout.

In 2017 the club started their website at gsvtrainclub.org that included events, photos, videos and articles.

The September 2020, Classic Toy Trains magazine featured an article highlighting the O gauge layout.  A Disney monorail was added and a hotel, station, houses were built from scratch by Bill George.

In 2021 an elevated line was added to both the O gauge and the HO layout.