History
The club was originally founded as the Pacific Coast Train Club in 1971. The club became a 501(c)(3) organization in 1997 and was renamed the Los Angeles Model Railroad Society.
The club’s railroad was a hypothetical model operating between the Great Lakes and the Pacific, hence its name Great Lakes and Western Railroad (GL&W). The railroad has been featured twice in Model Railroader Maga- zine and has been included in many model railroad association tours, publications, national television shows, commercials, even a music video. For more that 27 years it was located in leased space in Hawthorne, California. Unfortunately, the death of a benefactor, who allowed the club to reside there under beneficial terms, forced the club to find a new home or pay market-level rents. The layout was dismantled. Many things were salvaged and put into storage until a new space could be secured.
The club eventually found a new space in Harbor City, CA, and in 2022, began building a layout at this location.
Shown below is an illustration of the Hawthorne layout.
Below are a few scenes from the Hawthorne layout.
Above Right: Sequoia Pacific Lumber Company Sawmill.
Scenes from the dismantling of the Hawthorne layout are shown below.
Above Right: Where the Eagle Canyon Bridge resided.
