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Wednesday 7pm - 9:30pm Friday 7pm - 9:30pm

Prairie Scale Model Railroaders

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United States
Lombard, IL
Prairie Scale Model Railroaders

We are a HO scale model railroad club located in the Chicago suburbs. Now accepting new members! All skills and interests welcomed to join and participate.

What Makes PSMR Different?

* Operations - Our layout is designed, and being built, for operations. Everything from car routing to prototypical train operation is being planned for.

* We strive to have members who are involved. You are welcome to just come and run trains, but we love members who will plan, create, and participate.

* State-of-the-Art - We use the North Coast Engineeri

ng DCC system to run our trains. We will also utilize this DCC system to interface with Signaling, Dispatching, and Route Control. We also are using and developing scenery techniques to produce the most realistic looking layout we can.

* Size - We have 800' (over 13 scale miles) of mainline operational. When all mainline trackage is complete, it will comprise a possible mainline run of over 30 scale miles without running through the same scene. The layout is designed to have operational flexibility.

* RPM - PSMR closely follows the Railroad Prototype Modelers philosophy of modeling from the prototype. While not modeling any specific scenes, we use the prototype as an inspiration for designing, building, and operating our railroad.

* Access - As a regular (non-probationary) member, you have 24/7/365 access to the club.

* Share and learn with regular people who have a passion for railroads and model railroading.

* The layout is still under construction - Come and help us build the best track plan in the Western Suburbs.

05/19/2026

New bar going in by the entrance to the coke plant. Stop by and have a beer.

04/22/2026

Lots of updates going on around the layout! Especially in Whiting and Elkhart. Be sure to attend the next open house to see all the progress in person!

04/21/2026

The employees were complaining there weren’t any drink machines in the plant at the Coke Works, so management had one put in at the freight house. Interesting brand choice. Someone has a sense of humor up in the office I think.

Coke machine by Interaction Hobbies.

04/12/2026

🚂 TODAY: Model Train Open House! 🚂
Looking for a Sunday afternoon adventure? Come visit the Prairie Scale Model Railroaders and see our massive HO scale layout in action! We’ve been hard at work on the scenery near the tank farm and the new coal bunker—come check out the progress.

When: Today, April 12th

Time: 11:00 AM – 3:00 PM

Where: 3 E Ash St. Lombard, IL (Lower Level)

Whether you’re a lifelong railfan or just looking for some family-friendly fun, we’d love to see you there. Admission is free!

04/11/2026

More scenery done on By-Product plant down by the tank farm. Roads are down around the pump houses, Benzol plant, pyridine plant, and power house. Closer and closer to adding the final pipes. The coal bunker and coke loader is finished and in place. We’ll hook up some lights next week as well.

04/08/2026

Two new custom loads join the club fleet, loaded with 36" corrugated galvanized pipe, compliant with AAR Rules for Open Top Commodities.

Loads by www.tullymodels.com

04/07/2026

The "Freytag Converter," or as I'm labeling it, the Pyridine Plant for the coke works is finished and ready for installation tomorrow. I started this structure 9 years ago before some more important things in life got in the way. Nice to finish it (finally). The large tank in the front holds crotonaldehyde, and the smaller tank next to it holds formaldehyde, nasty stuff for sure. But two key components in Pyridine. The third being Ammonia. That is generated in surplus in the coke making process, and will come into the plant (once installed) via the 20" pipe next to the Formaldehyde tank that is lacking a connection. I've included a photo of Dean Freytags contraption that he built to fill a space on a friends layout that needed "something." I always wanted to build one. I've actually built two, the first one resides on the Military Society of Model Railroad Engineers (MSMRRE) layout on Elmendorf AFB in Alaska (last photo).

03/31/2026

Delivery at the pump house today. Added this truck, weathered the gravel lot and grade crossing, and pipe from the pump house to the Pyridine holding tanks.

03/26/2026

More progress in the By-Product Coke Works on the lower level as more structures are reinstalled. Looks like some plant employees have already started back to work after being laid off while the backdrops were installed.

Pump station, pyridine, Benzol, toluol and xylol storage tanks back in place and almost ready to load tank cars for shipment.

03/25/2026

Interested in keeping up with the progress on our By-Product Coke Works? We have a page dedicated to just that industry. Check it out here!

Address

3 E Ash Street (basement)
Lombard, IL
60148

Opening Hours

Wednesday	7pm - 9:30pm
Friday	7pm - 9:30pm

Website

http://psmrr.org/

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