WALT F Wrote:
-------------------------------------------------------
> 75th Anniversary - Golden State Model Railroad
> Museum
>
> GSMRM is located in Point Richmond - SF Bay Area.
> We celebrate our 75th Anniversary this year with a
> number of special activities. We invite you to
> read the Spring edition of our recently revived
> Zephyr Newsletter which lists those activities and
> some historical milestones that will bring tears
> to the eyes of past members like Ken Harrison, Tom
> Cockle and Ken Shattock, among others.

YES, Walt-- I have very fond memories of the old "Eastbay Model Engineers Society" especially at the old club headquarters on Halleck Street in Emeryville...
Here are a couple of photos of the O-scale layout when it was located in the Baggage Room of the Western Pacific Depot at 3rd & Washington Streets in Oakland (circa 1938) :

[www.trainorders.com]

And here are a larger selection of photos of the old layouts on Halleck Street...
Note that the "young man" wearing the engineer cap in the first Antioch photo is none other than "Key Route Ken" (how 'bout that??) ...

[www.gsmrm.org]

And here is some history on EBMES. I might point out that I am one of the few remaining folks still living who remembers this detail. Also, my dear friend "Paul Icanberry" was the O-scale Trainmaster for years. Yes, "Paul" was the Uncle for our frequent poster "Glen Icanberry" of Santa Fe fame.

"Dick Seelye" mentions about the W.K.Walthers train trip to Oakland for the 1947 NMRA Convention. EBMES was host for the Convention. They ran Gray Line sightseeing buses to various rail locales for visiting Convention delegates. One of the tours was to my grandfather's basement in East Oakland to see his Live Steam railroad operation. I have several famous rail signatures in a Guest Book I have a copy of which included Bill Walthers, Linn Westcott, John Allen, Whit Towers and many others.

If "Dick Seelye" is reading this, "Did you happen to go on the layout tour to my Grandpa's basement, Dick ????????"

Anyway, here is some early history to add to this celebration:

"A special congratulations to the membership of the Golden State Model Railroad Museum at Point Richmond, CA on this, the occasion of their 75th Anniversary.
The Museum and the model train layouts of the “Eastbay Model Engineers Society” in particular, have a long and storied history.

EBMES first met at the Industrial Gear Machine Shop of Walter Brown, one of the club’s original Founders. Walter’s shop was located at 5th & Alice Streets in Oakland. Two other pioneer hobbyists who helped Walter and others form EBMES in May, 1933 were Jack Collier and Frank Rigney.

Jack was well known in the hobby field in the SF Bay Area for many years as he owned and operated two hobby stores: one in Oakland and one in San Francisco. They went by the name: Jack Collier’s “Toys for Men” !!

As shown in the Museum’s 75th Anniversary club newspaper “The Zephyr”, there were a number of locations where the club met over the years including members’ homes.
The Club (EBMES) was an offshoot of the “Golden Gate Model Engineers Guild” in San Francisco. They catered to pioneer hobbyists interested in Model Trains, Model Boats, Model Race Cars and Model Planes. Their monthly bulletin was called “The Guildsman”.

In 1933, the electric train enthusiasts split off from the Guild and formed the EBMES group. They were backed by O-scale manufacturing pioneer “Rollin J. Lobaugh” …

In 1936, the Live Steam train enthusiasts, led by Guild member “Victor T. Shattock”, split off from the Guild and formed the “Golden Gate Live Steamers” …
One of the early day members of the Live Steamers was “Fred Braasch”, a pioneer model builder with the San Francisco Model Yacht Club at Spreckles Lake. So as you can see, the Guild was the predecessor group for famous “clubs to be” …

One of the other locations where EBMES built an early day layout was the Baggage Room of the Western Pacific depot at 3rd & Washington Streets in Oakland…(1938)

Eventually, the Club relocated to a large warehouse on the Oakland/Emeryville boundary, only a stone’s throw from the SP Mainline as well as the giant Yerba Buena Yards of the Key System interurban lines. The warehouse was some 15,000 square feet in size and was owned by the Santa Fe Railroad. The Santa Fe rented the property to EBMES for many, many years for a token $ 1.00 annual fee !

The two primary layouts in Emeryville were the O-scale “Santa Fe Western” and the HO-scale “Santa Fe Central” … The SFW layout was huge: 130 x 75 feet. The SFC layout was very big also, for HO-scale: 90 x 36 feet. There was a large clubroom for meetings, a snack bar, an administrative office and two storerooms.
There were two traction layouts: the O-scale “Oakland, Antioch & Eastern” and the HO-scale “East Bay Traction” lines. There was also a separate On3 and Hon3 layout. SIX layouts !! Enough to really keep your interest going on your favorite past time.

In 1984, EBMES was informed by the Santa Fe that the property had been sold and that after some forty-four(44) years, they would have to vacate their home. They moved to Point Richmond, where they are now located, on property controlled by the Eastbay Regional Park District. After some 75 years, they are still running trains and are one of the oldest model railroad clubs in North America.

As a longtime, former member of EBMES, I have very fond memories of friendships and model trains at that old weather-beaten warehouse in Emeryville. At one time in its history, that very warehouse was used by a company for making spoke wheels for wagons. That’s how old it was.

EBMES and GSMRM-- I salute you !! Heres to another 75 years in the model railroad scene!

KEN SHATTOCK
Former member—EBMES
OA&E Trolley Division
(KRK)