For a trail check out at [www.oregonstateparks.org] the Banks-Vernonia trail which is located on the former Portland, Astoria & Pacific / United Railways / Spokane, Portland & Seattle / Burlington Northern right-of-way. The south end of the trail is about 1/2 mile north of Banks which is on Oregon Highway 47 between Oregon Highway 6 and US Highway 26 about 25 miles northwest of Portland. I fired and ran steam-powered passenger trains on this line in the 1960s.

The large model railroad that you visited almost 30 years ago may have been the Columbia Gorge Model Railroad Club [www.cgmrc.com] although it is located in North Portland up on the hill above the UPRR Albina yard rather than Northeast Portland. In Northeast Portland I think there is (was?) a model railroad club in the basement of the old Fred Meyer store on NE Sandy Boulevard in the Hollywood District. In Southeast Portland you'll find the Mt. Hood Model Engineers Club at 5500 SE Belmont Street [maps.google.com].