1960-79 Booth's Hobbies, Concession St.

2007 - present Eva Rothwell Centre at Robert Land

The HO Model Engineers Society (universally called “the HOMES club”) was formed in February 1948, and for several years met at members' homes. The first club layout was started In 1953 in the basement of the Mary-Mar Dairy Bar at Main Street East and Park Row in Hamilton. After a brief time in the basement of a member's parents' home in Aldershot, a new, 15' x 20' layout was built in May 1956 in a two-car garage on Gage Avenue North at Beach. Built on a dirt floor, with the interior walls covered with ten-test, there was no insulation, so it was very hot in the summer and freezing in the winter. The late Ken Byrne, who joined in 1948, said of the Gage Avenue layout, "I had the honour of designing the worst bowl of spaghetti ever seen for a layout."

1953-55 Mary-Mar Dairy Bar

1956-60 Garage at Gage & Beach

In June 1960, the club moved to the basement of Booth's Hobby Shop on Concession Street, where they stayed for 20 years. The new layout filled a 25' X 50' room. At its peak, it required 14 engineers and 2 dispatchers to run a full schedule with fast time clocks.

1960 Booth's Hobbies, Concession St.

75 Years of Model Railroading

1948 – 2023

1948 HO Model Engineers Society established

1948-53 Club meets in members' homes

1953 Mary-Mar Dairy Bar, Park Row & Main

1956 Garage at Gage & Beach

1960 Booth's Hobbies, Concession St.

1980 Delta Bingo Hall

1997 Skyway Plaza, Stoney Creek

2007 Eva Rothwell Centre at Robert Land

By the late 1970's the Booth’s layout was essentially finished, and construction almost dormant. In 1979 it was decided to dismantle the layout and start over. In the spring of 1980 the Society began construction of a new layout in the basement of the Delta Bingo Hall, just a few blocks from the location of the first layout. The 42' X 52' layout required ten engine crews and a dispatcher to operate trains over the 500 foot long mainline. The era was 1967, Canada's Centennial Year, and the geography depicted Hamilton to North Bay with the scenery showing all four seasons.

1980-97 Delta Bingo Hall

In late 1996 Loblaw Properties decided to convert the building back into a grocery store, and the layout was dismantled in early 1997.

A new home was finally secured in June 1997 at the Skyway Plaza in Stoney Creek. After fifteen months of extensive and expensive renovations to the basement area, it was subdivided into four areas: a museum of railway artefacts, a library/lounge, a workshop, and the 42’ X 62’ model railway.

New Members Welcome!

1997-2007 Skyway Plaza, Stoney Creek

Then lightning struck again: In December, 2006, the landlord at Stoney Creek notified us that all basement tenants were to be evicted by the end of 2007. We were losing our home for a second time in ten years, less than halfway through construction.

After a long search, the club found a smaller space in the former Robert Land School (now the Eva Rothwell Centre ) in the heart of industrial North Hamilton (the TH&B Belt Line was just steps away, and the CNR belt and mainline are still within a block), Robert Land has now been our home for 15 years. Most areas of the railway are complete, and we have resumed twice-monthly operating sessions.

2007 - present Eva Rothwell Centre at Robert Land