Houston Tinplate Operators Society, INC. - Lionel, Trains, Layouts: Home Page

Due to renovations taking place at Memorial City Mall, we are no longer "open to the public" while we pack everything up and move it into storage. We are grateful to Memorial City Mall to have been blessed with the opportunity to provide multiple "free to the public" operating model train displays for over 20 years. We will miss our regular visitors but plan to find a new home where we can continue our goal of promoting the hobby that we love. You can help HTOS find a new home by donating Here!

Who we are: An O-gauge model train club whose goal is to present to the public a family friendly atmosphere that promotes our hobby and provides enjoyment and education to all who visit.

Our location: As of March 31st 2026, we will only display layouts to the public at Local Train Show Events. For a list of upcoming train shows and exhibits in the Houston area and around Texas, click here or the "Events" menu in the top Navigation Bar.

Our Operating hours: As of Tuesday, March 31st 2026, we are closed to the public.

Watch our video and see what we have been up to:
HTOS What We Do

Hang out with us in Galveston - April 2026

Meet us in Hearne - May 2026

See us in Rosenberg - June 2026

Welcome to the Houston Tinplate Operators Society website.

Visit HTOS and relive the excitement and wonder of model railroading.

The Houston Tinplate Operators Society (HTOS) was founded in 1988 by a group of model train enthusiasts who wanted to have fun running Lionel O-gauge and compatible trains. Our members' interests range from true tinplate (pre & postwar) to near-scale 3-rail operation. HTOS is dedicated to promoting the history of 3-rail O-gauge trains and fostering the education of people in the field of model railroading.

The front of our club location is pictured at left, a year-round permanent location. HTOS is one of the few O-Guage train clubs in the state of Texas.

The club operates four layouts in our space. The large portable layout, a 'seasonal' window layout, a larger permanent window layout, and an American Flyer S-Gauge layout are for public viewing. There is also a hands-on kids wooden train layout. Enjoy!

See our directions link for more detailed driving directions and a mall map. Click this link for our operating hours.

	The HTOS website is hosted for free by the trainweb.org website, which is dedicated to all things rail related. The advertising that is placed above and below our site pages helps keep trainweb running and providing the free website hosting to organizations like ours. To see the many corporate sponsors of trainweb, you can visit their co-site, trainweb.com.
\| Privacy \| Legal \| Contact \|