Prince William County Model Railroad Crew

History of the Club

Founded in 1991 by 8 avid railroading fans, PWMRC has grown to over 60 members of all ages and from all walks of life. Together we share a common bond - the love of trains and the desire to share that love with the public.

The PWMRC is a HO scale, modular railroad club operating in the northern Virginia area. The PWMRC had its origination in the back of a model railroad hobby shop, The RIP Track in Woodbridge, VA in 1991 as a small group of modelers with a common goal to grow a model railroad club in the Prince William County area.

With the death of the store owner and the closing of the shop in the late 90s, the PWMRC removed their small layout from the store property and focused their attention on transportable modular standards and periodic participation in weekend model railroad shows. NMRA standards guided the development of the modules with Digitrax equipment as the exclusive operating system. During talks with the City of Manassas to possibly occupy the Manassas Granary that stood where Harris Pavilion is now, the club incorporated in 1995 under the name of the Prince William County Model Railroad Club, Incorporated, and began annual filings with the United States Internal Revenue Service (IRS) and with the state of Virginia State Corporation Commission (SCC) as a 501(c)7 not for profit social club in 1996.

In 2004, the PWMRC was offered a section of historic Richmond, Fredericksburg and Potomac train station in Quantico, VA through a sub-lease agreement with the Virginia Railway Express (VRE), which leases the building from the CSX Railroad for its operations. The final arrangement also included coordination with the Town of Quantico to include them in our communications and strategic plans for a semi-permanent layout. Dedicated members worked throughout the year to build out a semi-permanent, fully operating model railroad in 9 months.  A "golden spike" ceremony was held in December 2004 and a permanent layout was built there.

One of the prominent requirements of the lease was to provide public education events germane to the model railroading hobby. The PWMRC conducted no less than 16 open house events a year which included operating sessions that emulated the rail activity of a real railroad, transporting goods by rail from one location to another. In addition, members of the club conducted clinics to demonstrate and teach to the general public, methods and techniques of the broad expanse of model railroad topics, i.e. creating scenery, electronics of model trains, realistic operation of model railroads and repair of model railroad items. The monthly open houses and special events throughout the year drew many spectators to downtown Quantico.

Unfortunately for the PWMRC, in 2019 the VRE asked the club to vacate the building in Quantico in anticipation of a station modernization project. The club salvaged what they could of the model railroad equipment and continued as a modular club making appearances at several model railroad shows, i.e. Great Scale Model Railroad Show at Maryland Fairgrounds Timonium, Greenberg Train Shows at the Dulles Expo and Fredericksburg Expo Centers, and numerous library shows around Prince William County throughout the year.

The PWRMC has supported Boy Scout Troop 964 of Dale City, for the past 23 years with their primary annual fund raiser, a model railroad show at the Saunders Middle School and now, the Lake Ridge Middle School.  Members of the PWRMC helped start that event which has enabled 100’s of boys and girls to benefit from the experiences of being a scout and earn a merit badge.  Tthe PWMRC has been a partner with the City of Manassas and the Historical Society since the beginning of the Manassas Railfest celebration.

Several members of the PWMRC have hosted operating sessions at their home layouts over the years as well.

With the club’s ongoing interest to acquire another permanent operating location it became apparent that the club must attain a 501(c)3 status to qualify for grant programs as well as tax deductible gifts. To this end, the PWMRC petitioned the Richmond, Freelance & Prototype Model Railroaders, Inc. (RF&PMR) to merge the PWMRC into their organization as a Special Interest Group (SIG) which extends their 501(c)3 status to the PWMRC. This was approved by the RF&PMR in November 2023 and full status as a 501(c)3 achieved in February 2024.

The original charter of PWMRC included three objectives:
(1) Promote the hobby of model railroading.
(2) Educate the public in the hobby of model railroading.
(3) Provide a forum for members to learn and participate in model railroading.

Club members have taken group rides on the Cass Scenic Railroad and on East Broadtop. We've held train oriented get-togethers and gone rail fanning together. Of course there are workshops, clinics, and operating sessions on member home layouts. We have even participated in local parades. And everyone is welcome to run trains on the modular layout at any of the shows we participate in.

Members are always willing to lend a helping hand to whoever needs help with their layout. From rock carving to painting to the unfortunate dismantling, members have pitched in to help each other.

Club members frequently hand-off their DCC Controller to let young engineers run their train. The excitement in those young faces is priceless.

Whether you like rail fanning current lines or rolling stock, prefer highly detailed modeling of historical scenes and lines, or to just run trains and let your imagination run wild, we have a member who is into that aspect of the hobby.