 The San Diego S-Gaugers is a tax exempt 501(C)(3) association of model railroaders founded January 19, 2008, in San Diego, California, dedicated to a three-part mission: 1. Promotion of S-Gauge model railroading 2. Education about S-Gauge model railroading, about model railroading in general, and about railroading in general. 3. Having fun in the process To contact the club, email sdsgaugers@yahoo.com. Contributions and bequests of S-Gauge model railroad equipment would be greatly appreciated. Email the club for details.  Got trains?
Got a box of old American Flyer trains in the garage? Bring them in and see if they still run.
Do you have childhood memories of American Flyer trains? Did you convert
to HO or N due to space limitations? Are your eyes and hands finding
smaller scales difficult to work with? Take another look at S Scale trains. Coming Soon: John Constans' Sn3 Westside Lumber Layout  Little did we know that six years later, his widow would donate it to our club in his memory. We have transported it to the side room of our clubhouse and are now in the process of mounting and refurbishing it for public display. Stay tuned for reports on our progress.
Our Latest Layout Tour Videos The visitor's view: And here's a video of the layout from the engineer's viewpoint:
Come visit us in La Mesa's Grossmont Center.
We're open yearround from noon to 6:00 PM on Saturdays and Tuesdays except for holidays.   See below for directions to come visit us.  As you enter, you are greeted by girder bridge and military aircraft museum modules on the front of our big modular layout.
Click the picture below for a view of each of the modules in the layout.
 To your right is the first of our three window layouts, Liberty Loop, named after our previous home in San Diego's Liberty Station shopping center. We have named our railroad the Grossmont Central Railroad in honor of our current clubhouse hosts, Grossmont Center in La Mesa, and Raulf
lettered the club's American Models Baldwin diesel locomotive for it. Click the picture to see more pictures and the story of why and how the layout was built.
 Click below for a video tour of Liberty Loop: To your left is our second window layout. Depending on the time of year, you will see one of four seasonal layouts. At Halloween, Christmas, and Easter we have a loop or track around a seasonal ceramic village.
Click the picture to see more pictures and the story of why and how the layout was built.
 Because we have a buildings for only three seasons on the seasonal layout, Mark suggested that we build a classical 1950s American Flyer layout to display the roots of our S gauge history. Since it was built around Easter, it initially included Easter eggs and bunnies. Click the picture to see more pictures and a video of it.  Since then, it has been properly landscaped, but we never
got pictures of it in operation; we'll have to take some proper pictures when we set it up after the
Christmas season. We named it
Streeterville in honor of Burdette Streeter who donated his collection
to the club.
 In the alcove window to your far right is the Lego Window Layout provided by the L-Scale Museum.
Over the years, Michael Todd, curator of the L-Gauge Museum, has brought in a variety of Lego creations, most recently Lego Train layouts, to enhance our clubhouse. To see more about each of them, click the picture or "The Lego Window Layouts" link in the sidebar menu at the left.
 If you happen to come by when we're not open, push the button outside the window and the trains on all three window layouts will run for about a minute.
 Our Timesaver Modules were a hit at the NMRA PSR Convention September 13 - 15
 It comprises two identical mini-switching yards connected by a short track that holds only one car.
Each
yard has five spurs each long enough for two or three freight cars and a
run-around with space for one car on one side and two on the other.
Each yard has a switch engine and five freight cars scattered around in the yard.
The objective is to move the cars around into some specified final position.
The person who does it in the shortest time wins.
Alternatively, it can be played as a cooperative two-player game where the final position for some cars is in the other yard. Come play at the clubhouse. It's a great way for a parent and child to run trains together!
For more information, click the picture or the "Timesaver" link in the sidebar menu at the left.
Member Projects
Dale has embarked on a project to create freight cars that are more
interesting and realistic than those manufactured by Gilbert and other
manufacturers,
and many of the buildings on the layouts were built by club members. Click the picture for a web page dedicated to member projects like this. 
Meetings and Other Events
The club has monthly meetings, at 10:00AM to noon, generally on the third Tuesday of the month (see calendar of events below).
At the January meeting each year, we hold the election of officers and collection of annual dues.  At the club's June 2016 meeting, Wes Noel demonstrated the proper application of Bullfrog Snot to increase the traction of an engine's drive wheels, and hence to increase the number of cars it will pull. Click the picture to see the video of this clinic; more clinics will be added as we shoot videos of them.
 2019 Calendar of Events February 19 10:00AM - noon Meeting at Grossmont Center Clubhouse February 21 10:00AM - 3:00PM Work Day at Grossmont Center Clubhouse February 23 10:00AM - 4:00PM Lego Build Event March 16 noon - 6:00PM AC Gilbert Day, spring open house March 19 10:00AM - noon Meeting at Grossmont Center Clubhouse March 28 10:00AM - 3:00PM Work Day at Grossmont Center Clubhouse April 16 10:00AM - noon Meeting at Grossmont Center Clubhouse April 25 10:00AM - 3:00PM Work Day at Grossmont Center Clubhouse April 27 10:00AM - 4:00PM Lego Build Event May 11 noon - 6:00PM National Train Day May 16 10:00AM - 3:00PM Work Day at Grossmont Center Clubhouse May 21 10:00AM - noon Meeting at Grossmont Center Clubhouse June 18 10:00AM - noon Meeting at Grossmont Center Clubhouse June 27 10:00AM - 3:00PM Work Day at Grossmont Center Clubhouse June 29 10:00AM - 4:00PM Lego Build Event July 16 10:00AM - noon Meeting at Grossmont Center Clubhouse July 25 10:00AM - 3:00PM Work Day at Grossmont Center Clubhouse August 15 10:00AM - 3:00PM Work Day at Grossmont Center Clubhouse August 20 10:00AM - noon Meeting at Grossmont Center Clubhouse August 31 10:00AM - 4:00PM Lego Build Event September 17 10:00AM - noon Meeting at Grossmont Center Clubhouse September 26 10:00AM - 3:00PM Work Day at Grossmont Center Clubhouse October 17 10:00AM - 3:00PM Work Day at Grossmont Center Clubhouse October 22 10:00AM - noon Meeting at Grossmont Center Clubhouse October 26 10:00AM - 4:00PM Lego Build Event November 19 10:00AM - noon Meeting at Grossmont Center Clubhouse December 17 10:00AM - noon Meeting at Grossmont Center Clubhouse December 28 10:00AM - 4:00PM Lego Build Event How to Find Us
You can see it from the freeway. Take the Grossmont Center exit and turn left (north). Enter through the portico next to the Reading Cinemas, between Jamba Juice and Panda Express.   Visit Count for this page
May
|