Asbury Park, NJ
A New Jersey Non-Profit Corporation
Established 1963
100% NMRA
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The Garden State Central Model Railroad Club is Leaving our headquarters of 35 years in Asbury Park due to the sale of the building. We are looking to relocate to a home where a new museum quality display can be built and opened for the general public on select days. It will just be the second move in the 46 year history of the club which was founded in 1963 in Long Branch, N.J. Here is a link to a PDF file that explains how you can help
See pictures here on our website of our former HO-gauge layout with a 300 foot mainline which traverses four rooms. The railroad featured prototype scenes of the Lehigh Valley, Central Railroad of New Jersey (CNJ), Reading and Erie railroads, modeled after actual places along our route from Scranton, PA to Jersey City, NJ. The layout featured the huge Bethlehem Steel Mill in Bethlehem, PA -- a fantastic model built almost entirely from scratch! Trains roll past the REA building and the infamous Coney Island Texas Weiners in Scranton, past the well-known blue tank in Allentown and call on the docks of Jersey City complete with it's operating McMyler coal dumper... all in 1:87th scale! Sadly, we lost our home and this layout is gone, but we can't wait to get started on our next one!
We Visits Jules Heiliczer's Layout
Here's the first operating session at Jules' house.
See more pictures of our visit.
Bob O., George, Steve, Thom and Doug get ready to switch Florence Yard.
The Club Visits Dave Albertson's CNJ Layout
We were back at Dave's house operating using a 1953 timetable and switch lists.
See more pictures of our visit.
George and Dave are looking over the layout before the operating session.
NJ Division Meet Timetable Clinic
The Timetable Clinic from the NJ Division meet 9/19/09 has been added to our Tips/Tricks page.
You'll find .pdf files of the full clinic as well as the “Cheat Sheet” Handout.
I also have a timetable.zip file that includes the clinic Excel file, as well as full schedules from
the Garden State Central, Dave Albertson's CNJ Coast Line and Rick Spano's Sceniced & Undecided layouts.
They'll give you a good idea how to use the information included in the clinic notes.
“Last Run” in Asbury Park merchandise is now available.
Well we finally got our merchandise to commemorate our “Last Run” in Asbury Park, February 21, 2009.
All items have a watercolor painting of our mascot RS-3 and the date of the last run.
There are short and long sleeve T-shirts, sweatshirts, mugs and tote bags available.
Stop by our club merchandise store and pick one up.
There's pictures of all the items we have available at the store on the bottom of the web page.
You can also get there with the Merchandise button on the left
Proceeds from the sale of the “Last Run” items is going towards our quest to find a new home.
“Last Run”
Short and Long sleeve T-Shirts as well as Sweatshirts
“Last Run”
Coffee Mugs
“Last Run”
Tote Bags
6 different styles
are available
The Club Returns to Rick Spano's Sceniced & Undecided Railway
We enjoyed operating Rick's layout so much in May that we returned on October 2nd
The operating session went well using Jim Judge's Excel spreadsheet schedule.
A group shot by Steve Lang of club members and guests at the operating session. Standing: Rich Laube, David Smith, Jim Brown, Jules Heiliczer, Bob Judge, Dave Albertson, his grandson Jeremy, Ken Stockton, Jimmy Niedermaier. Sitting: Rick Spano, Linda Spano, Jim Judge, Steve Lang
Long time Club member Lew Loker passes away
See more about Lew
Lew was a driving force in the Club for years. He held all of the major Club positions and was liked by everyone. To show you how well he was liked, one year he did not run for President but was elected on a write in vote. He was the only one who could bring the different club factions together. In recent years he was less active but recently we were able to enjoy his company again. He was a very gentle man and will be missed.
The Club Visits Rick Spano's Sceniced & Undecided Railway
See more pictures of our visit.
Jim Judge routing traffic during the operating session on Rick Spano's Scenic & Undecided Railway.
The whole gang
front row kneeling: Rob Davis, Jim Judge, George Speidel
back row: Frank, Jimmy Niedermaier, George Gojdics, Jules Heiliczer, Bob Judge, Billy Brown, Danny Brown and Rick & Linda Spano.
The Club's 'Thursday Morning Modeling Group' visits Manville yard and Bound Brook to watch some trains run.
The Club's 'Thursday Morning Modeling Group' made up of members off on Thursday mornings or retired, went to Princeton Junction N.J. to watch some trains run.
The Last Run in Asbury Park was a great sendoff. It gave many of our loyal fans a chance to see our wonderful layout one more time. It also gave many new people a chance to see what we can do. Just wait 'till they see our next layout!
Communipaw on the Garden State Central
Here is a timeless shot of Communipaw New Jersey on our Garden State Central layout. Most of the work was done by Mike Curry, with the help of a few friends.
Photo by Rob Davis
Pictures of Past Members Out Having Fun
This is one of many pictures supplied by member Tony Organek of members out on railfanning trips. Check them out. Rob Davis came up with some information
but as you can see we need more.
GSC Model Takes First Place at NMRA Meet
We took the model of the Lehigh Valley railroad tug "Bethlehem" that the late Frank Machinsky had built to the NMRA division meet in Wilmington Delaware.The meet was hosted by the Delaware guys in conjunction with the Philadelphia and South Jersey divisions. The contest for the meet was railroad marine. I thought that Frank's beautiful model should get a chance to shine. Well, it won first place and I could see Frank smiling at that.
Cub Scouts Visit Club Modules at Camp Evans
Cub Scouts from Pack 66 in Edison visit the Garden State Central's modular layout at Info Age Learning Center at Camp Evans.
Photos by Steve Lang
Some of the 60 scouts who visited that day.
Jim Judge runs trains for the scouts. Jim and Club member Steve Lang showed the scouts the fun you can have with model railroading.
The Circus Comes to Easton
Bob Judge's circus truck comes out from under the Lehigh Valley Passenger Station in Easton on the Garden State Central.
5 Club members run the New York and Long Branch 05/03/2008
George Speidel, Dave Albertson, Jules Heiliczer, Bob Judge and Jim Judge pose next to Bradley Beach Yard on Dave Albertson's New York and Long Branch layout. They ran 2 operating sessions for visitors from the NMRA division meet. Dave's well detailed layout is prototypical with many buildings being scratchbuilt. A great time was had by all!
McMyler dumper Video Added
We've just added a new video of the McMyler dumper in action to our YouTube videos.
Profile shot of the CNJ's McMyler dumper on Pier 18 in Jersey City, NJ.
Mike Curry setting up a Friday night operating session.
Bob Judge switching Keyser Valley Yard.
Dave Albertson enjoying running Scranton's Taylor Yard.
Magnets used for routing during operations
For the last month we have been running operating sessions on most Tuesday and Friday nights. This is first time the club schedule has been run using DCC. It really adds to the flavor of the session. You must really be aware of where you are and where other trains are too. Running into another train is always a possibility and congestion around yard areas means everyone must pay attention. On the plus side, the realism is enhanced and things like helper engines and realistic switching make the session fun. Most of the engines (but not all) have sound and this adds to the enjoyment. To hear a busy yard with switch engines moving cuts of cars while passenger trains head for the station and a mixed freight pulls into the yard, with horns signaling and bells ringing can be about as close as you can get to real railroading without a railfanning trip. See more pictures of operations on the Garden State Central.
