Crossville Model Railroad Club presents the Wonderful World of Trains

08/11/2026

Crossville Model Railroad Club History
Part 2

As the years passed, our club experienced various ups and downs. Membership rose and fell as with any fraternal organization. Our average membership has held at about 50 members per annum. As mentioned in Part 1 of our club’s history, we entered a month-to-month lease at the Crossville Outlet Mall at a very reduced price. Soon after, a much more financially beneficial retailer took over the club’s space and everything we had built had to be disassembled and put into storage. Then later in 2003, Suite 109 at the outlet became available and again the club entered a month-by-month lease with mall management. That became our long-term home through our 20th anniversary in 2021.
During those years, the club built various traveling layouts that were displayed in various venues such as the public library for Dolly Parton’s Imagination Library days, the Cumberland County Fair, and we participated in the Christmas Parade. We just put a float in the America 250 Fourth of July parade this year.
The club has made its way to local and regional TV stations as well as other media venues. In 2008, founding members Mike Ferry and Ann Grogitsky were interviewed on the Crossville Chamber of Commerce informational TV channel. PBS came to our club and filmed a segment that appears occasionally on Tennessee Crossroads. Our club has also appeared on channels 8 and 10 out of Knoxville in the past. In fact, Ann Grogitsky just participated in a Podcast last week with a radio station in Cookeville. Modern Times.
Did you know:
In 2009 Jim and Ann Grogitsky, representing the club, built a model train display for the White County Historical Society in Sparta with membership help in creating scratch-built buildings for the layout.
In 2017, a group of members built a large layout at Camp Nakanawa in Monterey Tennessee depicting the girl’s camp as it existed in the 1920’s.
That we were often listed as the number 2 attraction in Crossville after the Cumberland County Playhouse.
As you are most likely aware, the Crossville Outlet Mall was sold in 2023. The new owners had other ideas for the space and we, as well as others, lost our home. We spent countless months looking for a new space to lease that we could afford. There was nothing we could afford in the area. With the help of two large benefactors, we began planning for a home that we could own. Again, Jim and Ann Grogitsky stepped up and purchased a lot at 87 West Avenue using their own funds. The club will purchase the site from them once it has established a 501c3 organization that can provide tax exemption documents to donors. The new organization is named Crossville Railroad Historical Society. It is a registered corporation in the State of Tennessee. We have a pending application with the IRS for a 501c3 status for that organization. Fear not, the Crossville Model Railroad Club is not going away. It will be the operational arm of the historical society.
If you are in the Crossville area, take a drive past 87 West Ave and you will see that site preparation has begun. We are even more excited about this than we have ever been.

Thank you,
The Officers and Members
Crossville Model Railroad Club

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08/06/2026

87 West Avenue site preparation has begun. Step 1 of many steps to come.

07/30/2026

New Club Sign is ready to roll. It will be at the "Lunch on the Lawn" event at the Crossville Community Complex in early September. The engine number pays tribute to our future club site at 87 West Ave in Crossville, TN (ps- I straightened out the number 7). Stop by if you are in the area and enjoy a free bag of popcorn.

07/28/2026

Working on a new sign for the club. Whew, I was worried the letters would not fit.

07/20/2026

Crossville Model Railroad Club History
Part 1

Our club started out because of Crossville’s former “Depot Days” annual festival. A member of the National Model Railroad Association (NMRA) was at the event asking if anyone would be interested in starting a model railroad club in Crossville. As a result of that query, we had 11 members attend the first organizational meeting in September of 2001. Our membership began to increase, and the club decided that our first layout would be an 8ft x 8ft N scale modular layout. Two members, a husband-and-wife team, volunteered their basement as a construction site.
While this process moved forward, the membership began the search for a suitable site for a public display in Downtown Crossville. The club received verbal support from downtown businesses, but no one was willing to donate space to the club. Eventually the club heard about an available suite in the Crossville Outlet Mall that they could use on a month-to-month basis. Unfortunately, a retail business claimed our suite and the club had to move out and put the completed N scale and the under-construction HO layout and construction materials into storage.
Nine (9) months later, another 4200 square foot suite became available in the Outlet Mall. It was again leased on a month-to-month basis. Our membership continued to grow with the N scale layout now finished and operational, it was placed right up front so the public could see it as they traversed the mall. Work was restarted on the HO layout in full view of the public.
In March of 2004, the club held a ribbon-cutting ceremony with the city mayor, county mayor, and mall management in attendance. Our membership now totals 29 members. Added to the displays was a joint O scale and G scale layout supported by 6-8 members.
As time passed and more members came on board the club expanded to 5 scales; Z, N, HO, O, and G. Each scale had and supported their own layouts We have had as many as 77 active members in our past.

Part 2 to appear next month.

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07/04/2026

Happy 250th Birthday America! If you are in Crossville today, look for us in today's parade.

06/21/2026

The Crossville Model Railroad Club was organized and held its first official meeting on September 1, 2001. That makes this year (2026) our official 25 year silver anniversary. It is sad that we do not yet have a place to call home but we are working very hard to fix that. We still need to celebrate this milestone. Anyone for a piece of cake?

04/19/2026

Just a small update. We are waiting on the IRS to process an application for 501c3 status in order to move forward. Keep looking here for further updates.