Coastal Rail Buffs

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Coastal Rail Buffs Coastal Rail Buffs, is a model railroad club where membership is open to the general public. Weekly meetings are every Thursday of the month at 6:30pm

This organization is dedicated to providing education to the general public in all areas of model railroading. This is a broad area that embraces the preservation of historic and modern day railroading through prototypical accurate miniatures. Beyond this the organization attempts to preserve artifacts, memorabilia, and other items that link Savannah's railroad heritage to present day railroading. The Coastal Rail Buffs, Inc. is also part of the worldwide organization of the National Model Railroad Association with a membership of over 24,000. We also have membership in the Southeastern Region of the NMRA. activities include model and prototype railroading discussions, railroad movies, video and slide shows, lectures, demonstrations, model building projects, public shows, and open houses to help educate the public. The club now has in operation an 14 x 44 foot HO layout, and an 8 x 12 foot N layout which is open to the public 7 days a week at the Historic Railroad Shops, the Official State of Georgia Railroad Museum.

10/12/2026

Upcoming events this week.

• Regular Thursday club meeting will be at the Steam Center at the Roundhouse Complex in beautiful downtown Savannah.

• This is a regular business meeting. It should short.

• It's inside and has A/C. ;) Though it might be cool outside.

• This is open to the public. The main parking lot will be open.

• The kids will set up an HO scale oval to run some trains. DC or DCC if you want to bring something to run. They always have fun doing this and don't mind teaching everyone the fun part.

• If we get enough HOT-Trak modules to show up we will put up a layout.

• Upcoming Train Shows
• Informational only. Research the details
• These are a "reasonable" drive from the Savannah area.

October 17 - Columbia, SC Seven Oaks Park

October 25 - Frogwarts event at the Roundhouse. This is not a sales event. We will have train layouts set up.

Model Railfan Friday.Its pretty easy. Pretend you are a railfan on your own model railroad. It needs to be a model. Any ...
10/09/2026

Model Railfan Friday.

Its pretty easy. Pretend you are a railfan on your own model railroad.

It needs to be a model. Any scale. Any level of completion. And it needs to be yours. Don't use someone else's stuff.

Just post the result in the comments.

Easy peasy? We are primarily a model group so this should be fun. :)

Here's something to get things going.

- Raymond

At a recent meeting at Ed's place, Chris demonstrated JMRI DecoderPro DCC programming software. https://www.jmri.org/ ...
10/08/2026

At a recent meeting at Ed's place, Chris demonstrated JMRI DecoderPro DCC programming software.

https://www.jmri.org/

This is some pretty slick software. It can read and store all your different decoders settings. It also categorizes all the different settings in your decoder presenting them in an easy to view format.

It can also write the settings to your decoder through the programming track.

Chris is a fount of techie knowledge. :)

Is anyone else using JMRI?

10/07/2026

It's Workbench Wednesday.

Its pretty easy. Just post a pic of something you have on the workbench or layout. Or something you recently acquired.

It needs to be a model. Any scale. Any level of completion. And it needs to be your pic. Don't use someone else's stuff. Don't post manufacturer pics of something you want.

Easy peasy? We are primarily a model group so this should be fun. :)

Railfan TuesdayAll of those freight cars need a source and destination. This is a destination. Kaolin Terminal at the Po...
10/06/2026

Railfan Tuesday

All of those freight cars need a source and destination. This is a destination. Kaolin Terminal at the Port of Savannah.

Also, silos are used for more things than corn and grain.

Kaolin is a fine white powder that is usually shipped in covered hoppers. Its transloaded to bulk ships here and then to destinations unknown.

Kaolin is primarily used in making china and porcelain. Its also used in making paper, rubber and paint.

Kaolin is mined in Georgia along the Fall Line. A line approximately through Augusta, Macon and Columbus. It it the geographic boundary between the Appalachians and the coastal plain. I.e. rocks to sand.

Hmmm...a Kaolin hopper might make for a good club car for next year's show. ;)

10/05/2026

Upcoming events this week.

• Notice: meetings at Ed's place are changing to **FRIDAY** nights. We are making this change to accommodate the kids. They can stay later since it's not a school night. Roundhouse nights will remain on Thursdays.

• Regular **Friday** club meeting will be at Ed's place in Port Wentworth at 6:30.

• This is not open to the public. You can always become a member. ;)

• Ed's layout is HO scale DCC. But, you can always show off anything.

• We will talk some more about the HO scale T-Trak modules.

• Upcoming Train Shows
• Informational only. Research the details
• These are a "reasonable" drive from the Savannah area

October 17 - Columbia, SC Seven Oaks Park

October 25 - CRB supporting the Frogwarts Event at the Savannah Roundhouse. This is a public operating event, not a sales show.

We added another new member to the under 15 group. :) This was from Thursday night's meet up at the roundhouse. We also...
10/03/2026

We added another new member to the under 15 group. :) This was from Thursday night's meet up at the roundhouse.

We also had a 3D printed HO scale smokestack.

And birthday cupcakes. We sang...but... I'm not gonna share that. It may trigger dogs 3 counties over. ;) We still had a great time. :)

You never know what's going to happen at these. :)

When the railroads stopped uses cabooses (cabeese?) they donated a bunch of them to small towns all over the place. A lo...
09/29/2026

When the railroads stopped uses cabooses (cabeese?) they donated a bunch of them to small towns all over the place. A lot of these towns no longer have tracks.

If you take the backroads your are likely to find a few.

Address

655 Louisville Road
Savannah, GA
31401

Opening Hours

Monday 9am - 5pm
Tuesday 9am - 5pm
Wednesday 9am - 5pm
Thursday 9am - 5pm
Friday 9am - 5pm
Saturday 9am - 5pm
Sunday 9am - 5pm

Telephone

(404) 502-6307

Website

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