OUr History

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The Ophir, Tintic, & Western Model Railroad Club was organized by a small group interested in HO scale model railroading on March 22, 1990. The club was organized it the Caboose Lounge at the Well Trained Model Railroad store in Provo, Utah. Those present at the first meeting were a group of modelers primarily from Utah County and shared a common interest in mining railroads.

The original intent was to build a club owned modular layout with a mining and steel mill theme. The layout was to be based on real scenes in Utah with coal and ores from the Wasatch Mountains moving to the mills in Provo and Salt Lake. It was decided that since no one railroad served all of these areas, a fictional or “freelanced” railroad would be created. Several names were quickly suggested, however it was charter member Albert Schmuhl who came up with the name that seemed the most appropriate. He suggested that the original railroad could have served the mining areas to the west of Utah Valley. Taking the lead from the prototype railroads of the old west he combined names from the mining ghost town of Ophir, to the mining district of the Tinitc Mountains and the grand wish of all early railroads to push to the Pacific came the name of the club’s railroad was born, the Ophir, Tintic & Western.

The first show the club attended was the Wasatch Division show at the Salt Lake City Union Pacific Station, November 2-4, 1990. Most of the modules still had bare wood, no skirting and no scenery. The layout was only eight feet wide and twenty four feet long. However, the club was the first to be completely up and running, and there were no problems with the layout the whole show. Since that inaugural showing, the club has been invited to participate in annual shows in Salt Lake, Ogden, as well as special shows and conventions throughout the region.

An N scale division was added in 1995 to the Ophir, Tintic & Western to include those interested in N scale modeling. Early N scale members Doug Lamb and Richard Johnson worked diligently to complete an N scale layout. Thanks to their efforts our N scale group has participated in many of the same shows as our HO group. Since that time it has continued grow and attract more members who have added their own modules.

In 1996 the club began construction on perhaps our most ambitious project to date, a permanent layout in the Orem Heritage Museum, located in the Scera Theater in Orem. The club has donated many hours and dollars in the construction of this layout. Construction took place over the next 16 months, requiring many Saturday work sessions. The layout was 80% complete in September 1997 and deemed “ready” for the museums dedication that month. The club has continued to improve the layout adding additional structures and details on the layout, as well as providing for it’s regular maintenance and upkeep since that time.

In 1997 the club sponsored a logo contest to design our new official logo. The contest was opened to the general public. Entries were receive from members, local high school students as well as Students from BYU, UVSC, and SLCC. A diamond and oval shaped design submitted by Georgia Hendricks a student at SLCC was chosen the winner was selected by the popular vote of the club members.

In 1999 the club incorporated as a non-profit organization. It is hope that this will allow the club to expand it’s scope and to share the fun and rewarding aspects of this hobby and to reach more people in the communities in which we live.