Southern Pacific San Pedro Depot, Early 1900's

Photo courtesy of Leon Calloway

Club History:

The club was founded by John Pignatelli, Don Lewis, Howard Packer and Matt Jackson in December, 1995. Formation grew out of a search by some members of the Valley Toy Train Club's "Tinplate Trackers" O-Gauge modular group for a site for a permanent layout and/or a site where modules could be set up on a long-term basis. John discovered a couple of vacant buildings at the old Fort MacArthur military base. He related this information to Don, who in turn brought the proposal to other members of Tinplate Trackers who had expressed interest in a permanent site. After some letter writing and a little bargaining with the City of Los Angeles Recreation and Parks Department, the park agreed to let us have a building. Approval was given to enter the building to remove some partitions and make repairs in February 1996.

Since then, we have rehabilitated the building, including new wiring, painting, removal of partitions, repairs to flooring, and repair of a compromised wall. The North room is the only room that remains unfinished, but plans call for that room to be set up as a workshop for locomotive repairs, painting and machining.