Susquehanna Valley Model Railroaders
The Susquehanna Valley Model Railroaders is a very loose association of model railroad owners in southcentral Pennsylvania, banded together for the purpose of facilitating organized model railroad tours either on their own or in conjunction with organizations that may request such tours from time to time.
Current membership map:
Tour Schedule
If your organization (NMRA, historical society, etc.) is holding a meeting in our area and would like to organize a layout tour with our member layouts, please contact Jerry Britton.
Click on tour link to view cover page of tour guide for printing. From there, click on the map key links to bring up detail pages for each layout, suitable for printing. This provides the tour booklet.
Upcoming Tours
April 30-May 2, 2010 -- PRRT&HS Annual Meeting Open House Tour
Recent Tours
May 16-18, 2008 -- PRRT&HS Annual Meeting Open House Tour
May 4-7, 2006 -- PRRT&HS Annual Meeting Open House Tour
May 19-22, 2005 -- PRRT&HS Annual Meeting Open House Tour
Nov. 12-14, 2004 -- First Annual SVMR Layout Tour!
Layout Criteria for Inclusion
The SVMR offers no benefits, other than inclusion in layout tours, and requires no dues of its member layouts. Membership in the SVMR requires approval by the membership committee (The Committee), chaired by Jerry Britton.
Requirements for inclusion include, but are not limited to:
- The layout must be in what The Committee considers the Susquehanna Valley. An emphasis is being placed on the York-Harrisburg corridor.
- All scales are welcome.
- Prototype operations and/or themes are not required. Operating layouts are preferred, but loop layouts for the sole purpose of watching trains are also welcome -- provided that they are presented well (scenery, etc.). A double-loop of track on two sheets of flat plywood is not what we are looking for.
- There is a size vs. quality factor. The Committee has an obligation to provide high quality layouts on its layout tours. A typical layout tour offers more layouts than it is possible to visit in the time allowed. For this reason, The Committee needs to screen participating layouts to insure that the visitors will have an enjoyable tour. Typically large layouts are preferred, but small layouts have something to offer as well. To avoid visitors selecting "by chance" a half dozen "one sheet of plywood, snap track only temporarily placed, no scenery" layouts, The Committee will determine the suitability of all layouts. The smaller the layout, the higher the requirement for quality (details, complete scenery, etc.). However, this should not be confused with "rivet counting". There is a difference! It is common for larger layouts to have some areas under construction or otherwise unfinished. These layouts, assuming they meet other criteria, may be included -- but their construction status will be noted.
- Accessability. You could have the greatest layout in the world, but if one has to lie on the floor and crawl to get into it, that's not what we are looking for. Some layouts may require a duckunder (reasonable height) to get into, but having to crawl through one or more low duckunders, crevices, etc., will disqualify a layout from consideration.
All judgments by The Committee are final and are not subject to appeal. However, layouts disapproved for membership may resubmit for consideration after 24 months.
Copyright 1996 - 2010
Last modified: February 10 2010.
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