ALL ABOARD! The Oak Park Society of Model Engineers (also known as OPSME) is a model railroad club located in the Dole Center of Oak Park, Illinois. This club has been here in Oak Park since opening its doors in 1964. The club is open Sundays 1-3 pm in the lower level of the Dole Center and Wednesday evenings 7-9 pm.
We currently have have about 100 regular, affiliate and supporting members ranging from high schoolers to senior citizens. We hold 2 types of meetings: layout discussion meetings where we go over everything regarding the operations of our layout and our business meetings which are held every 3rd Monday of every month. Here all members can discuss new/old business regarding the club, our layout or any other train related events (past or present). All business and voting are done at this time. We even have Proto-Op sessions about every 3 months, where club members can run trains and play dispatcher for the night.
We are an HO scale club with a layout utilizing DCC and modeled after the Chicago Great Western rail line from Oak Park to Central Iowa. The main layout has three levels with two helices on each end and multiple tracks for running multiple trains. We also have a DC layout that engineers of any age can operate.
Every year, the Oak Park Society of Model Engineers holds two open houses (first weekend in May and first weekend in November) where people of all ages can visit the club, run trains, meet our members and see the progress of the layout. We also set up a large layout at the All American Rail Road show at Lyons Township High School in La Grange, Illinois every March where people can see trains, get to know our club, and even pick up membership to join OPSME. The club also sets up a small layout and table every June at Day in Our Village in conjunction with the Park District of Oak Park to meet and greet with fellow locals and train fans.
We are always looking for new members of all ages and if you love trains as much as we do, then we encourage you to join OPSME. You can operate your own equipment or one of our club trains. We also need more help building our new layout. We have many disciplines working to build it: track work, scenery, building, benchwork, electrical, painting, planning, etc; so you will always be busy if you want to be. You can also just come by when you want to watch trains running with equipment from the 1920's thru the present day. Please come down, see us, meet us and if we impress you enough, feel free to pick up a membership application.
You are Always Welcome Aboard!
