Model Trains Station
Website: modeltrainsstation.com
Address: 250 Mill St., Taylors, SC 29687
Phone: 864-605-7979
Facebook handle: facebook.com/modeltrainsstation/
Instagram handle: @modeltrainsstation
Established: February 2010
Number of employees: 0
Service area: South Carolina, North Carolina and Georgia
Mission
Model Trains Station promotes the history and hobby of trains. The nonprofit, all-volunteer organization offers classes in model trains, their rich background in the U.S. and how they work.
The 16,000-square-foot station in Taylors Mill offers hands-on experience with model trains, train repairs, event space and field trip opportunities for organizations such as schools and retirement centers.
Seven gauges of at-scale model trains run on as many as a dozen displays. A special electrified Lionel Thomas the Train table enthralls little engineers. The facility also includes a 1,400-square-foot children’s play area with wooden toy trains, coloring tables, a basketball arcade, a cornhole game and the like. A museum artifact room is also open.
An all-volunteer crew keeps the organization chugging. The station is part of the nonprofit Miniature World of Trains, which began operating in downtown Greenville near Falls Park. The station moved to Taylors in 2016.
Giving Opportunities
Model Trains Station depends entirely on an all-volunteer crew of model builders, carpenters, carpet installers, electricians, metalworkers, and IT and programming experts. They help with scenery, general construction, layout construction, model railroad track installation and signaling. The organization also welcomes docents, who give tours of the 10 named layouts and offer history lessons and educational programs.
Leadership:
Bob Rayle, president
