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Hi all:

The OCSMR club in Lakewood, New Jersey on the Jackson and Howell borders of Lakewood serving the Monmouth/Ocean Counties has moved from All Saints Episcopal Church in Lakewood where we have been located there since 1992. We vacated the church basement completely on September 24, 2016 and are now located inside Pine Park in Kuser Hall sharing the building with the Lakewood Historical Museum next to Lakewood Country Club and Maggie's restaurant off of West County Line Road on the Lakewood/Jackson border. Our club www.ocsmr.com is a dual gauge club with HO and O gauge combined in one club. Last night was our first meeting in our new home as a club.

A little history behind why we made the move. Since we were located in a basement of a church for 24 years that has been around for close to 100 years, we had a small problem with the last, not the current pastor, it was time to look elsewhere for another location. We were able to move to an old boys school built in 1927 called “The Newman School” into Kuser Hall which is 1 of 5 buildings that was left untouched by Lakewood township and was the science and physics building. It is built like a fortress with poured concrete walls and bricked ceilings and can withstand any rumblings from God.

The move did come with costs involved to our club. We had to fully renovate a basement of a school built in the1920's that ceased operation in the 1960's. All I can say it was a task that started 2 years ago for us with the result now that we have 2 operating layouts that are being landscaped and scenicked.

You can google map us with our name or us our address,1550 Country Club Lane for directions if you want to visit us. So our club will continue to be known as the Ocean County Society of Model Railroaders. Check our website, (www.ocsmr.com), and facebook page for updates of what we started out with at Kuser Hall and where we are at now.

Thanks.

Last edited by Ted Bertiger
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HO has their own room across the hallway from us. Our O gauge room is about 18 x 35 feet and the HO room is about 20 x 40 as they had the added area which was at first to be the kitchen/repair area for both. Plans did change and we were able to build a separate room for O and S Gauge repairs within a large room down the hallway. When the school operated, that entire room served as the coal bunker with the shute being  still intact on the wall and the large coal furnace is right at the doorway there.

Also, in the basement is an original science room lab. At each end of the hallway, we have 2 storage rooms/closets that we re-built the wood studded walls to keep our modular layouts, etc.

Also, both rooms were about the same condition when we started renovating. Hallway was not in much better shape. Many, many hours of sweat labor went into restoring those areas.

Last edited by Ted Bertiger

Actually, the O-gauge room is 18 by 36 feet.  The new layout occupies about the same area as the Church layout did.  The shape and wider aisles make the size of the new layout somewhat smaller.  The new layout has a shorter track run (about 150 feet per loop) but there are 4 loops instead of 3 as on the old layout (200 feet each).  So, overall track run is about the same.  The HO-gauge room is 18 by 32 feet.  It was in  better shape than the O-gauge room.

Attached are pix of a recent shot of the O-gauge layout with the same view as the first pic and a view of the HO-gauge room viewed in about the same orientation as the first O-gauge pic.

 

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  • 2014-07-12 014
Last edited by LocoBudd

The O gauge layout photo that Bud just posted with the windows closed up in the rear is the same view of the room with my initial photo. 

QUITE A DIFFERENCE YOU THINK ? We took off about 5,000 pounds of plaster mixed with some concrete off the walls and ceiling, ran electric in the ceiling for the LED lighting, for the AC units and for the 2 ceiling fans. Then double painted all the walls and ceiling.  One heck of a labor Job! 

 

RaritanRiverRailroadFan4 posted:
Joe Mania posted:

You guys have come a long way. I can't wait to come see for myself. 

Wait I think I know you. Didn't you do work for my friend? A lionel postwar S2 Turbine? I think you gave him a break on the bill or something for a Christmas gift.

That's certainly possible. Young guy just getting into the hobby?

Joe Mania posted:
RaritanRiverRailroadFan4 posted:
Joe Mania posted:

You guys have come a long way. I can't wait to come see for myself. 

Wait I think I know you. Didn't you do work for my friend? A lionel postwar S2 Turbine? I think you gave him a break on the bill or something for a Christmas gift.

That's certainly possible. Young guy just getting into the hobby?

Yeah, I think he gave it to you at a train show in Milltown, NJ last year..

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OGR Publishing, Inc., 1310 Eastside Centre Ct, Suite 6, Mountain Home, AR 72653
800-980-OGRR (6477)
www.ogaugerr.com

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