About This Website
The layout is 2200 sq. ft. and takes up the entire second floor of what used to be The First Evangelical Church at 21 N. 2nd Street in downtown Columbia, PA. When the congregation built another church in Columbia in 1954, the building became Shaub's Machine Shop. In 1984, the building was given to the Columbia Historic Preservation Society. Today it is still owned by CHPS.
The layout was donated to the Columbia Historic Preservation Society in 1998 by Calvin Duncan. Over the years, several museum volunteers rebuilt the layout. Once known as "Columbia Historic Preservation Society HO Model Railroad", it now is known as the Columbia & Susquehanna HO Model RR (named for the town of Columbia and the river that flows west of the town).
Approximately 200 sq.ft of the layout depicts Columbia as it would have been in the 1930-1950 era. The reason for the 30-year time span was to allow both steam, diesel and electric trains to operate on the layout. Columbia buildings are scratchbuilt from old photographs in the photo album archives. This area, along with an area depicting the 1947 opera house fire, are the only Columbia historic areas. Nearby Martic trestle located near Pequea is also modeled.
To enter the website click on the link at the top of this page.
Currently, the C&S MRR is closed until further notice due to track and scenery reconstruction. You can still enter the website to view videos and pages for areas that have not been affected by the reconstruction.