Click here for information about the 2012 Westminster Junction Train Show.
Click here for information about the Great Minnesota Train Expo Train Show.
The Great River Valley System is an N-Trak modular railroad club in the Twin Cities area of Minnesota.
Updated Jan 5, 2012
Model-railroad.tv has three video presentations featuring GRVS.
Model-railroad.tv is a paid subscription service accessed via the internet. GRVS does not derive any income
from this service and does not endorse it.
However, the videos can give an overview of what a GRVS layout is like at a train show.
A DVD featuring GRVS and a second DVD featuring a GRVS member's (Ken Borowski) home layout are available
for purchase from the model-railroad.tv web site.
Upcoming Events/Public Shows
- January 28-29, 2012 - GTE Council Bluffs, IA * - Mid-America Center, Council Bluffs, IA event Hours: 10-4 both days
- March 10-11, 2012 - Westminster Junction - Carpenters Union Hall, St Paul, MN event Hours: Sat 10-5, Sun 10-3
- March 17-18, 2012 - La Crosse & Three Rivers Railroad Club Show * - La Crosse, WI event Hours: Saturday: 10-6; Sunday 10-4
- Saturday, March 31, 2012 - Randolph Railroad Days - Randolph, MN School details event Hours: 10-3 t-trak only
- April 14-15, 2012 - Happy Grandparents * - Menomonie, WI event Hours: Sat 9-5; Sun 10-4
- April 21, 2012 - Granite City * - St Cloud, MN details event Hours: 10-4 t-trak only
- April 28-29, 2012 - Great Minnesota Train Expo - Eagan, MN details event Hours: Saturday 9-5; Sunday 9-3
- May 12, 2012 - Minnesota Fairgrounds Show * - St Paul, MN details
- May 19-20, 2012 - Ohio N-scale Weekend * - Hilliard, OH (Columbus suburb) event Hours: Sat 10-5, Sun 9-3
- June 23-24, 2012 - Galesburg Railroad Days * - Carl Sandburg Community College, Galesburg, IL details event Hours: Sat 9-5; Sun 10-4
- September 15, 2012 - Minnesota Fairgrounds Show * - St Paul, MN details
- October 27-28, 2012 - Thunder on Rails * - Thunder Bay, Ont event Hours: Sat 10-5; Sun 10-4
* participation not confirmed
New Members are Welcome
Model railroading is a social activity!
While GRVS is primarily a group that sets up portable layouts, you don’t have to have a module or
even trains to join. We’ll try to help you build a module if you wish to do so. Having one or two trains
would probably increase your fun with the group.
In addition to train shows, GRVS has monthly meetings where we typically have a presentation of some kind or an
operating session on a member’s home layout.
The next section gives overviews of the shows the club has been involved with so far this year. Notice that
many of the shows are out of town. Members choose which shows they want to participate in. Typically the greatest
participation is in the Twin Cities area shows. Unfortunately there aren’t many of those. We are looking for venues
where we can organize
small local shows as those provide the greatest opportunity for most of our members to include their handiwork (modules)
in operating layouts.
One of the characteristics of the module standard (N-trak)we have chosen is that there are clubs
all over the world that
build to the same standard. If we don’t have enough members who want to go to a particular show to have our own complete layout,
we can often find another club that will welcome a few visiting modules to their layout. As a result, GRVS has friendly relations
with clubs from Ontario, Wisconsin, Iowa, Illinois, and other states. At some shows multiple clubs will combine their modules to make
a single really big layout. This requires a good deal of cooperative planning, but it works!
For further information about GRVS, Contact Ed. trainman285 at yahoo dot com or
(651)463-1202
Past Shows
For pre-2012 shows, click here
For shows organized by venue, click here
2012
