Welcome to the Los Angeles Division, NMRA

 

Love trains? So do we! We are a group of model railroaders in Ventura and Los Angeles counties who share our love of trains and modeling by educating people and promoting the hobby of model railroading, helping all modelers - from beginners to experts - build their skills and capabilities, and holding in-person and virtual events.

Please look around the site to learn more about the Los Angeles Division, the National Model Railroad Association (NMRA), local rail-related museums, groups, and hobby shops, and upcoming local, regional and national model railroad events. 

Spotlight On The Lomita Railroad Museum

The Lomita Railroad Museum is a small museum in Lomita that was founded in 1967 by Mrs. Irene Lewis, who donated it to the City of Lomita in honor of her late husband, Martin Lewis.  Martin and Irene Lewis were both train-lovers who spent many years building Little Engines, a business devoted to developing and manufacturing miniature steam operated locomotives which were sold all over the world.

The Museum features a 1902 Southern Pacific steam locomotive, three freight cars and two cabooses.  The station building houses a small museum and gift shop and there is a railroad library in one of the cabooses.  It is open 10am to 5pm from Friday to Sunday and admission is free. 

The Lomita Railroad Museum Foundation is hosting their annual “Tea With Friends” fundraiser on April 26th.  It is the Museum’s foremost fundraiser of the year and is a delightful afternoon of enjoyable conversation, refreshments, and friends.  They will be serving scones, appetizers, a variety of tea sandwiches (including vegetarian), salad, and a selection of desserts.  See the website for more details.

If you feel inspired to go visit a railroad museum, take a look at our “Fun Stuff” page for our directory of hobby shops, model trains groups, and museums.  If you know of something we are missing, please send us an email.

Text and photos by the LA Division Webmaster, Mark Fischer, This email address is being protected from spambots. You need JavaScript enabled to view it..

We need your help! If you have photos of a model you are proud of, a cool train-related thing you saw in the area or on a trip, or have some interesting news, please contact us so we can share it with the rest of the world.

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Upcoming Events

Some of the upcoming railroad-related events over the next month or two include:

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The Los Angeles Division

We are a group of more than 200 railroad modelers in Los Angeles and Ventura counties in southern California. We are one of 150 local groups, called "divisions", of the National Model Railroad Association (NMRA) across the world. The Los Angeles Division is part of the Pacific Southwest Region of the NMRA, which includes three other divisions covering Southern California, Arizona, and Southern Nevada.

We hold a monthly virtual meeting on the first Thursday of every month at 7pm.  These informal "Sand House Chats" are a round-table where members can share information and talk about whatever interests them.

All Division members receive the "LA Division Coupler," the Division's quarterly newsletter via email.

In addition to our website, we share information on multiple social media sites.

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The NMRA

The National Model Railroad Association is a 501(c)(3) not for profit educational organization that was founded in 1935. It is a world-wide organization with over 16,000 active members, associates, families and clubs dedicated to the hobby of scale model railroading in all its facets, supporting a hobby of many diverse interests that all relate to the greater world of trains and railroads.

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