A Brief, But Long History of the museum.

The Northern Lights Model Railroad museum, as it is known today, got its start in the summer of 1987. John Cummings, who collected Lionel and HO trains, was looking to get together with others to trade and swap rolling stock, as the story goes. During the Heritage Village annual Heritage Days, Cummings placed a sign-up sheet, his name and phone number along with a short message to the effect "that if there was anyone interested in model railroads" to contact him. Several people contacted John that they were interested. One early member, Gary Swanson was librarian at the Schroeder Middle School. Though his efforts, club members were able to meet monthly to talk about trains, both model and prototype. After about a year, one member, Gary Bergstrom introduced the idea of a building modular railroad. Gary approached a group of modular railroaders in Fargo, North Dakota and got a copy of their modular construction standards. The club members got together discussing various changes to the Fargo standards and shortly modified the standards to their own liking.

After adoption of the standards in the later part of January 1988, Dennis Schjeldahl, John Cummings, and several other members started the construction of the four corner modules. Soon members started to build their own sections to match up with the corners and each other's sections. Mike Amon was the first to complete his module with a manual operated turntable and electronic controls.

During the early modular years, meetings were held at various locations, primarily at different members' homes. Still looking for a permanent home, on April 23, 1988 members were given permission to meet at the Wood Doctor's in downtown, on Demers Ave. Also downtown, there was a vacant store owned by local merchant Sam Silverman, who allowed the members to use the building until it was rented out. It was at this location that members continued to work on modules and began writing the bylaws for a more formal club organization.

At the end of November 1988, the club members had found a new location for the meetings. Starting in December, the club members set up their modules one Saturday every month at the Columbia Mall Community Room in Grand Forks, ND. At the time North Dakota had Sunday Blue Laws so the mall had to be closed on Sunday. Operating sessions always started with modular setup and hopefully minor repairs. After about five hours of operating, the members would remove their modules, hold their business meeting and then go home. This dysfunctional meeting arrangement continued until January of 1991 when the club relocated to the second level of the old Northern States Power Building in the downtown City Center Mall. The newly found club home allowed members to leave their modules set up all the time, eliminating the tedious task of setup and tear down at each meeting. The clubhouse remained at this location for about a year and a half when the mall management decided to renovate the area, forcing the Club to look for a new location.

In January 1993 the club was able to find space on the second level of the City Center Mall on South Third Street in downtown Grand Forks. As the space was an open mezzanine, use of the area would involve the construction of walls and installing doors to secure the area. As part of the agreement with the Mall Authority to lease the space, the members agreed to construct walls with the Authority providing the materials. After about one year, all the carpentry was completed and the area was wired for electricity.

Assuming this to be our permanent home, club members concentrated on expanding their modular transportable layout into a permanent layout. A 20 by 15-foot "permanent" layout was constructed on the west end of the mezzanine and attached to modules located on the east end of the mezzanine. In addition, a branch line railroad was added to the modular layout enabling trains to run off the main line thus affording more members the ability to run trains.

Although not without disadvantages, such as the lack of an adequate meeting area, the mezzanine afforded great exposure of the layout to mall shoppers and visitors. During the second year of operation, the layout was opened to the public on the annual New Year's non-alcoholic celebration First Night. Hundreds, if not thousands of people came to see the trains. Mostly parents of curious children albeit some of the "children" were no doubt in their second childhood.

The City Center Mall location continued to be our home until the spring flood of 1997, Grand Forks' worst flood in recorded history. Fortunately, the second floor club location protected the layout from the floodwaters, but not the "muck dust" that had settled everywhere including our layout. During the initial flood recovery efforts, the City of Grand Forks decided the City Center Mall had out lived its usefulness, and was uneconomical to repair. Thus the City decided to remove the mall. In June of 1997, the club was forced to remove our modules. Again, this left the club without a home. The club members continued to meet at a local East Grand Forks restaurant.

It was decided that if the club was to continue it would need a permanent home and that we would have to build a building, but how and with what? Through the effort's of one of our members, Chuck Durrenberger, the club received a $10,000.00 relocation grant from the federal government. Other club members, also members of the Heritage Village Foundation located in northeastern East Grand Forks, approached the Heritage Village membership with a request to relocate on their fair grounds south of Northeastern Technical College. With the help of the government grant and subsequent donations, the club was able begin work on its current clubhouse.

In the spring of 1998, the Club members again went to work. A garage located in East Grand Forks that was slated for demolition was donated to the club and hauled to the Heritage Center by club member and next door neighbors Tim Holt. The club was also able to purchase a relatively new two and a half car garage, located in Lincoln Park, from the City of Grand Forks for $1.00. In order to remove this garage, it had to be cut into two sections in order to get it down the alley and haul it to its new home. Throughout the summer, members spent long hours on weekends constructing a platform to support the two garages. The members bolted the two garages together and set a goal to have the building resemble a train depot.

With the clubhouse in place, work began to add utilities and finish the interior. Sewers, water, electrical, gas and phone lines were installed to service the building. Room partitions were added to create an office, toilet, meeting room, and the most important of all the train room. Various donations provided a furnace and carpeting. With the guidance and help of the club's electrician, Tim Holt, the clubhouse was wired. The interior was finished with textured walls and beautifully finished woodwork trim courtesy of the hard work of the club's professional carpenter and craftsman Bill Phelen. Other interior improvements include a train room sink and cabinet facility, constructed by the carpentry class at the Northwest Technical College.

The club building, which measures 58 feet by 26 feet, has a 32-foot by 17-foot train room. It also has a meeting room, a telegrapher's office with a bay window and telegraph equipment, and a bathroom. The building is centrally heated and air-conditioned. Recent additions include a train platform and handicapped ramps.

Work on the club layout continues. Due to the special efforts of club member John Schoener, the wiring is complete. Other members such as current club President Steve Demers and longtime member Paul Machart have shown their talents in landscaping various sections of the layout.

There is 300 feet of track along side the depot. On the tracks, the club has a former Great Northern steel caboose, which was built at the St. Cloud, Minnesota shops. The club is in the process of restoring this car. The club has also installed a working block signal along the tracks.

Our building is called the "CASEY HOLT JUNCTION" and is named after the son of one of our members, Tim Holt. His son was lost in an auto accident.