The OMRS is located in Lacey, Washington at the Thurston County Fairgrounds. We have been at this location, in the basement of the Heritage building for over 30 years. Originally, we shared the basement space with the building storage for the Fair, but eventually, we took over the entire basement.
Our space is approximately 'L' shaped, but backwards; about 60 feet long and approximately 25 feet at the widest point. The top part of the 'L' is narrow, about 15 feet wide. The bottom of the 'L' is sort of "boxy" shaped and includes the furnace, the back stairs and our layout control area. We lose some of that space to the building furnace, but it keeps us toasty warm during the winter months.
The building that we are housed in is one of the oldest buildings on the Fairgrounds, built in the early 1930s, and is of old log cabin style, shown here. The building looks good in the photograph, but that is because of the major overhaul of the entire building that occured from November 2005 through May of 2006. More on that project later.
Because we have eventually taken over the entire basement, the layout has changed dramatically over the years. What layout hasn't?? But in 1996, a major change added the two helixes at either end of the long room, allowing the club to add on an upper level. Of course, since the upper level was added, the members decided to redo the lower level as well, including a sublevel "hidden yard" for train storage.
