The first brain storming session was held in April 1990 and included John and Roland Roberts, Tom and Fred McCarthy, Rich Godfrey, Phil Ginkus and Bob Jones. Construction procedures and standards were established by slightly modifying those of the Chicago Area O Scale Club (ChAOS) published in O Scale New magazine the year before. These standards would allow each member to construct his section of the layout and then assemble the completed modules at the show the following year with the knowledge that they would connect into a fully operational model railroad. Helping each other over the year these seven modelers created an oval layout 21' x 45', with over 100 feet of running length on the 2 mainlines. With the show just days away a name was needed to indicate who we were, but who were we? Since the members were all from Massachusetts or Connecticut the name Southern New England O Scalers (SNEOS) was chosen, and Phil lettered two signboards to proudly display on the layout. Reaction of the 10,000 people attending the 1991 show was very positive to the O scale trains that ran flawlessly.

Each year the layout has expanded, first in length and then in complexity as an steam engine terminal, freight yard and an industrial park were created. Scenery was been added to portray the "real world" that railroads run through including mountains and rivers as well as man made bridges and buildings. Most recently a ten track diesel servicing facility and a huge bridge module with scenery descending nearly 4 feet to the floor were added. Today the railroad is 21' x 81' with a mainline length over 200 feet and storage capacity of over 350 cars and 100 locomotives (you can never have enough locomotives!). A sophisticated Digital command control system was added that will allow up to 8 trains to operate at one time, including freight trains of 75 cars in length.

The eras modeled cover the steam trains of the 1920's up through today's modern Amtrak passenger trains and inter-modal container fast freights, which provides interest to model railroaders, railfans, and the general public regardless of their timeframe of interest in trains.

In 1994 the loose friendship was given a serious challenge. A church in Gardner offered to rent us space in their basement. The advantage for us was that our layout could be set up year round, not just at train exhibits, with the "down" side being the need for a formal club complete with officers and by-laws. We joined forces with a group of HO modelers to share the cost. After working out a rental agreement for the 42' x 67' basement space with church the club was formally started in October 1994, with the election of officers and the collection of dues. Over the next several months the space was made ready for the portable railroad, an HO layout was designed and by-laws were drafted. At this time our goals were relatively short-sighted - work on the layouts, and talk about trains. We continued to exhibit the modular layout at several train shows each year.

It began to dawn on us that many of the members enjoyed the "talk" part of railroading - we had a wealth of knowledge that was of interest to others, both model railroaders, and those with just a casual interest in railroading. Without realizing it we had been educating both our members and the general public about topics we enjoyed and in which were becoming "experts". We decided that we should incorporate as a non-profit educational organization, so in early 1997 we began the cumbersome trip down the red-tape road of government forms. In April we received notification from the Commonwealth Of Massachusetts that we were approved as a non-profit corporation.

When the opportunity to host the O scale national convention in 1998 came our way we joined forces with another O scale club to form a partnership - New England ‘98, The O Scale National Convention. We were able to provide many people from across the country (and a few international visitors as well) a fun time and a great educational experience. Twenty-one O scale model railroads were either running at the convention or visited at people’s homes in the evening. Twenty-four clinics and seminars were held covering railroad history in New England, electronics of model train control, O scale layout design, and modeling the geology of New England. Attendees took trips on actual railroads in the region as well as tours to historically significant operating museums such as Sturbridge Village, a trip to Cape Cod, and a guided tour of Historic Boston.

In 1997 it became apparent that the space available was just not big enough for two club-sized model railroads. If we were going to attract more members we had better focus the space on a single scale. The HO members decided to form a "round robin" club, meeting at each other's homes and helping each other with their personal layouts - no dues, no rent, no officers, just a bunch of friends having fun with trains.

The O scalers now had about 50% more space, but no time to devote to it due to their commitments to educational and fund raising ventures. In addition to the national convention in 1998 , the club sponsored an annual railroad show in October. Then, when the Gardner Museum asked us if we would be interested in participating in an exhibit "For the Love of Trains" we could not say no and ended up accounting for over half of the exhibit which was open to the public from September through November. Our display of model trains depicted railroads over the past 75 years.

Interest in building a permanent O scale layout was growing, but it was decided to plan it well and obtain a long term lease with the church. The focus of this layout would be to build an exhibit that would accurately depict the role the railroad has played historically in support of the American economy, as a major form of transport of both people and goods. This would involve modeling the industries served by the railroad, the passenger stations used by people and the U.S. mail, and of course the railroad industry itself with all of its infra-structure of buildings, equipment, signals, and operating rules. This plan is now complete and construction began in April 2002.