About CRRC

ABOUT THE

CINCINNATI RAILROAD CLUB

The Cincinnati Railroad Club, Inc. is a not-for-profit, educational organization with a membership of over 300 individuals. Our members all have a hobbyist’s interest in railroads ranging from the early iron horse of the 1800’s through the present and into the future. Some members have a deep interest in trolleys and interurbans, while others prefer the “golden age” of steam and the streamlined trains of the early diesel age. While the club does not maintain a model layout, there is no shortage of members who are interested in modeling.

The CRRC was founded by a small group of railfans riding a camera excursion train to Vincennes, IN sponsored by the former Dow Drug Co. and the Baltimore & Ohio Railroad on May 15, 1938. During the trip, a paper was passed around on which the names of those who would be interested in becoming members of a railroad fan club were placed. The first meeting was held on Thursday, September 1, 1938, in room S-117 in the Cincinnati Union Terminal. The club's first activity was on Sunday, March 26,1939 sponsoring a railroad trip to Hamilton, Ohio to ride the Cincinnati & Lake Erie Railway's traction cars. In April 1939, CRRC member Paul Hill submitted his design for the new club emblem, which would be on the front of "Headlights & Markers" from 1939 to the present. In November 1939 the club's first annual banquet was held in the main dining room of the Cincinnati Union Terminal. In May 1954, CRRC was incorporated in the state of Ohio as a nonprofit organization. In May 1961 CRRC's first international railroad excursion was to Nova Scotia. In March 1965 the Cincinnati Union Terminal Company leased Room N-116 to CRRC as its permanent headquarters.The CRRC met outside of the Cincinnati Union Terminal from 1989 until September 1991 when it moved into Tower "A" in the Cincinnati Union Terminal.

The club has nine elected directors from whom the president, vice-president and secretary are chosen. Appointed offices include treasurer, editor of the club newsletter, museum director, librarian, historian, field trip chairman, publicity chairman, trip chairman and the house committee chairman. Members are encouraged to participate in these activities.

The CRRC meets in its own remodeled rooms in Tower A of the Cincinnati Union Terminal, which has rightly been called the “Temple of Transportation” by David P. Morgan, past editor of Trains magazine. We have had our own location in C.U.T. since before World War II and a couple years that we relocated to Ryerson Steel on Spring Grove Avenue until the renovation for the Museum Center at Cincinnati Union Terminal was completed.

The club has monthly meetings on the first Thursday of the month at 8:00 p.m. the meeting consists of a business session and a program pertaining to railroads. The other Thursdays of the month, the meeting room is open for an informal get-together, consisting of fellowship, reading/research and “show your own” slide or movie presentations. There is a library, a collection of railroadiana, a meeting room with slide/movie projectors/VCR, a copier, the C.U.T. trainboard, windows overlooking CSX and Norfolk Southern tracks and a railroad atmosphere which any railfan would appreciate. The library is the largest railroad library in the Tri-state, containing books, periodicals, various railfan publications, and other related materials. The CRRC Museum of Railroadiana & Photographs has a great variety of items related to railroads, including lanterns, bells and B&O records dating back to the early 1900’s.

The CRRC has sponsored numerous single day excursions on local railroads such as our now famous steam excursions on Norfolk Southern Railroad. In fact, the CRRC began it’s steam excursion series with the Southern Railway in 1967, and ran them until 1994 when they were discontinued by Norfolk Southern. The CRRC re-entered the excursion business in 1997 with the cooperation of Amtrak and CSX.