The Ocean County Society of Model Railroaders club in Lakewood, New Jersey serving the Monmouth/Ocean Counties on the Jackson/Howell borders of Lakewood has moved from All Saints Episcopal Church in Lakewood where we have been located there since 1992. The club initially was formed in 1987 at the former Amoco station on route 88 in Lakewood
as a HO club. It became a dual gauge, HO and O club in 1992. We vacated the church basement completely on September 24, 2016 and now located inside Pine Park in Kuser Hall next to Lakewood Country Club and Maggie's restaurant off of West County Line Road on the Lakewood/Jackson/Howell border.
A little history behind why we made the move. Since we were located in a basement of a church that has been around for close to 100 years, we were beginning to have issues with the pastor aka our landlord, it was time to look elsewhere for a more secure location. The Lakewood Historical Society was renovating an old boys school built in 1927 to locate their newly re-opened Lakewood museum and offered the basement to our club. One of the folks on the historical committee was a past club member and a few folks on their committee actually have trains. They signed a multi-year lease from the town with an extension as they were recreating the archives of Lakewood under one roof when Lakewood was a resort town back in the early 1900's. The museum has priceless memories in 10 gallery rooms that were used at one time as classrooms. Kuser Hall is 1 of 7 buildings that was left untouched which was the science and physics building. Lakewood tore down the 6 other buildings many years ago but left this one standing. It is built like a fortress with poured concrete walls and bricked ceilings.
The move did come with costs involved to our club. We had to fully renovate a basement of a school built in the 1920's that ceased operation in the 1960's. No one has used the basement in many years and the historical society did the same renovations to the upstairs and outside which came with considerable costs to their organization. All I can say it was a task that started in April 2013 for us with the result now that we have 2 operating layouts.
So... we have a nice association with the historical society. It is a marriage made that benefits both and we are extremely happy to be associated with the Lakewood Historical Society. Very nice folks to share the building with!!! So our club will continue to be known as the Ocean County Society of Model Railroaders. Check our website, facebook page and the ogaugerr.com online forum in the announcements section for updates on what we started out with at Kuser Hall and where we are at now.
Thank you, Ted Bertiger, President
Ocean County Society of Model Railroaders, Lakewood, N.J.
www.ocsmr.com
