Club History

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     The Jackson, Pontiac & Saint Clair Railroad (JPSRR) was originally built by the Southeastern Model Railroad Club (SMRC) beginning in 1988. Modules were built by individual members then assembled together at train shows. The club originally planed to realistically operate the railroad with switching and train orders. However, over time they came to realize how difficult it was to have a realistic operation session during a train show and resorted to running trains in circles to please the public. In 1997 the SMRC disband and shortly afterward sold most of the modules to Jim Sieradzinski.

     Jim purchased the layout with the hopes he could run it as a full-fledged operating model railroad with switching and train orders. Unfortunately, the layout remained in storage for several years before Jim had a chance to set it up for the first time in 2004. Several years later he re-branded the layout the Jackson, Pontiac and St. Clair Railroad and with the help of his friend Frank and several other volunteers began the slow process of rebuilding the layout so it could be used once again for operations. His club added new industries such as the coal mine and local Rockville industries, added crossovers to the main line, rearranged the track in the central yard so it could handle more trains, and added a local branch line adjacent to the Pontiac Yard. After Jim's passing in 2016, his family graciously donated the layout to his core group of volunteers who made the decision to continue displaying the layout starting with the 2017 "A" Train show.