MSOE Society of Model Engineers Old CC-Building Layout

These pictures are from the archives of the Society of Model Engineers model railroad club at the Milwaukee School of Engineering. I scanned these pictures in November 2003 so they could be posted on the club’s website. The website is no longer online, so I am posting them here.

In 1991, the Society of Model Engineers was again forced to move. The Milwaukee School of Engineering had purchased the former Blatz bottlehouse and renovated it into the Student Life and Campus Center (a.k.a. the CC-Building). With this new facility, the old C-Building that was the club’s home would not be needed and plans were made for its demolition. The Society of Model Engineers found itself fighting for space in the new building and had to haggle with the school to get enough space for a layout (the original plans for the C-Building gave them a room that amounted to little more than a closet). When all the arrangements were finalized, the Society of Model Engineers was given room CC-356, where it remains today.

Now in yet another new home, the Society of Model Engineers began construction on yet another permanent HO-scale layout. This layout was best known for a large arch bridge across “Hansen’s Gap” in front of one window of the layout room. This large bridge, while never fully completed, was still a very impressive structure, and MSOE President Hermann Viets was known to bring guests past the layout room to show it off.

These pictures show the layout over the years from its initial construction in 1992 to just before it was dismantled in 1999. I have tried to put them in order.