Northern Minnesota Railroad Heritage Association, Inc.
Home of the "Northern Trackers"
The NTRRC is a group of people who have a passion for model railroading and railroad history. The club was founded by Darlene Blazina of Aitkin, Minnesota, in March of 2006. The club is a 501C3 non-profit organization.
A 3500 square foot building was leased in December of 2006. The club has grown rapidly in both membership and in modeling activities since that time.
I am Darlene Blazina and this is my work in progress!!!
I want to thank all the active members at Northern Trackers, for all their hard work, especially the men and women below.
Bill B. for being the best 1st president any club could have and for his hard work on the N Gage layout.
Bob W. for all his work in obtaining our club’s 501c3 status. He also spent many countless hours on the phone with the state of Minnesota.
Cyril D. For the beautiful historical layout, he designed of the Iron Range.
Butch S. for his work on the HO Gage, and the beautiful trusses.
Dennis G. for all his work on wiring the HO Gage layout. He spent countless hours learning how to do it. He got the HO up and running properly, and painted the track.
Clem M. for all his work on helping Butch and Joe D. for making over a thousand trees, and he is not done yet.
The O Gage layout would not be possible without the work of Don B. and Ted A, who did a thousand miles of wiring. They’re not done either!
Dick E. did a great job on the scenery, especially on the tunnels. I personally know he had a lot of trouble on it.
MaryAnn B. For the beautiful historical pictures and artifacts for the museum aspect of the club.
The idea for the club came about when I purchased my own HO scale train and wanted to more information about model railroading. I went to the local hobby shop and they gave me a list of names of people who were interested in model railroading. I made up a flyer and mailed it out to the people on the list about contacting me if they were interested in starting a model railroad club since there wasn’t one in the area. I heard back from a few of the many mailers I sent out. I set up a meeting to discuss organizing a model railroading club. Eleven people showed up at our very first meeting on March 18, 2006.
The club was on the TRACK!
NTRRC Past President Bill Bury pointing out details of the Walker area to Darlene Blazina, NTRRC Founder and Vice President.
Darlene in the cab of a Union Pacific 4-8-8-4 locomotive at
the National Train Museum in Wisconsin.
