A model railroad display at the Mid-Ohio Valley Model Railroad Club in the rear basement of NOE Office Equipment, 610 Green St. An open house will be held from 10 a.m.-4 p.m. Saturday. (Photo Provided)

PARKERSBURG — The Mid-Ohio Valley’s rich railroading history will be celebrated with an open house Saturday at the Mid-Ohio Valley Model Railroad Club.

Located in the rear basement of NOE Office Equipment at 610 Green St. in downtown Parkersburg, the club will offer historic railroad photographs from the Todd Atkinson Collection as well as artifacts and operating models of trains which once plied the rails during the heyday of railroading in the Parkersburg-Marietta area. Hours are from 10 a.m.-4 p.m. and drawings will be held for prizes.

Admission and parking are free.

Parkersburg was once an important hub on the Baltimore & Ohio Railroad with a bustling freight business, two large marshaling yards and passenger stations on Sixth Street and the foot of Ann Street. The Sixth Street Station, located just across the street from the model railroad club, was torn down to create a larger parking lot for what’s now the United Bank Building.

The Ann Street Station also was demolished and its remains can be viewed at an elevation near the Greater Parkersburg Convention & Visitors Bureau.

A display of railroad history at the Mid-Ohio Valley Model Railroad Club in the rear basement of NOE Office Equipment at 610 Green St. where an open house will be held from 10 a.m.-4 p.m. Saturday. (Photo Provided)

The B&O tracks through Parkersburg began in Baltimore and were routed through Grafton. From Parkersburg, the main line continued west to Cincinnati and on to St. Louis. A person could board a passenger train at Sixth Street and attend Cincinnati Reds baseball games at Crosley Field.

B&O and later Chessie System trains could also head down the Ohio River through Ravenswood to Huntington for a junction with the Chesapeake & Ohio Railway. Further, trains from Parkersburg also went upriver and passed through Williamstown, St. Marys and other small towns on the way to New Martinsville and sometimes on to Wheeling.

Some of Marietta’s links to its railroad history include the still-standing Harmar Railroad Bridge presently closed to foot traffic, a former downtown station building and several refurbished and preserved railroad cars in Harmar Village, including a Chessie System cupola caboose, B&O wagon top caboose, B&O heavyweight baggage car and two B&O streamlined passenger cars.

Although the B&O and Chessie System are long gone, there remains plenty of railroad activity in the Mid-Ohio Valley thanks to CSX Transportation and the Belpre Industrial Parkersburg Railroad.

Six model train layouts, many showcasing historic Parkersburg buildings, locations and events, will be operating during Saturday’s open house and donations will be accepted to help offset the cost of running the electric models.

The entrance to the Mid-Ohio Valley Model Railroad Club in the rear basement of NOE Office Equipment at 610 Green St. (Photo Provided)

“We will be running trains from the B&O, Chessie System and CSX as well as other trains that ran in our region like the C&O and Norfolk & Western, ” said club President Jonathan Insley, owner of Insley Plumbing in Marietta. “This area has a great railroad history and we are happy to share it with our friends and guests in miniature form. In addition to the trains, our guests will see models of many famous buildings in the Parkersburg area, including the Sixth Street Station.”

At the open house, guests can discuss the model railroad hobby and local

railroading history with the many club members present and get ideas for layout construction, tips, guidance and suggestions. Visitors also will be treated to impressive new landscaping on the club’s O scale layout and progress made toward renovation of the HO layout.

The Mid-Ohio Valley Model Railroad Club was founded in 1981 and experienced a nomadic existence prior to moving to the rear basement of NOE Office Equipment more than 25 years ago. The building in which the club is housed has ties to railroading history. Guests will notice the curvature of the south wall. The building was constructed in this manner to complement an old B&O spur track, the remains of which can be seen at the edge of the parking lot. The NOE Office Equipment building also still has in place its rail freight loading doors.

The family-oriented Mid-Ohio Valley Railroad History Open House is one of several special events put on by the club each year.

The next event will be the club’s 30th Annual Fall Train Show at West Virginia University Parkersburg on Oct. 25 followed by the annual Christmas Open House at NOE on Dec. 6 and an open house at NOE in conjunction with Belpre Industrial Parkersburg Railroad’s annual Christmas Train in mid-December.