 |
The Train Collectors Association Western Division |
 |
Our club holds 10 train meets every year. The next Western Division train meet is scheduled to take place on Saturday December 9th, 2023. This meet will be the club's Annual Holiday Party and will be conducted at the Arcadia Community Center, 365 Campus Drive (at Huntington Drive & Holly Ave.). All TCA Members and their families are invited. Come celebrate the holidays with your train collecting family! The meet will include a special sit-down pot-luck luncheon. The club will provide beverages and sandwiches (Roast Beef, Turkey, Ham & Chicken). We ask members whose last name begins with letters A thru L to bring a dessert, and members whose last name begins with letters M thru Z to bring a side dish or salad. While the meet is intended to be a social event, there will be some trading tables available, and the usual display theme and operating layouts will be happening. The doors open at 9 AM for setup and the meet starts at 10:00 AM, lunch begins at 11:00 AM. The meet typically ends around 2 PM. Parking is free. The membership opportunity drawings/Annual Membership Grand Raffle Prize (1950 Lionel 'O' gauge Anniversary Set with #2023 Union Pacific Alcos and matching passenger cars) will be conducted and awarded at this meet. The meet also features a free repair clinic and special surprises! TCA members are admitted free (please wear your current membership badge and show it at the door when you enter the hall). Non-members/train enthusiasts are welcome to join the club at the December meet in order to participate in the Western Division Holiday Party festivities. There is no charge for use of trading tables for sellers but you must be a member in good standing of TCA in order to have a trading table. Email info@tcawestern.org to reserve a trading table.
For a detailed listing of all upcoming TCA Western Division train meets, click
here.
For information on how to join TCA Western Division, click
here.
Now shipping & Still Available For Ordering
Limited Edition O gauge Union Pacific Flat Car With 2 Die-cast 1:43 Scale Broguiere's Farm Fresh Dairy 1950's DIVCO Milk Vans!
Please enjoy this video from our October 22, 2022 Train Meet Layout.
Western Division members Bill Senyak, Steve Eastman, Jeff Meyer and Denyse Meyer set up a Standard gauge loop and 2 'O' gauge loops and ran an assortment of 'spooky' trains fit for the occasion around a desolate, dark and haunted pike. Of special note was a restored MTH Standard gauge loco, painted in a bright and shiny 'Pumpkin' orange, to match the Lionel passenger cars. Zombies can be seen taking over one of the trains, and riding around searching for fresh humans to bite!
Very spooky and scary layout set up by Jeff & Denyse Meyer and Steve Eastman for the October 2018 Western Division meet. Frank N. Stein was in attendence at this meet and enjoyed the trains even more than he likes fire! For more train meet layout videos click here.
What is TCA?
The mission of the Train
Collector’s Association (TCA) is to develop an appreciation of and to
preserve an important segment of history -
tinplate toy trains - through research, education, community outreach, fellowship,
establishment of collecting standards and to promote the growth and enjoyment of the hobby of
collecting and operating toy, model and scale trains. The By-laws of TCA Western Division are viewable by clicking here.
TCA Western Division carries out this mission by holding 10 monthly meets during the calendar year. At these meets, the trading and displaying of tinplate toy trains and toy train related items takes place. TCA Western is the only Southern California based toy train club that provides free use of tables for these purposes. We have plenty of them available, in a well lighted, spacious hall.
There are over 30,000 members in the TCA organization nationally. Western Division boasts a membership of over 300 train hobbyists.
TCA and
Western Division have been in existence since 1954. For a little bit
of history about TCA Western Division click here.
Do you have a box of old tinplate trains that you have been storing in the attic all these years since your childhood? Are you anxious to break them out and run them again? Do you need help in getting your old trains to run again - perhaps they require some servicing? Have you been meaning to perhaps convert those old trains into some cash in your pocket? Then bring those trains to our next TCA Western Division toy train meet in Arcadia. Those dusty old electric trains could potentially be something rare and unusual. The club layout would be a great place to see those trains running again after all these years. Or, if you have intended to get rid of those trains, selling them at the TCA Western Division meet can yield cash for you and make a collector happy as well.
To request more information about TCA contact any Western Division board member or send e-mail to: info@tcawestern.org