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The next Western Division Train Meet is October 9th

The next 3 Western Division train meets for 2021 are scheduled to take place on October 9th, November 13th and December 11th. The October and November meets will be conducted in Placentia at Duke's Cafe right after the Trains & Coffee parking lot meets. The December meet will be the annual Holiday party, and a location is yet to be determined. We welcome all TCA members, their families, and any interested guest toy train collectors to come and meet our membership, browse the trading tables for bargains, and share in the camaraderie of toy train collecting.

For a detailed listing of all upcoming meets, click here.

Since we have not able to all get together and meet in person, here are several videos from past meets. Please enjoy the videos.

At the August 2019 meet Steve Eastman, Jeff Meyer and Denyse once again set up both Standard gauge and 'O' gauge loops and ran an assortment of trains around a peacful country town. Of special note was a very long consist of Dorfan tank cars being pulled by a smoke spewing MTH Classics reproduction #1134 black tinplate Dorfan 4-4-2 locomotive with Protosounds chugging and whistle.

Above video from the May 2019 meet of Steve Eastman's United States Army Hospital Train pulled by an MTH/Lionel Standard gauge 400E steam loco and tender. MTH/Lionel made only 10 of these locomotives and 10 sets of the 4 matching hospital/passenger cars. This unique set features a Digital Command System with freight yard proto-effects and sounds. Also visible running on the layout is Jeff Meyer's 'O' gauge Protosounds equipped MTH RailKing 4-6-0 Virginia & Truckee 10-wheeler with woodside passenger cars.

Above video of the 'Trains For The Cure' layout set up by TCA members Denyse Meyer, Jeff Meyer & Steve Eastman, for our April 2019 meet. The 'O' gauge Railking Breast Cancer Awareness Commodore Vanderbilt 4-6-4 pink Hudson loco is produced by MTH Electric Trains. Its pulling a set of custom painted tinplate passenger cars built from Williams Trains kits. The Standard gauge passenger set with the #385E Pennsylvania Rail Road 2-4-2 pink steam loco with tender is also produced by MTH, as well as the tinplate pink Lionel/Ives Transition style cars with red roofs.

Video of the layout set up by TCA members Steve Eastman, Jeff & Denyse Meyer for our March 2019 meet. The Standard gauge Daylight 4-8-4 is produced by Lee Lines Trains.

Very spooky and scary layout set up by Jeff & Denyse Meyer and Steve Eastman for the October 2018 Western Division meet.

December 2018 Holiday Party Meet themed layout set up by Jeff & Denyse Meyer and Steve Eastman.

Special layout set up by TCA members Steve Eastman, Bob Nord, Steve Waller and David Mabee in August 2012 at the monthly meet to celebrate the 1939 New York World's Fair Railroads on Parade exhibition. Early in the video in addition to the American Flyer 'O' gauge tinplate Comet streamliner, we see the Lionel Heritage Series John Bull Passenger Set, DeWitt Clinton Passenger set, Best Friend of Charleston set and a Stourbridge Lion set. Later in the video 2 streamliners from the 1930's by Hoge can be seen traversing the tracks, one set of the rails is the famous 'Flex-I-Track' made by Kaywood of Chicago, IL in the 1930's.

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.

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To request more information about TCA contact any Western Division board member or send e-mail to: info@tcawestern.org