When I was 14, I joined the Eastern Loggers, a group that developed a layout based on a series of books on railroad logging in Pennsylvania. That layout has now gone to a museum and will soon be on display. To read more about that, checkout my post on the HAVOC website.
The club and my participation was not just about model railroading, but it also formed me as a person, a modeler, a designer/engineer, a manager, etc. Click the link to my post about the layout and my experiences to learn more about the layout.
Sn2 Modeler 
When I hosted the Bash at Cass the Eastern Loggers layout was featured in the Community Hall. Much appreciated and helped make the event more memorable.
Bill, we still talk about that event. My favorite part was sitting on the porch, listening to the shay, and hearing all the conversations between the houses. It was like being transported back in time and felt like I belonged. We also talk about it because we blue the Digitrax system and had to run on DC. It was a great event thanks for putting it on.
Thanks for your kind words.Hosting the Bash was my.pleasure.