St. Louis Railroad Prototype Modelers was started in 2003, with the first event happening at the Caty Cavins Recreation Center in downtown O’Fallon, Illinois.

90 modelers, some traveling from as far as Baltimore, attended that first meet.

Almost 20 years later, another 14 St. Louis RPM events have been hosted. This year’s event will be held on 29-30 July, 2022 at the Gateway Convention Center in Collinsville, Illinois.

St. Louis RPM has grown to be the largest of all the RPM-type events, with approximately 750 attendees annually (and growing every year), 50-60 scale model vendors, 20 or more Railroad Historical Societies, quality modular layouts in house, plus home layout tours, 22 clinics including several hands-on clinics and demonstrations, social gatherings, and much, much more. 

Fun Fact: With 20 or more Railroad Historical Societies in attendance, St. Louis RPM has the largest annual gather of railroad historical societies in the U.S.  To help and support societies we usually feature a closed “Historical Society Meeting” of historical society officers and representatives to discuss hot topics and issues.

The heart of our event is the massive model display, consisting of models brought by attendees for display. Normally, 3,000 to 4,000 models are brought by attendees, or all scales, gauges and eras.

Models are brought by regular guys just like you and me, and by manufacturers, in all scales, showing off up-and-coming new releases.

Layouts of various sizes and scales are usually in attenance. Here’s Jim Canter, below, with his traveling Proto48 (O scale finescale) Nickel Plat layout.

Due to the great response that we’ve had from vendors, historical societies and attendees in previous years, this 2022 even will once again expand, this year to over 38,000 sq. ft.  There will be room for more models, and more room to spread out and relax.

More info is available at the new St. Louis RPM website at http://stlrpm.com/.

The official St. Louis RPM photo site can be found at https://www.flickr.com/photos/35369592@N06/albums

Give me a shout if you have questions about the event at Golden1014@yahoo.com. – John