How it Happened
It was a time of post war prosperity and optimism. Fighting men had come back home to their families after having trained at military bases in the sparsely populated land called Arizona. Eager to return to the desert, they relocated their families to the Valley of the Sun. As the word spread of the mild winters, and the ‘dry’ heat of summer, even more men and their families came. In just over 60 years, the city will grow from a dusty little cow town, to the 5th most populous city in the United States. But in 1949, with no major sports teams, few public golf courses, no multi-screen movie theaters, and only one television station, working men had more free time to pursue other interests.
In search of an outlet to fill their free time the men searched for an opportunity to express their creativity. Local hobby shop owners Bill Seidler and Quentin Webster posted sign-up sheets in their shops about a new club, not just any club, but a club whose members could meet with others driven by a similar desire.
On August 2, 1949 after 86 people signed up on those announcement sheets a meeting was held on the outskirts of Phoenix in the Pepsi Cola Building located at the intersection of Central and Osborne Roads. At the meeting this small group of individuals determined that they would rather spend their time playing with trains, but for lack of space, equipment, or even money figured it best to pool their resources and form a club. And so on that evening the Thunderbird Model Railroad Club was born.