MIT Department of Electrical Engineering & Computer Science

MIT's Building 20: The Magical Incubator Story, Anecdote, or Reminiscence

Times at TMRC

Alan Kotok
kotok@w3.org

I arrived as a freshman in the fall of 1958 and immediately happened upon the Tech Model Railroad Club in 20E-214. This happy place buzzed with activity. In the background the sound of the "System," built with cast-off relays, clicked and clunked away, running the trains. Boxes of relays stored under the train layout begged to be incorporated into ever-more complicated gadgetry. I was hooked.

TMRC was where I learned the true meaning of "grungy". A few hours hacking under the layout (which, in those days was where the System lived) and one was totally filty. The relays didn't like the dust either, and one soon became an expert in cleaning relay contacts.

Of course, the clubroom was either too hot or too cold. Rarely just right. I was a prime instigator for installing air conditioning.

One of the driving forces of club activity over 50 years was preparing for the demise of Bldg. 20. A look through the club records shows innumerable plans to escape the imminent demise of the building, often to buildings now defunct.

Well, it's finally happened. The club has moved to new quarters (N52-118), and Bldg. 20 is on it's way out. And I've returned to the Institute after 35 years.