MIT Department of Electrical Engineering & Computer Science

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

Model Railroading in Building 20

Steve Weiss
srw@alum.mit.edu

I first experienced the charm of building 20 when as a freshman in 1962, I was escorted directly from the freshman midway down Albany Street to the 3rd floor of E wing and introduced to the magic of the TMRC.

The Tech Model Railroad Club has been a part of building 20 since shortly after the building was built. Of all the memories I have from my four years at MIT, the time I spent in the wonderful wooden building produced the fondest.

Every year we would hear the rumors that the building was about to be torn down. For 35 more years it continued to survive those rumors. Back in the '60s, TMRC, and building 20 by extension, was the place that the now famous computer geeks gathered and exchanged ideas. Indeed, it was the breeding ground of much colorful computer vocabulary in use today.

I vividly remember running up the creaky old wooden stairways to get to the clubhouse, where I could always find trains, kindred hackers, and of course, The Coke Machine.

With the destruction of the building the club has had to tear up its 50-year-old layout, and start over in the MIT Museum building. This is truly the end of that era.