METRO has its origins in the enthusiasm of a couple of people, Clarence Porath and Don Dobberfuhl, for model railroading. Certain that other people shared their interest, they decided to see if some type of a club couldn't be formed. They talked to the manager of a local hobby in Grafton. He liked the idea and arranged to put up a box to see what interest for a club existed. After a while, the use of a storefront at the mall was arranged, some notices were mailed out, and on 16 July 1981, the first informal meeting was held. The Club minutes state that "8 members [were] in attendance", although the minutes have the signatures of 15 people on the reverse. After getting to know each other a bit and exchanging ideas, the decision was made to start the club. More notices were mailed out for the first formal meeting on August 4th. At that time 15 people appeared, 13 of whom submitted membership applications. Much of the early meetings centered around the club's meeting place. The members quickly learned that they could not build any kind of a permanent layout at the mall since there was only one exit from the room in the basement of the mall. Other options were explored, but none panned out. The club continued to seek members, and even had a table at the Train Fest in 1981. About 10 people regularly came to meetings and work nights. But the lack of a home was frustrating. Finally, in February of 1982, a decision was made to build a portable layout