Founded on February 7, 1946 by 10 men, the club was originally called the Germantown HO Engineers. The meeting place was the second floor of a paint store in the Germantown section of Philadelphia, PA. The first layout was completed in June, 1946. About a month later the club moved to new quarters located in the basement of the Pennsylvania Railroad signal tower in the Chestnut Hill area of Philadelphia, PA. There the layout was again set up.

In 1952 a new layout was started. Track work was completed in 1955, but scenery and revisions continued until mid-1961. We were moving again. Dismantling began right after our Open House in December, 1961 and re-building began in Elkins Park, PA. in early 1962.
Because we were now so far from Germantown, we changed our group name to The Chelten Hills Model Railroad Club; and called our railroad The Penn Falls Railroad.