Housed upstairs in the Mary G. Hardin Center for Culural Arts, in Gadsden, Alabama, The CVMA operates one of the largest model railroads in the world. The trains travel a 72-foot-long railroad system through a replica of Gadsden in the 1940's. The Good Year plant, steel plant, gas stations, bridges and houses have been recreated in miniature by the Coosa Valley Model Railroad Club. Members of the club researched the Gadsden of the 40's for two years before building began.

Using more than 700 feet of track, 3 miles of wiring and 1,400 wooden screws, the club's members laid the groundwork for the miniature railroad system that would support six trains simultaneously. Working from old photographs and their own memories, they fashioned Gadsden's historic buildings using items like photo negatives for windows and scrap foam board for walls.

Although the track is complete, the work of the Coosa Valley Model Railroad Club is never done. They continue to replace worn-out engines, check for train wrecks and add new structures to the 125 historic buildings already on display.