A View From Robin's Nest
National Model Railroad Month
Model trains are not just for kids.
Or…A New Addiction for the Month of November
Robin Hoselton
When the last of the Thanksgiving turkey has been devoured in sandwiches, people begin thinking of Christmas. For some, that means setting up train tracks around the Christmas tree and hooking up engines, boxcars, and cabooses manufactured by Lionel, Hornby or Bachmann.
For others, lucky enough to have a basement, den or place of their own, indulging in model train “play” is serious business all year round. It is such a huge pastime, that November has been designated National Model Railroad Month. Specialist stores, hobby clubs and magazines are devoted to this passion which can easily nibble away a Baby Boomer’s nest egg.
The Real Deal
Obviously, we’re not talking about cheap plastic kid toys here, but true-to-scale model sets with lights, whistles, steam, and detailed scenery. In Wakefield, Mass., the North Shore Model Railroad Club maintains models of the 1950s Chesapeake Railroad System. Kept in a 45 foot by 90 foot basement of the Brothers Restaurant on Main Street, the display features 1500 freight cars, more than 100 passenger cars, and nine scale miles of buildings and scenery.
Three hours are not enough to assimilate all the realistic details like trucks dumping coal into the trains or one train dropping express mail into another train. Club volunteers have spent 30 years building this and plan never to finish it.One day, while living in Boulder, Colo., I saw a notice of a model railroad train show and decided it might be interesting to attend. Interesting turned out to be a watered down version of Holy cow. I had no idea such a fun, challenging, and historical underworld existed.
I must have looked like the village idiot, wandering around with a goofy grin, and asking the exhibitors questions like, “How do you make the steam come out of the engine?”
They shared their secret…It is a special smoke fluid.
Addictive, Irresistible and Expensive
After being exposed to model railroading, I can understand how such a hobby could become addictive. For me, the allure isn’t the trains so much as the scenery. Finding or creating the true-to-life trees, mountains, rivers, tunnels, people, stations, etcetera to surround a train track would be both irresistible and damaging to my piggy bank.
North Shore Model Railroad Club Scenery is astounding. Featured is a billboard hanger doing his work aside the stunning railroad city
My challenge would be to emulate North Shore’s village scene. Among its 50s replications are authentic billboards, a cat in the rubbish, a woman watering plants in a top floor window box, a wedding at the church, parking meters, and even drunks on the street.
Maybe as a spectator, I’ll enjoy others’ Orient Express or Flying Scotsman and concentrate instead on putting together my 1950’s plastic kit of a scale model of the Borax Twenty Mule Team.
Footnote: If you are interested in the model train exhibitions, check out Model Rail Road News events section for a list of upcoming events.
And, if you like this hobby the Toy Train Collectors Society is a web gateway. You can become a member, get a magazine subscription, and find different places to purchase the trains of your desire. It is a great place to start on your new hobby.