SEQUIM — Staring intensely at a model Amtrak train coming around the curve on a room-size modular railroad layout, Greg Scherer’s eyes sparkled and a bright smile lit his face at the 12th Annual North Olympic Peninsula Railroaders Train Show and Swap Meet.
“They let me put my train on their tracks, Scherer said with a grin.
Except for the gray hair, wrinkles and height, there was little to separate Scherer, a 60-year-old Port Angeles model railroad enthusiast and model shop owner, from 6-year-old Forks resident Jonah Lyman, who carefully controlled a model electric train in the next room.
Youngster is focused
Jonah didn’t have much to say. He he was too intent on building his train and watching it travel the looping track.
“He’s been waiting for two months, ever since he saw the flier at the fair,” said his mother, Kristen Palmer, 29, of Forks.
Trains bring together a young boy’s dreams and an old man’s hobby, said Steve Stripp, secretary/treasurer of the North Olympic Peninsula Railroaders.
Stripp and his fellow railroaders organized the sale and show at the Sequim Grange Hall on Saturday and Sunday.
The show at the Sequim Prairie Grange featured three complete railroad layouts — two in the popular HO gauge, and one larger G-gauge railroad.
Return to the fold
Stripp, 68, said most railroad hobbyists began playing with and collecting model trains as young children, returning to the fold as they got older.
Toddlers and preschoolers start with wooden sets, such as simple BRIO magnetic-coupled trains and sets modeled on the children’s television series “Thomas the Tank Engine,” and graduate to simple electric sets, Stripp said.
The train show had a children’s room, where youngsters could play with a wooden BRIO set or an electric layout, but the main thrust of the show was in the dealer’s room, where a single model engine could be priced at $300 or more.
“Steam engines are popular,” Stripp said.
Steam still popular
Although most steam locomotives were replaced with diesel-powered locomotives in the 1950s, they still hold a piece of the American imagination and are often featured prominently in the movies, he said.
In art and movies, model trains of various sizes are often depicted as part of the Christmas tree setup, tracks usually configured in a simple circle around the tree.
“Every tree should have a model train under it,” said Scherer.
Modern holiday train setups often involve whole model villages, with music-box ice-skaters on mirror lakes, tunnels and trestles.
Pre-boxed kits often have proprietary parts and couplings — many can’t be expanded later, Stripp said.
For many who want a fast and easy holiday setup, that may be the ticket, he said.
But for those who want to start small and build a more extensive set SEmD purchasing individual pieces, including track, engines, cars and the decor that surrounds a train set SEmD model train shows are a good place to begin, or to inexpensively add to the collection, he said.
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Reporter Arwyn Rice can be reached at 360-417-3535 or at arwyn.rice@peninsuladailynews.com.