BUNKER HILL TRAIN CLUB
IN THE NEWS
Ridin' the Rails
The Bunker Hill Train Club encourages visitors to explore "the world's greatest hobby."
December 7, 2003 - THE JOURNAL - Martinsburg, WV.
By LISA MONTGOMERY
BUNKER HILL - It has been called the world's greatest hobby, and at the top of the steps above Jerry Cain's train shop on U.S. 11 South the awe-inspiring model railroad layout designed and built by about 35 members of the Bunker Hill Train Club and on display for two weekends this month may convince any skeptics who think trains are nothing more than toys for little boys.
Cain's Train Shop remains the only place in the tri-county area that caters to model train enthusiasts, Cain says, adding that a Winchester, Va., shop closed its doors. Although the hobby doesn't seem to be as popular as it was in the mid-20th century, says Cain, the club's treasurer, it is not nearing extinction by any means.
"As long as we can get kids like little Ty (Stansbury) interested ... and keep it fueled up, the hobby won't die," says Walter Jackson, a Ranson Elementary teacher, pastor of Wainwright Baptist Church and the club's secretary.
Stansbury, at 9 years old the youngest member of the Bunker Hill Train Club, visits Tuesday night meetings with older club
members to add on to a massive scene of tracks, trees, bridges and mountains upstairs above Cain's Train Shop that the club started shortly after its inception three and a half years ago. He's eager to show off his own engine and cars and point out the work he's done on the miniature community the trains travel through.
The club will hold an open house twice this month to drum up interest in the hobby and introduce youth in the Panhandle to the world of model railroading. Many residents, Cain says, don't know that such a club, with members as old as 70, exists in the area.
Last Tuesday night, several members gathered above the train shop to clean tracks, spruce up scenery and repair electrical glitches on the layout in preparation for the open house. "The train people are getting old," someone shouts out when asked why the club so actively seeks young members, holding open houses, marching in parades or visiting schools to talk about model railroading.
SWITCH OFF TV, SWITCH ON TRAINS The hobby has so much to offer young people and families, Jackson insists. In the classroom he uses his own interest - he got started in railroading as a 4-year-old when his father gave him a model train - and creates a yearly lesson around the railroad to teach math and other basic skills. He and his father bonded over the models and Jackson says he's never lost his love for trains.
Railroading, Jackson says, is a way for older to mentor younger and means quality time away from computers, television, video games and may even keep children away from more unsavory pursuits. But, ironically, he says competition from technology can also keep those same kids from becoming involved in railroading in the first place. Jackson says his outdoor garden railroad helps promote the hobby - thousands of people have seen his display in front of his Pikeside home over the years.
The club's mission is to advance the hobby while helping to preserve historical railroad artifacts, memorabilia and landmarks. Members have volunteered their time to lay tracks at the B & O Roundhouse in Martinsburg and will ride the city's trolley in the South Berkeley Christmas Parade, as well as participate in the Martinsburg Christmas Parade - anything to get the word out that model railroading is fun, educational and imaginative.
Roy Pugh and his teenage son Timothy also share a similar love for trains. Pugh is the real engineer of the club, operating trains for a living with Winchester and Western. He along with the other members enjoy creating a realistic setting that mirrors the train yards, barns and countryside one might see locally, says club president Joe Vanorsdale, and he admits it can be an expensive hobby if enthusiasts want it to be. A club with a shared layout is obviously a great way to delve into the hobby and keep individual costs down. Teamwork plays an important role in the success of the Bunker Hill Club. Members can spend as much or as little as they want, contributing their time and talents in various ways.
A NEVER-ENDING STORY "It's amazing how much natural material there is in the layout," Vanorsdale says, pointing to the faux forests that dot the scaled landscape and the mossy fields. The club members build their own tunnels, walls, pastures, hills and cliffsides with screening and plaster, balsa wood and cardboard. Jackson and Joe Carroll spend their time improvising, designing and building the train station area on the east side. Jackson pulls a strand of brick storefronts from the behind the train station and shows how he cleverly used the backs of neighboring buildings to create another block of buildings that give the cityscape even more depth.
Vanorsdale's train yard is a work in progress. He has plastered half the floor. A riverbed in the "Harpers Ferry" section has been freshly filled with pools of polyurethane to create a watery look, Vanorsdale says, dipping a finger into the sticky goo. There is a coal mine to see, a quarry, a fishing hole, mooing cows grazing on a hilltop, a turntable, a feed mill, a cemetery and plenty of switches, bridges, tunnels and trees. "And lots of outhouses," Vanorsdale laughs. There is a small stark area that he calls "undecided."
Model railroading is not for the impatient, Jackson says, because the sets can take months, even years, to build, refurbish or perhaps totally redesign.
Carroll laughs adding, "You never get finished."
But that's OK, Vanorsdale says. Model railroading can be a hobby for a lifetime; something that can keep the "train nuts" busy and dreaming for years to come. Vanorsdale plans to build a small building in his backyard for his layout in order to free up the two-car garage he's completely overtaken from floor to ceiling.
"As long as I play with my trains," Cain quips, "my wife knows where I am."
REAL LOVE A few club members, like Jackson, haven't really lived without trains, but most have discovered the hobby as adults. Cain always saw trains as a hindrance to his life - waiting for lifesized trains as crossings held up his work in the construction business - until wife bought him a small replica four years ago. Six months later, he had opened his shop, which he runs in the evenings and on weekends after the workday is finished.
Buzz Benson has worn out several train sets since he started collecting. And Roger Christophel climbed on board when "I finally realized that I just liked big machinery ... and that kind of centered on trains." Carroll was given three trains three years ago by his wife and was soon hooked.
Bob "Wink" Winkler, another train lover, drives 55 minutes from Augusta each week to help his friends paint and plaster and to have a few laughs.
Stansbury, his enthusiasm for trains evident in the way he'll tug your arm and pull you toward his Amtrak engine, says a train is already running around his family's Christmas tree. The youngster equates trains with the holiday in much the same way his father's and grandfather's generation does.
"It took me two days to set up," he says with a wide grin. Most in the club know when to throw the switches and when to, er, put on the brakes, so to speak.
"You have to keep in mind how much your spouse is willing to give or take," Cain says. "My wife draws the line at the tree."
Christophel, like Jackson, has a suspended track that runs near the ceiling in one of the rooms in his home. He'd like to knock "just a small hole in the wall," he says, smiling mischievously and touching his fingers together to show the size, so his train could travel into the next room, but his wife quashed the idea.
When asked "why trains?" the dozen members at the meeting replied almost in unison, "Stress relief."
LOST IN A WORLD There is no clock upstairs above Cain's Train Shop. Hours can zip by before these railroaders discover the moon has risen. Many find the hobby helps them forget the cares of the day, eases blood pressure and reduces anxiety. Concentrating on the trains leaves little room for worry.
The world of model trains is fairly limitless. There are several sizes of "rolling stock" available. Z-scale trains are the smallest. A real-life locomotive is reduced in scale from 75 feet to just 4 inches. The track gauge, or how far apart the rails are, is a mere 6.5 millimeters. N-scales are 5 1/2 inches long. The most popular gauge is the HO scale, which uses 10 1/2-inch locomotives. In between the N scale and the traditional toy-train O scale, is the S scale at 14 inches long. The O-scale trains, like those made popular by Lionel, are 18 3/4 inches long. and the G-scale trains at 40 inches long are pretty well suited to gardens and yards, running on a track gauge of 45 millimeters.
Which size is right varies from person to person, Cain says. Often older enthusiasts don't want to part with their Lionel O-scales, despite the fact that tracks are larger and more space is needed to show them off. HO trains, those half the size of O, run through the Bunker Hill Club's layout, aptly named the Mill Creek and Bunker Hill Line.
Depending on the scale chosen, layouts can be as small as an open briefcase. They can fit on a bookshelf or atop several sheets of plywood in a game room, Vanorsdale says. The smallest trains fit in the palm of the hand, he says. The biggest can hold human riders.
How much space one has available will usually determine the locomotive scale, Cain says.
"Come for a couple of visits," Vanorsdale advises those who are just starting out. "Don't jump head over heels into something and spend a lot of money on something you don't want."
Cain asks new customers to the shop where their interests lie. Want a train for the tree? Going to run it year-round? Buy an engine first, he suggests. Pick up track segments piece by piece.
What do you want to model? Start small and decide what kind of scenery you can live with for a long time. Urban setting? Pastoral landscape? There are so many ways to go. How about sound effects? Or lights? How should the trains be powered. The club runs its four separate locomotives around the 4 1/2 scale miles of track at once because it uses Digitrax. That technology sends a coded, pulsating signal to the trains which each have decoders that read their own signals and respond separately. Up to 99 engines can run on the club's layout at once pulling dozens of cars along the way.
Cars that read "Buy war bonds" or tout "Operation Lifesaver - Look, listen and live."
Visitors to the open house will marvel at the miniatures that mimic real life. Look for the escaping convict in his black and white stripes, count all of the outhouses and find the camera crew. Warm Buns Fuel is there. So is Runymeade Coal and a billboard painter promoting "sasparilla in bottles." They might even discover a new hobby - one that transports them to a magical, fresh world.
"The people who come into the shop interested in trains are quiet and patient. Trains have a calming effect," Cain says.
- Journal staff writer Lisa Montgomery can be reached at 263-3381, ext.
