BENTONVILLE — Kids of all ages shared some dreams Saturday as they immersed themselves in the small-scale world of model railroading.
There were cities and towns, some with busy streets and some with quiet neighborhoods, running alongside and spreading across the tracks. Rural landscapes flashed by as sleek passenger cars and long freight trains rumbled past on their way to the next stop on the line at the Clarion Hotel and Convention Center in Bentonville.
Phil Story of Bella Vista has been involved in model railroading since his high school days. As a member of the Sugar Creek Model Railroad and Historical Society, Story manned a spot inside one N-scale layout, demonstrating the craft that goes into model railroading.
“It’s a hobby, just like any other hobby,” Story said of the model railroading enthusiasts. “It’s what you like to do. It occupies your spare time.”
Story said he and many other model railroaders do share their interest with the real world of railroading. He said he occasionally rides the Arkansas & Missouri Railroad down to Fort Smith. Story’s smile brightened as he talked of getting the chance to make the ride from Fayetteville to Fort Smith in the cab of the engine.
Interest in the annual model railroad show has grown from year to year, and the show now fills two large exhibition rooms at the hotel with no empty spaces, Story said.
“We’ll get maybe 1,500 to 2,000 people at the show,” he said. “About a tenth of those are vendors. We sold out all of the tables in October, so there are a lot of people interested in being here. We have folks from Pine Bluff, Bald Knob, Oklahoma City.”
Debbie Holder made the trip from her Hindsville home so her 9-year-old son, Jeffery, could see the trains, the layouts and all the trimmings.
“His grandpa worked for the Santa Fe Railroad,” Holder said. “He passed away recently and I thought Jeffery might be interested in something like this”
Holder said her son has been interested in trains and model railroading — off and on — since he was much younger.
“We did ‘Thomas and Friends’ and he has a lot of those but since then we haven’t really done a whole lot.”
Holder said she was gauging her son’s interest with an eye on possible birthday or Christmas presents.
Jeffery said he liked the layouts, and then narrowly avoided a collision when he got too close to the tracks as one train went past his head. He said he preferred the smaller train sets over the larger ones,
“Sometimes they can go a little faster,” he said.
When asked if he’d like to build a layout of his own, Jeffery shook his head from side to side.
“I think I’d like to run the trains,” he said.
One young boy visiting the show may have summed up the day’s experiences for most of the crowd. Slipping momentarily out of the grasp of his adult chaperones, the boy scooted between tables with his head spinning from one train set to the next. Finally, as he heard his parents call, the boy stopped and announced — to the entire room — “This is so cool!”
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AT A GLANCE
Model Train Show
The Sugar Creek Model Railroad and Historical Society hosted its 8th Annual Great Northwest Arkansas Model Train Show in Bentonville on Saturday at the Clarion Hotel and Convention Center. The show featured 150 tables of trains and modeling items in all scales as well as historical memorabilia for sale by vendors and dealers from three states. The family event featured eight operating model train layouts in five scales. The Boston Mountain Historical Society provided a layout where children could earn their honorary “engineer’s certificate.”
Source: Staff Report