Entrainced

by

Luke Olson, age 7, is mesmerized. He’s eye level with a train layout at the Mad City Model Railroad Show at the Alliant Energy Center. The tyke is a tough interview.

“I like trains. A lot,” says Luke without looking away. He ignores my pleas for more information. His mother, Emily, has little to add about her son’s fascination with the little locomotives.

“He got a model train set from his grandpa and now he’s obsessed,” says Emily. “This isn’t exactly my scene. I don’t get it.”

I don’t get it, either. However, Emily and I seem to be the only ones not all aboard. Famous model railroaders include Tom Hanks, Michael Jordan, Bruce Springsteen, Patrick Stewart, Neil Young, Elton John, Whoopi Goldberg, Winston Churchill, Johnny Cash and Roseanne Barr. And there is a steady stream of hobbyists here at Madison’s annual model train show.

Vendors are hawking different types of model trains, electrical mechanisms to run the little machines, tracks, scenery, and plenty of other accoutrements. Who knew how many different types of black lava ballast there are on the market?

The Feb. 20 event is a decidedly family affair, but children and seniors seem to be the key demographic. Some are dressed in overalls and conductor hats (both young and old). In the air is nostalgia for a simpler time that likely never was. The event drips with old school Americana. Dozens are gathered around elaborate miniature scenes, called layouts, watching with anticipation as they await a teeny train about to chug around a bend.

“We’d like to take a moment to thank Madison HO Track for being here today,” says an unseen announcer over a loudspeaker. “The club has attended the Mad City Model Railroad Show for 50 years and this will be their last show.”

Perhaps the folks from Madison HO Track can help me understand the appeal of this hobby. Longtime club member Donn Tolley is happy to talk trains near his group’s layout.

“I’ve always loved trains. I was born and raised on a farm near Arkdale, Wisconsin. In the summertime, our windows were always open and we were about two miles from the tracks,” says Tolley. “I remember the old whistles blowing in the warm night air. That’s always kept me going.”

Tolley got interested in model trains in the early 1960s and has been a member of Madison HO Track since the group started in the 1970s. HO stands for “half-O,” which is the most popular model railroad gauge and uses a 1:87 scale (the model is 87 times smaller than the scene in real life). So if a locomotive is 50 feet in length, an HO model of the train engine would be roughly seven inches. Tolley says the hobby seems to be as popular as ever.

“Look at the crowd here today,” says Tolley, surveying the room with a couple thousand people in attendance. “I was talking to some vendors and they say sales are up. That means somebody’s buying,” says Tolley.

Tolley has an HO setup in his basement that he’s been working on for decades. His layout is adorned with expertly crafted trees made by his wife, Rose. She first learned to create the amazingly realistic miniatures for her husband’s railway, but soon started to get requests from friends. She eventually began selling them at model railroad shows at her own booth called “Trees by Rose.”

“I’ve sold thousands of trees over 30 years now. I don’t really get my money’s worth for all the time I put into it. But I enjoy it,” says Rose. “I get people calling me with requests. If I had an internet website, I wouldn’t be able to keep up with it.”

The Tolleys also have a larger G scale railway — sometimes called a garden railroad — in their backyard.

“Donn has pretty much been into model railroading since we got married. I love it, too. But friendship — that’s the biggie,” says Rose. “We’ve made so many wonderful friends, so it’s become more than just a hobby.”

Steven Culbertson is a founding member of the Madison HO Track club. He used to own a hobby store on Monona Drive where the group would meet. Neither he nor Tolley can remember the name of the store, which causes the elderly gentlemen to burst into laughter.

“It’s a great hobby because there is no limit to the amount of detail you can put into it,” says Culbertson. “You get involved in carpentry, electrical work, and scenery, which is an art form.”

After 50 years of attending the Mad City Model Railroad Show, Culbertson confirms this will be his club’s final convention.

“Most of us are in our 80s now and it’s a lot of work. But we aren’t giving up the hobby. Just giving up displaying our layout at four or five shows a year,” says Culbertson. “Not sure you want to put this in the article or not. But when you’re at a show like this, the girl watching is always fun.” 

Gauge your interest!

  • G Scale (ranges from 1:24 to 1:32 scale), sometimes called garden railways because they are frequently used outdoors. This scale is 24 times smaller than real life.
  • O Scale (1:48 scale), pioneered by Lionel after World War I.
  • S Scale (1:64 scale), popularized by American Flyer Trains in the 1930s.
  • HO Scale (1:87 scale), the most commonly used model railroad scale, which took off after World War II.
  • N Scale (1:160), the second most popular model train gauge that was introduced in America as “Postage Stamp Trains.”
  • Z Scale (1:220 scale), first produced in the 1970s and assigned the last letter of the alphabet because it was assumed smaller trains could not be made. Z scale train engines are about an inch long.