Model railroaders show off creations

For some model railroads buffs, it’s all about figuring out complicated electronic systems. For others, the draw is building detailed scenery or learning the history behind certain engines and the regions in which they traveled.

But when everyone gets together, their combined specialties result in an intricate display of model trains that chug through villages and valleys, over mountain tops and through tunnels, magically whistling and blinking as they go.

The Lawrence Model Railroad Club sponsored its second annual train show Saturday at the Douglas County 4-H Fairgrounds. And although limited publicity and other weekend activities caused a dip in attendance about 200 people attended the event compared to 350 last year president Steve Meseraull said club memberships were up and interest in the hobby was strong as ever.

The club started four years ago with only five or six members, Meseraull said, but today it has 35 from the Lawrence area, and several people at the show expressed interest in joining.

The railroad hobby is becoming bigger than anyone would have guessed, agreed Marjorie Swindler, Lawrence.

Swindler, the club’s only female member, became interested in modeling when her husband joined the club. Originally interested in doll-house furniture, she quickly adapted to the even smaller-scale railroad structures.

Saturday she displayed a church and swimming pool even fast-food restaurants all complete with tiny, hand-painted people.

“I have to confess, this adds up,” she said, gesturing to the modules for which just the wood and wiring cost $140.

As for the time she spends on the models, she wouldn’t venture a guess.

“If I told you, you’d question my sanity,” she said. “Once I was matching plaids on a one-inch long couch. I finally came to my senses and thought, ‘I have to get a life.'”

The show actually began as a way to raise awareness of train safety, Meseraull said, and Saturday a representative from Operation Lifesaver demonstrated how dangerous the machines could be with a presentation and video.

Someone is in an accident with a train once every two hours and about 450 people are killed by trains each year, said Randy Wells of the Burlington Northern and Santa Fe Railway Co.

Most of those accidents occur because people break the law by slipping past guard rails or ignoring No Trespassing signs. Neither is smart when considering a train weights 12 million pounds and travels at 88 feet per second, Wells said.

“By the time an engineer sees you, he’s going to run over you,” he said.