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Many enjoy model train show in Austintown
By ELISE McKEOWN SKOLNICK
AUSTINTOWN
Visitors watched as model trains chugged by miniature trees and buildings and over bridges and through tunnels that were just their size.
Parents pointed out portions that interested them, such as the Oscar Meyer Weinermobile, and kids eagerly waited for the trains to reappear after disappearing around a curve or through a tunnel.
Once a year, the public is invited to view the work of the members of the Youngstown Model Railroad Association at an open house offered over three weekends. The event, which started Saturday, serves as a fundraiser for the club.
Tom Williams of Mineral Ridge brought his children, Chelsea, 7, and Joey, 9, to check out the trains.
Chelsea and Joey said their favorite part was the scavenger hunt. They found a blue dinosaur and a police officer riding a horse, among other items, in the display. They won a bag of popcorn for finding the roughly 20 items on the list.
“It was really fun,” Joey said. He also enjoyed seeing the old cars in the displays, while Chelsea loved the miniature people.
The family has a Polar Express train.
“When we have Christmas, we have our tree and then we set [the train] up around it,” Joey said.
The train, Tom said, was originally his grandfather’s.
Nicholas Stocker, 7, of Austintown, wants to drive a train someday. He has loved trains since he was little — getting started with a Thomas the Tank Engine train and moving up to a Lionel Polar Express train.
“He always watches train shows,” said his dad, Art Stocker.
They have attended the open house for several years, Art said.
“I wanted to see the trains,” Nicholas said.
He doesn’t have a city or other display for his trains yet.
“Me and my dad are going to make a train table,” he said. “We’re going to spray-paint it green until we can buy fake grass.”
Members of the club spend the majority of the year building new displays and updating existing exhibits.
But they also spend several weeks getting ready for the open house. They clean the exhibits and run the trains, said Dean DeMain, club vice president.
The open house continues from noon to 6 p.m. today and from noon to 6 p.m. Nov. 12 and 13 and Dec. 3 and 4 at the club on the corner of Raccoon and Four Mile Run roads.