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All Aboard: Expo Center is station for train enthusiasts of all ages
Expo Center is station for train enthusiasts
By Jordan Cohen
NILES
If you think this weekend’s Great Train Expo appeals only to model railroading enthusiasts of a certain age nostalgic for an America of their childhood, then you should have a talk with Gavin Esposito of Hubbard. Gavin is 11 years old.
“I fell in love with model railroads when I was little and watched ‘Thomas the Tank Engine,’” Gavin said while admiring displays at the Eastwood Expo Center on Saturday. “It was like it kindled [my interest], gasoline was poured on it and boom — I had a flair for trains.”
The Great Train Expo, a festival of miniature railroading making its first stop in Niles, hopes to appeal to young people such as Gavin whose interests would appear to focus on high-tech video games.
“There is more high-tech in this hobby that can keep kids interested,” said Bill Grove, manager of the show based in the Chicago area. “You can run [a model railroad] through apps on your iPhone while controlling a number of different trains,” Grove said.
One graphic example of how model railroading has changed with the times
is the huge Miami Valley Modular Railway sitting on 300 feet of track in the heart of the Expo Center. On a massive display measuring 50 feet by 72 feet, operators control numerous trains with smart phones, Wi-Fi computers and radios as engines and attached freight cars speed past scale model cityscapes, farmland with livestock, industries and railroad stops.
There is still the traditional low-tech appeal of rides in small old-time rail handcars for very young children — and their elders. “We’ve had people riding these handcars from 2 to 92,” said Larry Williams of Athens, Ohio, who has operated the handcar rides for more than 20 years. “I also keep records showing every amusement park and children’s playground where these rides were.”
One of those records is bound to stir up some local memories.
“One of these rides was installed at Idora Park in 1954,” said Williams as he displayed a photo of the ride at the legendary Youngstown landmark.
The appeal to young people seems to be getting results. “I didn’t think I’d want anything to do with trains, but now I want a train set,” said 8-year-old Logan McFadden of Streetsboro as he studied the various model railroads. Mark Kirch, 13, Cortland, did not need persuading. He said he has long been a model railroading enthusiast like his father.
Mark does not care that all of his friends think about video games and have no interest in his model trains. “As long as I like them, I’m fine,” said the Maplewood Middle School student.
Despite the outreach based on technology, there is still the nostalgia for a time when children wanted train sets for Christmas and the time before that in the 19th century when railroads were the height of travel. Surprisingly, it was Gavin Esposito who waxed nostalgic for a time more than 120 years before his birth.
“I think I’m stuck in the past,” said the philosophic 11-year old. “I should have been born around 1880.”
The Great Train Expo resumes at 10 a.m. today and concludes at 4 p.m.