9 minute read
Boys will be boys ... even if they’re men
A MAN, A TRAIN AND HAPPINESS
story by Brett McLaughlin
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Just when life seems to have gone completely off the rails — with turmoil swirling all around us, a pandemic running rampant and us left to find a mask should we even choose to leave our homes — along comes a group of grown men intent on reminding us that you’re never too old to be a kid again. • • • • •
I crawled on my hands and knees to get into this tiny circular space. Around me, a labyrinth of train tracks circle, going up a steady incline of about three degrees, or so says Howard Garner.
This is, more-or-less, the nerve center of the Central Railway Museum. It’s not pretty like the landscapes and fabricated cities through which trains pass beyond the walls of this space. However, it is essential. It is here that signals, conjured by “operators,” pass through an elaborate collection of blinking circuit boards to trains running on those tracks.
Garner is one of the principle architects for this head-scratching array of behind-the-scenes railroading. It’s the talent he brings to the Central Railway Model & Historical Association, an organization of some 60 people — mostly men and mostly older — who find joy in the toys of their childhood. While Garner enjoys the challenge of getting a train from one level of the museum’s operating display to another, other members bring artistic skills to create buildings, mountains and trees, while still others are adept at building the framework of the displays or doing the delicate wiring required to put working headlights in a miniature car. Still others, like Dan Marett, just like to “run the trains.” Now in his third term (12 years) as president of the Association, he can get away with that. And, besides, unlike many members, he doesn’t have a train in his Anderson home. “This is my layout,” he said, raising his hands as if to take in the entire museum building.
This depiction of a construction site is one of the latest sections Jim Alexander has worked on as he continuously develops a train model in the lower level of his home.
He also jokingly recalls how, years ago, he commented about “when the model would be completed,” only to be laughed at by other members. “I was told it will never be done, and they’re right,” he said. • • • • •
Jim Alexander is putting two trains in motion on the 8 x 21-foot layout that dominates the lower level of his Seneca home.
“Most of us had trains as kids. My dad got me my first one. I think he wanted to play with it. Then I gave my kids trains,” he said, recalling how, when his wife was away one day, he and his son set up a 4 x 8-foot train in the living room.
“That didn’t go over so well,” he said with a smile.
When his son moved away he discovered a bunch of trains in the attic that rekindled his interest. Five or six years ago he joined the Central Association.
“I’m not a collector and I’m not a purist that focuses on a certain year or a certain location,” he said. “I’ve got old stuff — one scene depicts New England in 1917 — and new stuff.
“It’s just more free-flowing,” he said, noting that he continues to work on all sections of his layout. “I might run it 30 minutes or an hour a week, sometimes just five minutes. Other times I’ll just come down and work on replacing the wheels on a car.” Asked what his wife thinks about his train interest, he smiled and said, “I’m not sure she understands it, but she knows where I’m at and who I’m with.” • • • • • The Central Railway ModSeneca train enthusiast and Central Railway Model el & Historical Association was formed in 1992. Its origins depend & Historical Association on whom you ask, but its mission is sinmember Jim Alexander (right) gle-minded: Through education and fun, is pictured at the annual to preserve and promote Carolina and Easley Train Show with long- American railroad heritage and the entime Association President joyment of railroad hobbies.Dan (Capt. Dan) Marett. The centerpiece of the museum is an
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Don Baldwin (right) explains the Seneca Yard to visitors. This picture also shows the two levels of the HO layout and the expansiveness of the model, which consumes about 75 percent of the museum’s space.
{clockwise from top left} Someone who has clearly had too much to drink finds himself being thrown through the window of Suds Bucket. • Members have recreated the Toccoa Ballfield. Nearby is the Skyline Drivein, which actually shows 1958 movies. • This trestle in the North Carolina portion of the HO train exhibit won competition honors for its Association member/builder. • This depicture of Little River is part of the upper level, North Carolina layout in the Central Railway Museum HO exhibit.
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{at top} Boy Scouts are depicted trekking through the Blue Ridge Mountains. • {above} Walhalla’s historic Avondale Mill is part of that town’s depiction in the Central Railway Museum’s HO exhibit.
HO scale model railroad that consumes most of the building at 108 Werner St. in Central. Two additional “heritage” layouts (Lionel and American Flyer) occupy smaller rooms, each featuring the classic toy trains many members grew up with in the 1940s and ’50s. There are also several other layouts in various scales, and a collection of real railroad artifacts from the local area.
The largest display — and the delight of the school groups and families that visit — is the double-decked HO layout. It contains three major yards, over 100 sidings and industries, approximately 300 freight and passenger cars and around 40 locomotives. The layout depicts railroading in the Upstate region in 1958, and it features HO models of a wide variety of Southern Railway locomotives, revenue cars, and complete passenger trains from that time.
John Johnson is a Texas transplant now living in Seneca. He handles most of the museum’s online content and public relations.
“The layout supports both a ‘display mode’ and an ‘operations mode,’” he said, noting that, in “display,” six to 10 trains run simultaneously around five independent loops, while in “ops mode” the museum’s unique scenario card system creates a 2- to 3-hour simulation of 1958 railroad operations.
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{at left} Seneca’s Jim Alexander, like many Central Railway members, has his own train layout. He operates multiple trains on an 8 x 21-foot platform on his home’s lower level. • {at right} Sage Viehe shows off the American Flyer layout at the Central Railway Museum.
The lower level of the exhibit depicts scenes and towns — Seneca, Central, Liberty, Easley, Pendleton and Atlanta, among others — in South Carolina and Georgia. The upper level has North Carolina scenes from fabricated mountain landscapes with elaborate train trestles, to Asheville and the Biltmore Estate.
Everything has been built or crafted by members — from the Skyline Drive-in theater that shows actual 1958 movies to a miniature version of the Toccoa ballfield. People line the streets of cities, are at work in mills and drive in their cars and delivery vehicles. One young man, who has clearly had too much to drink, is depicted being thrown through the window of a local saloon.
“This is good for your sanity. It can be very calming. The problems are complex to challenge sometimes but, if you screw up, no one gets killed,” Johnson laughed.
The Heritage Rooms of the museum address the simplicity of early toy trains. They are not themed, but focus on the running of toy trains and accessories as might be remembered from one’s youth. Lionel, American Flyer and Marx in O, S and standard gauges predominate.
“The goal of both layouts is to exhibit the
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joy of playing with toy trains. No attempt is made to model a themed railroad. It is designed to allow the public to once again experience that first train and to let the newest generations share that surprise,” Johnson said, noting that for him and other members, the greatest joy comes in seeing the faces of excited children or watching them play with a small Brio model train.
“Most of us are like kids,” Alexander noted. “We just like to play with trains.” n
Normal operating hours at the museum are Saturdays from 9 a.m. to 2 p.m. However, as of press time, the museum remained closed due to the COVID-19 pandemic. Visitors are encouraged to visit, www.facebook.com/ pg/centralrailwaymuseum/ for updates. The Association is a non-profit and admission is free. Monetary donations are accepted, and people are encouraged to consider donating trains to facilitate expansion of the collection.
Each year members of the Central Railway Model & Historical Association man an exhibit at the Easley Train Show, which is attended by hundreds of Upstate train enthusiasts.
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