By Chris Cashman For Sun-Times Media
Five-year-old Ben Murphy points to a model train at the Lake County Model Railroad Club open house in Wauconda. In the background is his brother Jack, and grandmother Barb Murphy. | CHRIS CASHMAN/FOR SUN-TIMES MEDIA
Updated:
There's a "wow" factor about the Lake County Model Railroad Club in Wauconda.
"The moment they walk through the door, a lot of visitors say 'Wow!'" said Norm Kocol of Johnsburg, a member of the club since 1976. "They can't believe it."
The club, located since 1971 below Tony's Barbershop at 107 S. Main St., has a permanent HO-scale layout that occupies 1,800 square feet.
"I've had people say, 'You know, I've heard you guys were in this town but I've never been here before,'" Kocol said.
"I've had other people come in and say, 'Wow, this is the place where my dad took me when I was a kid.'"
"It's the best-kept secret in Wauconda," added club member Jim Schlader of Wauconda.
The railroad club held its spring open house last Saturday and Sunday. The club meets every Friday from 7-9 p.m., and holds a visitor-information night the second Friday of each month at 8 p.m.
Kocol has seen quite a few changes to the clubhouse layout during the past 40 years.
"As membership grows and changes, people get different ideas about what the layout should represent," Kocol said.
"Originally, the layout was designed to be quite a mountainous environment," Kocol said, noting that it was influenced by Pacific Northwest railroads, and railroads operating around the Rocky Mountains.
"Some guys in the early years of the club did some really good work," Kocol added.
The layout currently reflects a trip on the Wauconda Central Railroad from Wauconda to Madison, Wis.
He said the layout will never be completed, because it's always changing, thanks to the expertise of its members.
"There are members who can work with their hands very well as far as maintaining the track. There are other members who are good at building the models themselves, fine-detailing an off-the-shelf model and making it look like the real thing: When you take a picture of it, you'll study the photograph to see whether you're looking at the real thing or a model," he said.
"On the electronic side, this computer-control stuff just blows my mind over the days of old wiring," he said, noting that the layout was converted to digital in 2000. "Chips in locomotives that have sounds and lights and bells ... you can throw a switch from a hand-held throttle."
Kocol said model railroading is a hobby for the whole family - even tech-savvy children.
"It can develop into a family hobby," Kocol said. "We've had both sons and daughters of members who themselves have become members."
"It looks like it's real, but it's small," said Ben Murphy, 5, who was at the open house with his grandparents, Jim and Barb Murphy of Arlington Heights.
"Ever since I was born, I've grown up liking trains," said Keegan Seijo, 12, who is building his own 4-by-8-foot HO layout at his home in Glen Ellyn. He was taking pictures at the open house, getting ideas from the Wauconda layout. "It's very well-detailed," he said.
Eddie Temkin, 4, of Wauconda was at the open house with his parents, Carrie and Jordan, and sister, Cecelia, 1. He received his first HO-scale train set for Christmas.
"He's a train lover, just like his grandpa," Carrie said. "His grandpa collects trains so he's starting to experiment with the HO scale.
"We just have a small oval set," she said. "It's very exciting to look at all the trains here and kind of see how your set can grow."
"No model railroad is ever finished," said club member Jim Broughton of Wauconda. "If it is, it's defunct."
Original Post By: http://ift.tt/1jSs8zk
Source : http://ift.tt/1jSs8zk
No comments:
Post a Comment