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Spectacular layout on display for group's annual open house
Journal photo by David Rolfe
Mike Whalen is intent as he carefully positions a railroad car on a track in the Winston-Salem clubhouse of Southbound Model Railroaders.
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Published: December 5, 2008
To paraphrase Sigmund Freud, sometimes a train isn't just a train. Sometimes, it's magic, as is the case when visiting the Winston-Salem clubhouse of Southbound Model Railroaders, which houses the largest layout of HO-scale-model trains in the Triad.
It's a place where any adult, no matter his or her age, will instantly be transported back to childhood.
Southbound Model Railroaders is a nonprofit model-railroad club in its 35th year. The club will hold its annual holiday open house for the public Saturday and Sunday at the clubhouse on Country Club Road -- all donations go to the Ronald McDonald
House -- and it's a must-see for anyone even remotely interested in model railroading.
"I've loved trains, real and model, as long as I can remember,' said Bill Flichman, 72, the club's chief engineer. "To me, model-railroading is all about creation, and re-creation." He paused, eyes twinkling like those of a kid at Christmas, as a train zipped into a mountain tunnel. He then added, a big smile, part contentment, part excitement, on his face, "Plus, it's a whole lot of fun and great camaraderie."
Flichman was then asked if he, as chief engineer, or any of his fellow club members, ever wore striped conductor's hats when working on the trains. The question was met with a pause, a somewhat guilty floorward glance, a small smile, then, finally, an answer, of sorts.
"Well….some people have them," he said, hesitantly, before quickly -- too quickly -- adding, "I don't wear one … but some people do from time to time."
Hmm. Bet he would look good in that hat, too. Born to wear one.
The SMR members love model trains with heart and soul. It's a love that generally started in childhood, often inspired by a small train chugging around the toys under a Christmas tree. But model-railroading, for these folks, is more than a hobby. These trains, which are HO scale, are never referred to as toys.
"My wife bought me my first locomotive," said Larry May, 74, the club president, while watching a train pulling six boxcars clack by. "She gave me the train to keep me off the street and out of trouble."
He smiled, eyes twinkling. "That was 55 years ago, so I guess it worked. I love my wife. And I love trains. I ‘caught the bug' early. I am working on my ninth layout (over his lifetime), and I learn something new every time I do one."
May, like Flichman and Mike Whalen, 64, who was also at the clubhouse, all have layouts at home. Almost all club members have home layouts. These guys are serious. Listening to the three men talk about the trains, or operational problems, was like listening to a foreign language.
And it's all business when they get around the layout; Whalen was so intent on tracking down a problem that he all but forgot that there were visitors except, frankly, when they got in the way. He was nice -- but determined in a way that showed his deep affection for his hobby and for the alternate reality that he helped create.
"A railroad is not perfect," he said. "But there's no harm in trying to make it perfect."
To visit the clubhouse -- with its spectacularly detailed layout, 35 feet by 30 feet, complete with 600 feet of track -- is to step back in time, to a period from 1952 to 1955, in which the steam locomotive shared track with the new diesel locomotive.
The trains -- there are 63 engines and more than 400 cars -- replicate the Southern and Norfolk & Western railroad lines that ran through North Carolina, Virginia and West Virginia. Almost without exception, the buildings (many handmade), billboards, cars and various scenarios reflect the era and the geography of the route. There are simulated-rock mountains, rivers and hills lush with various greenery. There are multiple tunnels and stations at each stop.
Beyond the allure of the actual trains, there is the extraordinary detail put into placing the hundreds of carefully painted people in various lifelike situations at different stops along the route. It's great fun looking for the (somewhat) hidden "situations." A man leaps, suspended in air, from a trestle.
There are sunbathers, swimmers -- and skinny-dippers. Two hot blondes are visited by a couple of policemen. A woman of questionable repute can be found negotiating a business transaction.
There are abandoned cars, and cars half submerged in water. A hobo operates a moonshine still, while, a bit farther along, you will find a "sin" alley, complete with bail bondsman, a massage parlor and a bar. And everywhere you look, people are going about their everyday business, be it at a shop, mill or just having fun.
"There is no one way of doing this, and no two layouts will really ever be the same," said May, clearly having fun watching his visitors having fun. "We want this to represent the real thing, so there are things here that people who are from around here will recognize. We work hard to make that happen.
"The magic, that happens on its own."
■ Ed Bumgardner can be reached at 727-7365 or ebumgardnerl@wsjournal.com.
Open house
The Southbound Model Railroaders will hold an open house for the public from 10 a.m. to 4 p.m. Saturday and from 1 p.m. to 5 p.m. Sunday. The Open House will be held at the SMR clubhouse, which is located across the parking lot from the tennis courts at South Fork Recreation Park off Country Club Road. Admission is free, but donations are requested. All donations will go to the Ronald McDonald House Charities. Visit www.sbmrr.org or call 760-6924.
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