Running model railroads is a team sport for train enthusiasts.
The Northern Virginia Model Railroaders club viewing aisle, with the Spencer yard in the foreground.
The folks who created the sprawling model railroad in the old depot in Vienna during the 1970s were not your average hobbyists. Many were retired civil servants or contractors in the Washington, D.C., area who had helped develop America’s World War II war machine, as well as the country’s post-war industrial and military infrastructures. Accustomed to working on epic scale, these architects, engineers, electricians, and other helpfully relevant professionals built an epic model railroad in miniature scale; it is arguably unique among model railroads.
The westbound Asheville Special passenger train stopped at the modeled town of Statesville, N.C.
Displaying model trains at the holidays is a tradition all over Virginia. Although the Northern Virginia Model Railroaders were forced to cancel the annual exhibition and monthly open houses that have drawn tens of thousands to their model railroad over the years, there is a silver lining. “We’ll be back,” says club president Sandy Robeck. “In the meantime, we’re just focused on modernizing and upgrading. We’re going digital.”
The club’s 90-some members (working 10 at a time, per pandemic restrictions) are using the unexpected break to build a 21st-century core for their replica of the 1950s’ Western North Carolina Railroad. The layout’s unwieldy circuit panels and labyrinthine wiring are aging, so that infrastructure is being replaced with a network of some 30 tiny Raspberry Pi computers run by operators wielding tablet PCs loaded with user-friendly software. “It’s easier, sure, but it’s also more reliable, and we’re becoming capable of even more sophisticated operations,” Robeck says. “It’s just going to be a better experience all-around.” The original structure, he hastens to add, will look the same. “We try to improve and add where we feel it’s appropriate, but you need to be careful. You don’t want to mess with a masterpiece.”
How detailed is the school-bus-sized replica? More than 250,000 individual ties and spikes were applied by hand to depict 80 scale miles of track weaving through the mountainous terrain, historic towns, and rail yards between Asheville and Spencer, North Carolina. Several miles of electrical wire provide power and control to hundreds of locations along the line. The model contains hundreds of miniaturized replicas of actual historic structures along the WNC, all of which were handcrafted and painted by volunteers.
Detail of the Spencer yard with engine servicing terminal.
That these same volunteers, with the help of the Town of Vienna and the Northern Virginia Regional Park Authority, saved and wholly restored the 141-year-old train depot that houses the model, and which spent most of its life as a stop along the Washington & Old Dominion Railway, makes this project all the more impressive.
Ultimately, though, the train wouldn’t exist, and likely wouldn’t have survived into new generations of fans, if it failed to function as an entertaining, engrossing toy. The membership of Northern Virginia Railroaders has skewed older, Robeck admits, as the generations who grew up with model train sets are replaced with kids who lived on Halo. Still, he says, “We have a lot of young members and a good number of 30- and 40-year olds. Trust me, we need them. … They’re the ones who understand all the amazing tech.” (Several of the members even have 3D printers for fabricating exhibit details).
Under normal circumstances, 15 to 20 members get together once a month to spend two and half hours operating the trains that snake through the system. Members positioned at stations throughout the model follow precise scripts for running the myriad tasks associated with keeping a railroad (and the accompanying trolley system) running on time and without incident through the equivalent of an eight-hour work day. They deliver empty rail cars to the Ethan Allen furniture plant near Asheville, load them with cargo, and haul them back to the Spencer Yard, then separate the cars and link them to trains heading north, south, east, or west. Passenger trains have priority on the tracks. Local rail traffic must be timed to avoid occupying tracks already designated for other uses. “My first operation I was scared to death I’d run into another train,” says Randy Blocker, who joined the group two years ago. “But once you get the rhythm, it’s amazing—by making it as realistic as possible, you bring the modeling to life.”
A lot of work goes into making it possible for a group of people to replicate a work day, which sounds like the opposite of entertainment. But, give it a try. It’s a team sport in which everybody does his or her part to bring about success, both Robeck and Blocker say. It’s an immersive endeavor that takes your mind from the present day, for sure. And, for some, there’s just something magical about trains. Spending an evening running a railroad through scenic landscapes is heaven if you love trains.
“To be able to get together with friends and do something you love at this level—it’s just a joy,” Robeck says.
For more about holiday model train displays around Virginia please consult our online schedule.
This article originally appeared in the December 2020 issue.
