Model train enthusiasts from around the Pikes Peak region are laying tracks to this year’s Train Expo Colorado (TECO). Along with finding the newest treasure for their miniature worlds, the expo serves as a way to bring local model railroading clubs together and celebrate the more than 100-year-old hobby.
KRCC's Kendra Carr spoke with chairperson Elizabeth Maline about the event and why it may be the last.
This interview has been edited for length and clarity.
Kendra Carr, KRCC: The expo includes a game with model trains. How does the game work?
Elizabeth Maline, Chairperson of Train Expo Colorado (TECO): They're called switch puzzles. You'll have four tracks all lined up with various switches to get from one point to another. The end game is to move your car forward and across all four tracks and hook up to another train. So that's why they're called switch puzzles. We have them in various scales, but there's also various methodologies. Some of them are “true operating”, where you pick up a car, you take it to another location, and then you end up in another location or you go from point A to point B.
Carr: There's also going to be a seek and find for kids - I assume train themed?
Maline: Yes, very train themed. And it's teaching kids skills, like, count how many clothes are on the clothesline or what's going on in this particular scene. Is there a UFO carrying off a cow? Modeler's humor is very, very intense and we give the kids an opportunity to really look.
Carr: I saw a video of a model train with a snowplow attachment and it was in someone's backyard plowing the snow. Is that a real thing that people can do with model trains?
Maline: Yes, they can. Yeah. And it depends on the scale and the strength of the locomotive that you have, but absolutely.
Carr: Can you explain a little bit about the different sizes?
Maline: The smallest size is Z, which is teeny-tiny, and you need to have practically magnifying glasses to work on them, and it moves on to N and then HO, and then there's O. But there are scales from a briefcase size layout, all the way to a room size layout or a garden layout.
Carr: How has the hobby of model trains changed as public transportation has changed?
Maline: Not very much actually, because public transportation is incorporated in a lot of the scenes. The way model railroading has changed is just with the growth of technology. It used to be you had a basic locomotive and it connected to its tender, the power portion of the train, and then all the cars behind it, either passenger or freight. And now these locomotives have sound and electronics and you can increase the speed and you can decrease the speed. You can make noise, you can have the choo-choo going or turn on the steam. So that's how model railroading has changed, through the incorporation of microelectronics and digital.
Carr: Is there anything you wish more people knew about model trains?
Maline: Model railroading teaches so many things in life. You can learn carpentry, you can do electronics. It relies on your arts and crafts – if you want to have more than just a train set with tracks on the table. There's also a lot of women involved in railroading. For example, myself, I don't necessarily do my husband's era, but I like toys. I'm into Thomas the Tank Engine. I have my little Thomas and Percy and Annabelle and the troublesome trucks. So, I have my form of railroading as opposed to my husband, who is more geared into the Virginia and Truckee and the Gold Rush era. Every model railroader has their own approach to modeling.
Carr: It also sounds like there is a wonderful opportunity for a school project.
Maline: It can be historical or a modeler creating his own world. Models can focus on an era, but it also teaches how America was populated, how the train went across the United States and met at the Promontory Pointe. So there's lots of aspects of the history of the United States.
Carr: I understand you are looking to retire.
Maline: Yes, I am. I'm looking forward to…doing some less intensive activities, spending time with my family, the grandkids, that kind of stuff. Unfortunately, a lot of our members are older as well, and they've either been there and done that or it's not within their scope of things to do either.
Carr: And you guys have been looking for a replacement?
Maline: Yes, we have. And actually nobody has stepped up, so this might actually be the last TECO model train show.
The expo is happening at the Norris Penrose Event Center in Colorado Springs, Saturday, Feb 28, 9 a.m.-5 p.m., and Sunday, March 1, 10 a.m.-3 p.m.
