Model train expo pairs well with Father’s Day in Colorado Springs
Model trains rumbled on their tracks through mountain tunnels and past towns filled with tiny figurines painstakingly arranged and designed to depict Colorado’s logging and mining railroads at Train Expo Colorado’s show on Sunday.
For Rick Stewers, a Colorado Springs resident and model train aficionado since childhood, the train show was the perfect Father’s Day event to share with his 11-year-old son, Mason.
“I grew up watching my dad work on model railroads in our basement, and it became something he and I did together on Sunday nights, after dinner, to spend time together,” Stewers said. “Now it’s a hobby my son and I share, and it makes me feel like I’ve kept that connection with his grandfather.”
The Freedom Financial Services Expo Center on North Nevada Avenue was the home for the model railroading expo. More than 90 vendors set up treasure troves of model train cars, wiring and electronic parts for models.
They also had instructional encyclopedias with blue prints detailing every part of a train’s machinery.
Of course, they displayed all the decorative trees, greenery, buildings and tiny plastic people that fans could get their hands on.
Train Expo Colorado, was established in 2007 to organize local events and swap meets and consolidate model railroading resources, said chairman and founder Roy Thompson.
“Our goal is to promote model railroading, especially amongst the youth, because it teaches kids about imagination, creativity, and requires them to learn and think,” Thompson said, adding that thr group has hosted 20 events like Sunday’s expo in the last five years.
The group is managed and operated by volunteers from six local railroading clubs and all proceeds from ticket sales and vendor fees from shows and swap meets are split between the clubs to help them improve their models and maintain their activities, Thompson said.
Celebrating 25 years as an active model railroading club, the Pikes Peak ‘N’gineers showcased an 18-by-18-foot model, that members have worked on since 1991. The town scene in the model was called “Colemanville,” after actor and avid model railroad aficionado Gary Coleman, who died in May 2010, and donated his 800-square-foot collection to the Colorado Springs club.
‘N’gineers member John Grier, said his love of model railroading goes back to his childhood, starting with the toy train set under the Christmas tree every year. He picked the hobby back up after serving 26 years in the Air Force and said he enjoys the challenge of recreating scenery in the models.
“In the club, we go on field trips and photograph places we want to recreate, then put together the materials necessary,” Grier said. “That and the friendships everyone develops in the process, that’s the best part.”
Jack Burkel, 6, admired the large model, excited about the details in the town module, the moving trains and a tall bridge that towered above a canyon carved by a sparkling river.
“I like the models because they have lots of bridges, and the trains are fast and slow,” Burkel said, pointing at the train as it traveled into a tunnel on the model’s mountainside. “I like trains because they’re so cool.”
For more information, visit http://tecoshow.org/.
Three-year-old Colbie House of Colorado Springs checks out a display at the Train Expo Colorado (TECO) model train show Sunday, June 14th at the Freedom Financial Services Expo Center. Photo by Mark Reis, The Gazette
Bob Kyle of Colorado Springs checks out an HO scale display at the Train Expo Colorado (TECO) model train show Sunday, June 14th at the Freedom Financial Services Expo Center. Kyle said it took him four years to grow the handlebar moustache he was sporting Sunday. “When I first grew this in 1975 wax was 85 cents a tube,” he said. “Now it’s $3.85 a tube.” Photo by Mark Reis, The Gazette
Clay Wright of Colorado Springs eyes an HO scale display at the Train Expo Colorado (TECO) model train show Sunday, June 14th at the Freedom Financial Services Expo Center. Photo by Mark Reis, The Gazette
Gerry Drewes eyes an HO scale display at the Train Expo Colorado (TECO) model train show Sunday, June 14th at the Freedom Financial Services Expo Center. Photo by Mark Reis, The Gazette
Bob Kyle of Colorado Springs checks out an HO scale display at the Train Expo Colorado (TECO) model train show Sunday, June 14th at the Freedom Financial Services Expo Center. Kyle said it took him four years to grow the handlebar moustache he was sporting Sunday. “When I first grew this in 1975 wax was 85 cents a tube,” he said. “Now it’s $3.85 a tube.” Photo by Mark Reis, The Gazette