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Amateur engineers get on track

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Photo by Bill Olmsted

Exhibitors were hard at work Thursday in the Delavan American Legion Hall as they set up for this weekend’s three-day model railroading show. The free event begins at noon today and runs through Sunday.

DELAVAN — Don't invite 10-year-old Kyle Deschner to play Nintendo Wii, Xbox or PlayStation video games.

Kyle, a fifth-grader at Our Redeemer Lutheran School, is a hands-on kid who'd rather play with model trains than those one-dimensional, on-screen devices.

For the next three days, Kyle will feel like he's riding on high-speed rail because Delavan's annual model train show will open to the public at noon today.

"I like trying to get kids involved in a hobby other than video games," Kyle said. "I hate video games. With trains, you can touch them and build backgrounds."

Kyle's parents, Brad and Sara Deschner, have organized and run the train show at Delavan Legion Post 95, 111 S. 2nd St., for the past three years. This will be the fourth model train event run by the couple.

The show will feature train displays of all scales from 13 exhibitors.

"For a lot of older folks, it brings back memories of when they played with model trains," Brad said.

Kyle got the bug for model trains when he was 5. He recently learned that his great-great-grandfather on his mother's side was a brakeman for the Boston and Main Railroad, once the dominant rail in the New England area.

Kyle got his first hobby train from Santa. He expanded his realm by snooping through at least 50 rummage sales and attending several swap meets. Some treasures were intercepted just prior to landing in a garbage can.

At a rummage sale, Sara found a nearly new Lionel locomotive engine, modeled after a Northern Pacific Railway switch engine. A switch engine can travel in either direction.

The owner was planning to throw it away, not knowing it was worth $200 to $300, Kyle said.

Kyle's favorite is a Lionel replica of a steam engine. His uncle acquired right after World War II.

Entry to the show is free. Expenses are paid up front by the couple. Donations are used to offset the miscellaneous costs, Brad said.

The event also raffles a train set and landscape. For the past two years, children have won the raffle, Brad said.

Food and beverages will be sold by members of the post. Drinks can be delivered by a model train that will run on top of the bar, he said.

All of the exhibits are different, Brad said. Visitors have come from as far away as Iowa and Minnesota.

"We try to get exhibitors who like to talk to kids," he said.

Kyle continues to bring kids into model railroading. His school friends Seth and Jackson like to visit his house and enjoy his trains, he said.

Brad said he and Sara a while ago bought Kyle a PlayStation 2.

"Kyle used it once or twice, and then it just sat there," Brad said.

"We sold it for a train engine."