KINGMAN – A large crowd of all ages attended the Fourth Annual Kingman Train Show at the College Park Community Center over the weekend. Some 40 model train and accessory vendors were on hand with product and train layouts of numerous sizes.
Jack Perio, the president of the sponsoring Kingman Railroad Museum, talks about the fact that local as well as ‘out of towners’ displayed their wares.
“We’ve got some from Boulder City. We’ve got some from Phoenix, just all over in the general area. It’s all model railroad, and we got all the scales, ’N’ gauge, and ‘HO’, most popular, a lot of Lionel ‘O’ gauge and some ‘G’ scale.”
In the model train world, the scale of the rolling stock and track size is measured as a gauge or scale. Most commonly seen at model train shows are “N”, at a scale of 1 to 160. “HO”, the most popular of the sizes, is 1:87 with “O” (1:48) and “G” (1:22.5) the popular “large sizes”.
The National Model Railroad Association lists up to 12 gauges from “Z” (1:220) to “X” at 1:5.5. The gauges towards the “X” size are considered “rideable” gauges.
As with many other pursues, technology has entered the model railroading world. Perio addressed that entry as well.
“I know a lot of the new stuff is DCC, which is all computer controlled. You can run many engines on one track and program which one you want to run.”
The hobby of model railroading is generally passed down from parents to their children, and there were many youngsters at the show. One of the youngest members of the Kingman Model Train Museum is Mason Spurlock. The 9th grader talks about how he got hooked.
“When I was four years old, I lived in Green River, Wyoming, and I got to see the Union Pacific 844 come through town. And ever since then, I’ve been addicted to trains. And when I moved to Kingman when I was about 8, I joined the Kingman Railroaders Club and I’ve been addicted to model trains ever since.”
HO gauge is probably the most popular size of model train. That’s what Mason decided to use as he echoes why many made the same choice. “Well, I looked at all the scales and the reason I went with HO scale is it’s big enough that I can see what I’m doing, but small enough that I can cram it in my room. I have a four by eight sheet of plywood layout on top of my bed.”
Kingman is right on the major train route between Chicago and Los Angeles, so little wonder that the area has a very active model train community. If you missed out on the train show up at the College Park Community Center, you’re not totally out of luck because the local train museum is at 402 E. Andy Devine Avenue with several layouts of different gauges and a supply of model train related products as well.
The Train Museum hours are 10 a.m. to 4 p.m., Friday through Sunday.
