Love of trains rolls on for hobbyists at Richmond show

For Christmas 20 years ago, Gail Scott gave her husband, Jim, a toy train. That gift is now the foundation of a time-consuming yet pleasurable family hobby.

The Scotts have kept busy collecting train sets and memorabilia, filling in the basement of their Henrico County home with the toys and sharing the play time with their children and grandchildren.

At Sunday's Virginia Train Collectors Spring Train Meet in the Chesterfield County Fairgrounds, Gail and John Scott, along with their 3-year-old grandson Nixon, looked at toy trains, new and old, and purchased additions to their collection.

"Nixon loves trains," said Gail Scott, as the boy stayed entertained in the presence of hundreds of mini railroad toys. "It is a good pastime."

At the show, where collectors and operators bought, sold and traded model trains, Gail Scott got her husband yet another gift: a music box that was a train. He got an HO scale train set. After the show, the Scotts were heading for an afternoon of model railroading.

Bill Michie, president of the Virginia Train Collectors, which put together the event, said these shows offer aficionados and novices, train collectors and operators, young and old, the exposure to hundreds of toy trains, train history books, posters — everything train-related.

The club, which has about 370 members from across the state and as far as Pennsylvania and the Carolinas, offers several shows annually.

Jim Donlon, owner of Train Town Toy & Hobby in Ashland and in Charlottesville and who brought a collection from the store to sell, said he finds that the passion for trains in never-ending even in this economy.

People want the trains under the Christmas tree, to give them as Father's Day gifts or to give them to children, he said.

"They are magical," said Donlon.

They are so magical, said Hanover County resident Gary Ligon, that people tend to work hard to preserve these toys.

"It doesn't appear like any toy train is thrown away. They are everywhere," said the retired bank employee who now works as a Realtor and spends much of his free time operating, collecting and restoring model trains. "We come to realize that trains play an integral part of life. Our goal is to preserve the history of the train."

Russ Dolbear, a club member who started collecting in 1985, said he has loved trains since childhood. His father loved trains too, and kept the first two he received in 1915.

"I still have them," said Dolbear, who in 2000 purchased the red caboose displayed at the Richmond Visitors Center — which was then across from The Diamond — and now has it in the backyard of his Chesterfield home.

Aficionados such as Dolbear say the train models are more than a hobby to them. They say they have learned history and have shared it with their children and grandchildren.

"When a child starts learning about toy trains, they learn the mechanical aspects of it, they learn electricity and artistic skills. He will learn history," said Dolbear. "Let's be honest, a child today may have never seen a steam train. They can see them here."

llazo@timesdispatch.com

(804) 649-6058