By Michele D. Baker
Images courtesy of Gary Baker and Project Roar Publishing
Book: “Lights, Camera, Lionel Trains: A Photo History of an American Icon,” by Roger Carp, Project Roar Publishing
Collecting and running model trains is a cherished tradition in many American households. For many in the 1940s and 50s, it was a quintessential activity that shaped the relationships between children and parents, particularly fathers and sons. A new book, “Lights, Camera, Lionel Trains: A Photo History of an American Icon,” by Roger Carp rides the wave of nostalgia as Lionel trains celebrates 125 years of railroad toys.
“People can’t help but smile when remembering how, just by pressing a button, they brought to life…a tiny worker who tirelessly pushed shiny cans out of a model refrigerated milk car… or [that] the animation could dump lumber or unload piles of coal,” begins the introduction. “No one can forget the thrills of watching a hefty metal toy locomotive pull brilliantly colored rail cars thanks to the miraculous electrical current dashing through thin wires.”
Over 100 pictorial essays in this lush coffee table book explore the life and career of Joshua Lionel Cowen, creator of the now-famous toys; model trains’ impact on Hollywood, politics, athletics, and postwar family life; and how Lionel electric trains became an American pop cultural and social icon of the 20th century.
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Trains Bring Families Together
Lionel trains continue to bring families together. Retired Midwest steel executive Gary Baker is passing on the tradition of model railroading to his grandson Cullen in the spacious basement of his Pekin, Illinois home. “Madison was the first completed section of the C&W RR in 2005,” says Baker. “It started with a DVD from Model Railroader Magazine which showed how to build your own HO scale railroad step-by-step. Cullen wanted to build it, so with a little help from [me] the 4’ x 8’ town scene ended up being a prominent destination on the larger C&W Railroad. Before we set the town scene in place, Cullen and I painted the background landscape on the wall.”
“The idea for the [model] railroad was to reproduce my hometown of Lindenwood in scale size,” says Baker. “The centerpiece is a model of Strang Brothers Garage, built in 1911 and run by two half brothers, Charles and Frank Strang. It was the first garage west of Chicago on the IC Trail that did repair work on automobiles as they became popular in the 1920s.”
Building Trains and Models to Scale
Baker’s HO-scale C&W (Culpepper and Western) Railroad was named after Cullen’s childhood nickname and habit of drowning his supper with ground pepper. The C&W main line is 225 feet long, the equivalent of about 3.7 miles, and spreads out over 600 square feet of basement. The scale model was built from scratch based on pictures in “Lynnville & Lindenwood: 175 years: History of an Illinois Prairie Town” about Lynnville and Lindenwood, Illinois. Every building is to scale, right down to the number of concrete blocks, which were individually hand made for the real building.
Across the street from the garage is Bearrows Grocery Store, also to scale and built from scratch based on pictures in the same book. “The interior of the upstairs apartment is even completely furnished the way I remember it,” recalls Baker. “Jean and Myrtle Bearrows, who owned the store, lived there and since [my] mom worked at the store, I was in the apartment many times.”
Lindenwood’s claim to fame at the turn of the century was a major sheep shearing operation with wool being shipped as far as England via the Chicago Great Western Railroad that ran through Lindenwood between Olewein, Iowa and Chicago. There were as many as 30,000 sheep at times and the feeding pens were located along the railroad tracks. The water tower in the background is right where it originally was and the windmill kept the water tower and livestock water troughs full.
The multiple-room model railroad passes through holes cut into the sheetrock and painted to look like tunnels. In addition to Lindenwood and Madison, there is a bridge, a steel mill (“Lotsa Iron, Inc.”), Talbott Sawmill, and several passenger trains.
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“I model in HO scale which is 1:87,” says Baker. “HO is the most popular size since it is half the size of the O gauge Lionels (hence “HO”) and you can get more trains in the same space. Due to its popularity, HO also has the largest selection of engines, rolling stock, and to-scale scenic materials.”
High Tech Trains Run By an App
Baker’s 16 engines are all equipped with Digital Command Control complete with actual recorded engine sounds, whistles, and bells. All are remotely controlled – and sounds remotely played – via Wi-Fi handheld throttles; with an app, it can also be run by smartphone. It takes five people to operate the layout in a typical fashion, running freight and passenger trains over an enthusiastic two-hour session.
Baker is well on his way to becoming one of the 785 National Model Railroading Association’s Master Model Railroaders worldwide. (The National Model Railroading Association (www.NMRA.org) is celebrating 90 years at its upcoming national conference on July 14-19 in Novi, Michigan.) Seven categories must be completed; he is currently working on the Chief Dispatcher Award for his fifth certificate, and as the current Superintendent of the Illinois Valley Division, will have Certificate #6 – Association Official, after two more years at the helm.
“I guess railroading is in my blood,” finishes Baker. “When Grandpa [Frank] Strang was living in Byron, Illinois, another stop west of Lindenwood on the CGW Railroad, he and Grandma met, and they started dating. Before he moved to Lindenwood, Grandpa regularly hitched a ride back and forth on the milk train between Byron and Lindenwood… just to court Grandma.”
Ready to Get Into Model Trains?
There are nearly two dozen model train stores and clubs in central Florida, including:
- Orlando Society of Model Railroaders (Orlando)
- Suncoast Model Railroad Club (Largo)
- Ocala Model Railroaders (Ocala)
- Citrus Model RR Club (Inverness)
- Scale Rails of Southwest Florida (North Fort Myers)
- Gulf Coast Model Railroad (Sarasota)
- West Pasco Model Railroad Association (New Port Richey)
- Model Train Market (Ocala; online only)
- Realrail (Bradenton)
