A holiday tradition: Buhl train show on track
Dec. 6—SHARON — Buhl Model Train Society's is on track for its annual show this weekend, said Jonathan Wichter, the society's president.
"We're ready to move our displays," Wichter said.
Held at the Buhl Club in Sharon, the free model train show runs from 1 to 5 p.m. Saturday and Sunday.
Wichter's basement is crowded with four train displays he constructed, plus his son's set. It took hours of daily devotion for him to draw plans then build the sets.
"It took me almost three months to build just one display," he said.
Model train displays are about painstaking details that brings sets to life. Downtown Sharon was his inspiration for one of his displays that depicts a town with a bank, retail stores, and, of course, trains that runs through the center of the business district.
"It has some of that small-town feeling," Wichter said.
Like most model railroaders, he's a scrounger for ma terials to create scenes. One display has multiple factories where he added white cotton to make it appear as if smoke was belching out of smokestacks.
This pastime has gone high tech.
Hobbyists can enter the length of track they want to use into software that instantly generates layout designs. Other software can create small model home designs and other buildings for the display.
Scenic backdrops can be printed out for displays ranging from historic early 20th century American towns to locations such as the deep woods.
Each hobbyist decides how they want their display to look, Wichter said.
"And they decide hows much detail they want," he said.
