Model railroad club to open its doors and tracks to public
Apr. 8—PRESTON — Only a few freight trains run through town along the Providence and Worcester Railroad tracks these days, but long freight trains, shiny passenger trains, depots, roundhouses, tunnels, bridges and towns and industries that have relied on rail abound inside the Tally Ho Mall on Route 2.
Members of the Mohegan-Pequot Model Railroad Club have been busy building modules and adding flashy features to the growing model train displays at the group's clubhouse at the small shopping center at 73 Route 2 in Preston.
The club will host an open house from 1 to 4 p.m. on April 22 and are inviting people from throughout the region to "come see and run trains." The club features two model train sizes — O-gauge and the smaller H-O-gauge — on its large displays. The club invites people to bring trains to try out on test tracks.
Club members will offer assistance so children can run the trains and will answer questions about the hobby and the club. Light refreshments and give-away items will be available.
It's the club's first open house since 2019, pre-pandemic, when some 200 people visited the clubhouse.
Club Vice President Rich Neff, 69, of Mystic spent much of last week renovating the front corner of the main O-gauge display that runs Lionel trains. Not satisfied with the former small tunnel and drab features, Club President Tom Snyder, 66, of Canterbury created a large corner tunnel with a fully equipped campground on top with a lake, tents, a camp store, campers and even a cell tower.
"You go to the woods anywhere, and there's a cell tower," he said.
A short way down the track is Snyder's real pride and joy, a miniature version of the farm where he grew up in Mystic, with a crop field, tiny hay bales, tractors and trucks, barns and a farmhouse.
Club members purchased construction dump trucks at a recent show and used left-over foam blocks to create a working quarry at the next stop down the track from the farm. The push of a button makes the trucks go back and forth and dump beds go up and down.
A barren square piece of plywood sits in the middle of the display for another future module feature.
"It's a neverending hobby," Neff said, "which is good, because it keeps us out of trouble."
Across from the large O-gauge display is the smaller H-O-gauge line, where multiple tracks encircle a growing town and trains pass by rural hillsides and make their way to a roundhouse service station at the far end. There, a track on a turntable can rotate and direct individual engines into one of several service bays.
Club member Stu Dom, 78, of Ledyard is the H-O specialist and is the club's H-O coordinator. He built the roundhouse and intricate control panel, with each service bay labeled and controlled by separate switches.
Lest people think the model railroad hobby is old-fashioned, club members will show off digitally controlled features throughout the intricate displays and tiny plastic houses, work sheds and coal bins created at their homes with 3-D printers. Even the arched, stoneblock-looking tunnel entrance beneath the campground was created on a 3-D printer, Neff said.
The large displays are made of multiple module setups that can detach to bring to model railroad clubs throughout the Northeast. About 60 modules are portable, and the club usually has displays 74 inches by 42 inches at shows.
The Mohegan-Pequot Club attends about five shows a year. In 2022, members went to Amherst, Mass., White Rock Junction, Vt., Coventry, R.I., and the Big E grounds in Springfield, Mass.
Snyder said the club has about 40 members, including a few women, and is looking for new, especially younger, members. The group now has members from throughout eastern Connecticut, Rhode Island and as far away as New Jersey.
For information, go to the club website at www.mprr.org or call Snyder at (860) 234-1138.
