Model trains a railroader's paradise - still
Aug. 17—Richard Fifield's Epsom basement is a bustling depot.
"Jug City Railway," the miniature railroad he began building in 1981, now boasts a Walmart loading dock, an oil refinery, a wood pulp plant and paper mill, and roughly 200 feet of miniature railroad track connected to a commuter train station.
Through an app on his phone, or by pushing buttons on a hand-held remote, Fifield conducts a symphony of railyard sounds, flashing signals, switching tracks and moving passenger and freight cars — some visible, others hidden beneath a sprawling miniature terminal.
"You might call it a man cave," said Fifield, 75. "You can come down here and relax and putter around. I can go into my computer and change different settings for how fast the trains go and the sound of their horns. It's a pretty technical hobby right now."
It's Fifield's world after work. Many would call it a work of art.
The increasingly realistic and computerized model train universe has traveled a long way from the hobby Fifield began as a youngster, when he was entranced with the model trains that chugged around his family's Christmas tree. This passion endures today, captivating enthusiasts young and old alike.
On Sunday, from 10 a.m. to 3:30 p.m. at Concord's Everett Arena, model railroad buffs from Vermont, Maine, Massachusetts and New Hampshire will gather for the largest model train show in the Granite State, an event sponsored by the Concord Model Railroad Club.
In his basement, Fifield cooks up new landscape features, modeled from foam insulation covered with gauze and plaster. He uses the tops of sedum plants dried and coated with glue to furnish fall foliage.
At Jug City Station, named for the street where Fifield lives, tiny antique race cars are parked at street level beside the elevated passenger platform. A pint-sized ambulance with blinking red lights waits for miniature EMT figurines to finish loading a wounded soul onto a stretcher.
It's not a replica of any real place, though Fifield named one section after the Argentine Yard in Kansas City, Missouri, one of the nation's busiest freight yards, where nearly 2,000 railcars are routed each day. The miniature buildings are named after his wife, son, father and father-in-law.
"It's just something I like to do," Fifield said. "It keeps me out of trouble."
Jon Miner, 54, of Epsom, president of the Concord Model Railroad Club, grew up steeped in his grandfather's love of trains.
"I've got a basement pretty much full of model railroad stuff. I think I just inherited the love of railroading," said Miner, a software engineer by trade. He spends weekends volunteering for the Conway Scenic Railroad and the Hobo Railroad. "I tell people that model railroads, for me, is a hobby that went terribly wrong," he said, joking.
This hobby allows people to dabble in the history of rail travel and small towns, work on wood and wiring, fabricate scenery and landmarks and find a family-friendly activity that makes attention to detail fun.
'Share the same interest'
"You don't have to be good at all those activities," Miner said. "Through a club, you can network and gain that expertise and hang out with people who share the same interest."
Two young adults from Wolfeboro turned their affection for model trains into careers at CSX, a national rail freight company, he said.
Today, Minatur Wunderland in Hamburg, Germany, the world's largest model railway according to Guinness World Records, is Germany's most popular tourist attraction. Hamburg's residents have been dubbed "Wunderlanders."
To construct Northlandz in Flemington, New Jersey, concert organist Bruce Zaccagnino built five separate basements to contain his model train hobby. It is now open to the public, with ticket proceeds going to charity.
Northlandz, "Home of the Great American Railway," includes 135 locomotives pulling thousands of railroad cars over eight miles of track and bridges longer than 40 feet, according to a description in Atlas Obscura.
Miner said America's romance with model trains likely peaked in the 1950s and '60s, when they were the most popular toy for boys and "your local depot was a gateway to the world."
"Politicians arrived by train. New cars were shipped by train. Loved ones went off to World War II by train and came back by train," Miner said.
Local depots were focal points of life and launch points for adventure. "Today we're so bound to highways to get where we need to go."
