Train swap meet brings collectors to Lima

Mackenzi Klemann, The Lima News, Ohio
·2 min read

Dec. 11—LIMA — Hundreds of model train collectors and enthusiasts visited the Allen County Fairgrounds Saturday for the National Model Railroad Association's train show and swap meet fundraiser.

There, collectors could find everything from high-end brass model train sets to train-themed children's books—and remote-controlled train sets for the kids to play with while their parents shopped.

"This is a hobby for anybody who wants to be creative," said Chuck White, a member of the Van Wert County Historical Society, which hosts its own railroad heritage weekend each July.

White curates a list of weekly train shows happening in the Midwest for collectors and vendors alike, many of whom have collected the train sets for years or purchased the keepsakes from estate sales to resell on the trade show circuit.

The hobby is so consuming — White built his own spiraling helix-shaped ramp for his model trains at home, documented by the photos he shared with fellow enthusiasts at Saturday's swap meet — because there is so much variety: Steam or diesel railcar? Narrow-gauge or European model? O or G scale?

"I tell people I was dropped on my head when I was very little," White said. "How did I ever get into this? I was dropped on my head when I was a kid."

The NMRA's local district, which extends from Defiance to Warsaw, Ind., took over the train show and swap meet several years ago at the request of the Putnam Association of Rail Fans, whose members had hosted the trade show for decades but were no longer able to coordinate the event on their own.

For the last two years, the NMRA has also set up model train exhibits during the Allen County Fair, allowing kids to direct the remote-controlled trains for a chance to win their own set, said Jim Marquardt, show coordinator for Saturday's swap meet.

The exhibit drew more than 1,000 kids each year, Marquardt said.

The group has visited the Van Wert County Fair too, leading the NMRA to start its own 4-H club there for kids to build model train sets, Marquardt said.