SPANISH FORK — Model railroaders find the hobby educational and relaxing, but mostly it's just plain fun.
"You like trains because your parents teach you to like trains," said Adam Eastman, president of the Ophir, Tintic and Western model railroading club.
When families are driving through the countryside, they often point out trains to their youngsters. "Cows go moo and trains go choo choo," he said. "That's what parents teach."
Club member Mike Hansen agreed. The first understandable words out of his son's mouth were "choo, choo," he said. Hansen made certain of it.
The pair are part of a contingent of model railroaders who will link together their model train setups, complete with functioning trains, at its 3rd Annual Spanish Fork Model Railroad Show Saturday and Sunday in the Spanish Fork Armory, 2851 N. Main. The show will run from 9 a.m. to 6 p.m. Saturday and from 9 a.m. to 3 p.m. Sunday. Admission is $3, children under 12 get in free.
While the 55 members in the OT&W club could stretch the display to 330 feet, this one will measure only 160 feet, Eastman said. Members range in age from 7 to their 80s.
Model railroading attracts a wide array of enthusiasts with varying interests and backgrounds, Eastman said. Hobbyists learn skills from carpentry to electronics to sculpting. Some trains even run by computers, which their owners learn to program.
Designing miniature scenery as part of a model railroad display is its own art form, Hansen said. Enthusiasts often research the history and types of equipment trains used before faithfully reproducing them. He has completed a replica of the Heber Creeper, a vintage train that carries tourists through Provo Canyon between Provo and Heber City.
Hansen bought an engine that resembled the Creeper then modified it for accuracy, including the locomotive's number, 618.
"Some people build their locomotives from scratch," he said.
Both Hansen and Eastman work on the Heber Creeper in the summer, taking various roles from engineer to conductor. It's all part of the railroad mystic.
Modelers use a variety of materials when building in miniature. Hansen shaped the hills and valleys in his section from dental plaster and cardboard. Trees come from floral arrangements or sagebrush and grass from ground-up foam. Dirt is dirt, finely sifted. Some modelers get so involved in their projects they go to the actual site they are recreating to get the dirt and rocks, Hansen said.
A founding member of the club that began in 1990, Eastman said families often share the hobby. Children, especially, enjoy it, he said.
"It's a good bridge for the generation gap."
Club members will take about eight hours to set up two HO scale layouts for this weekend's event. It requires about two hours to take it all down again.
"We'll have a lot of diverse scenery from the city to the mountains," Eastman said.
One section will be based on Echo Canyon, while another will mirror Price Canyon. Still another will include a dramatic steel bridge.
While club members learn many skills from one another, Eastman said, "Most of all, it builds friendships."