Good Samaritan residents drive in “golden spike,” celebrate model railroad
The final spike was hammered home to complete Loveland’s newest stretch of freight rail on Wednesday.
But the railroad, 1¾ inches wide, won’t be connecting the city to any hubs of industry any time soon.
Instead, the Good Samaritan Model Railroad, inspired by the Denver and Rio Grande Western Railroad, is contained entirely within a 20-foot-by-30-foot miniature railyard on the campus of the Good Samaritan Society senior living community in south Loveland.
Its 10-wheeled minifreight locomotive will run around the circa-1900 model Western town (christened “Loveland Village”) and nature scene two days a week during the warm months, said Jim Mount, president and co-founder of the Railroad Club at Good Samaritan.
Mount, a model train enthusiast for decades, moved to the community about a year ago with his wife.
He decided to start the Railroad Club after meeting another resident interested in the hobby.
Their group has since swelled to more than a dozen members, earning the support and financial backing of the community’s administrators to build a raised platform for a model railyard near a walking path on the campus.
On Wednesday, Mount and other members of the Railroad Club presided over a “golden spike” ceremony to unveil the project and send the locomotive on an inaugural trip around the track.
“There’s still lots more to do,” Mount said. “It’s coming together, and we appreciate the support that all of you have given. … We’re small in numbers but mighty in will.”
“It’s wonderful to get to this place today with this garden railroad,” Lisa Melby, the community’s executive director, said.
“I see this as an opportunity for all of you to bring your family members (and) your grandchildren here to just enjoy the fruits of everyone’s interests.”
Melby was named an honorary member of the club on Wednesday and also hammered in the golden
spike that symbolically marked the completion of the track.
The club’s vice president, Phil “Trip” Tripician, explained that the golden spike was a nod to the one used to join the two halves of the United States’ first transcontinental railroad in 1869.
Mount anticipated the club will have several more years of work to bring the railyard into line with its grand vision, including landscaping and making more model buildings. But he said that won’t be a problem.
“There’s a saying in the model railroad hobby,” Mount said. “You’re never done, because you’re always finding something to improve or modify.”
“We’re going to be doing this for as long as we’re able.”