IN SEPTEMBER OF 2007
I founded the Silver Rail Club to provide O gauge model train activities to seniors, veterans, families, and the general public. Our motto – “Have trains, will travel” – became well known by activity directors at senior care facilities around Richmond, Va., and very soon throughout the entire state.
My father or my wife joined me in traveling from one facility to the next. We could set up everything in 60 to 90 minutes, depending on whether some of the seniors helped us. Before long, we were taking our four tables to local shows.
I added a fifth table and then Dad added four more so our operating layout could grow in size for the big events in Fredericksburg, Harrisonburg, Fishersville, Ashland, and the annual show at the Science Museum in Richmond.
We regularly changed the track plan to come up with something new that everyone would enjoy. One year we included a water scene complete with steel bridges and long spans. Crossovers were always a favorite, especially when we made one side of the figure-8 configuration was a little shorter than the other, so the freight train would just miss its caboose when coming back out of the loop.
Most recently, the real estate on the original four tables underwent a kind of “urban renewal,” with the town constructed by my son and his fellow scouts undergoing a big change. They added various stores and moved older structures to new streets made using Carrera slot-car track on which 1:43 scale cars were run.
As the Silver Rail Club prepares to celebrate its 15th anniversary, we’ve added chapters in Florida, New York, Pennsylvania, and West Virginia. Each one has a Facebook page, and the YouTube channel I created now has more than 225 model train videos that have more than 2 million views!
We’ve been very pleased to be able to share our great hobby with thousands of people and look forward to doing so well into the future. – Peter Martens, Cumberland, Va.