`TOY TRAINS' DRAW KIDS OF ALL AGES TO THE MAH
The trains run until Dec. 24
For nearly two decades, the Golden State Toy Train Operators have laid out the tiny tracks for the holiday season at the Santa Cruz Museum of Art & History. The model trains, weaving through a miniature winter wonderland, serve as a timeless draw for kids of all ages even today when most kids don't see trains outside of storybooks.
“The Golden State Toy Train Operators are a club of toy train collectors and operators with members all over the South Bay and Santa Cruz and as far north as San Francisco,” said member Tom Wolf of Mountain View at the museum Saturday. “We operate for the purpose of sharing the joy of toy trains.”
Wolf has been stoked on trains since before he can remember and has fond memories of growing up with the little locomotives set up around the house at Christmas time. He pointed out that kids continue to be excited about trains and model trains especially to this day.
“When I was a kid, trains were a part of normal transportation,” said Wolf. “Everybody experienced trains
but a lot of kids these days have actually never even ridden on a train and yet they are still fascinated by them. I think it's the motion and the noise, and with this setup, the kids can run the trains, and they seem to be thrilled by that.”
The annual toy train event in Santa Cruz was spurred all those years ago by train enthusiast Eric Child, who died in June and was locally famous for the Fern Creek and Western Garden Railroad, a model railroad layout first built by Child and his young friend Trevor Park and others around Child's home about 10 years ago.
“Eric was a major instigator of this along with Craig Miller who passed
away a couple of years ago,” said Wolf. “They were both members of our club and as things progressed, they recruited more of us from over the hill, but we do still have Santa Cruz members as well.”
Although Carlos IshmaelJeronimo-Mora and Valentino Darby of Monterey are in their teen years, they still enjoy checking out the toy trains and had even more insight about the scaleddown locomotives' timeless appeal.
“The reason why a lot of kids enjoy trains is because they like seeing things move and also, for me, when I was younger, I liked seeing the train engines themselves and how everything works,” said Ishmael-Jeronimo-Mora. “They also like to race them because most kids enjoy some level of competition and I'm sure the fact that they can control them adds to the overall excitement they have for trains.”
“I'm a little older so I'm not as excited as the younger kids,” said Darby. “But the technology is cool and the history of trains too is a cool part of it.”
Santa Cruz residents Gde Putra and his wife Gillian were checking out the toy trains with their 4-year-old daughter Mulia who had just discovered the button for the train's whistle.
“This is her first time seeing toy trains,” said Putra. She has only seen them in books so this is exciting for her.”
“The Christmas trains are really nice,” said Mulia. “They're cool.”
Eight-year-old J.J. Wade and his younger brother Jacob, 6, of Scotts Valley, were
at the controls of a black, faux-coal-filled toy train and another that took on the form
of Thomas the Tank Engine, respectively. The young train operators explained the appeal of toy trains to young people like themselves.
“They're cool because you
can race them,” said J.J. “I also like how it's about engineering and that people engineered them.”
“I like that you can make them go in different directions,” added Jacob.
“This is one of their favorite activities during the holidays,” said Jeff Wade, father of the two boys. “We'll probably come back before Christmas, too. They absolutely love it.”