If there’s something about a train that’s magic, like the Amtrak slogan says, then there was definitely magic in the air last weekend at Harper College in Palatine.
A number of railroad hobby shops, clubs, railway museums and historical societies, private owners, technical groups, equipment manufacturers and distributors, along with thousands of model railroad enthusiasts of all ages, descended on Harper for High Wheeler ’93, sponsored by the National Model Railroad Association’s Fox Valley Division.
Harry Swanson of Elk Grove Village, a member of the Kane County Model Railroad Club, has been a railroad buff since he was a kid. He got involved with the club five years ago when he moved out of his parents’ home into his first apartment, and he had no room for his model railroad setup.
“Model railroading is a real fascination for me,” Swanson said. “If I could, I’d be a train engineer. People have a real love of trains-big trains, little trains, it doesn’t matter. That’s what attracts all these people to an event like this.”
The Kane County Club was one of several that had model railroads set up and running. Others included the Lake County Society of Modular Engineers, His & Her Hobbys in Mt. Prospect, the National Model Railroad Association’s Du Page Division and the Arlington Heights Society of Model Engineers.
The Arlington Heights club’s model railroad, for example, has been six years in the making and has more than 400 feet of mainline track. Trains travel through a series of intricate and highly detailed scenes from the Roaring ’20s to the present.
“Model railroading is an alternative existence from the day-to-day world,” said club member Gerry Souter of Arlington Heights. “It enables you to live in a historical period of your own creation. It steps up from when you’re a kid. Train sets are bigger toys for adults.”
Of course, youngsters enjoy model railroading, too. Cameron Croft, 15, of Crystal Lake has his own model railroad at home, and he was at the High Wheeler show looking for ideas from the experts,
“I’m looking for some tricks of the trade,” he said. “How do they get their trains to run so smooth? There are lots of trains that come through Crystal Lake on the railroad tracks along Northwest Highway, and that’s what got me hooked.”
