The date is Oct. 10, 1989. A Chicago & North Western streamliner slips slowly out of the old Madison Street Station. Elsewhere down the line, a heavy freight train rumbles past a group of hobos gathered around a glowing campfire.
It’s a sight Ted Voss has witnessed thousands of times over the past decade, but one that never fails to delight him. Voss’ model replica, the Valley View Model Railroad in Union, is a blend of imagination, craftsmanship and painstaking attention to detail.
“I chose October 1989 because it was still the North Western then, and I like the fall colors in the landscaping,” Voss said.
Virtually all of the 100 model locomotives are painted in the canary-yellow-and-leaf-green color schemes that characterized the railroad before it was bought by Union Pacific.
“I’ve been a model railroader for about 60 years,” said Voss, 66, of Union, who traces his interest in modeling back to his fascination with an older brother’s Lionel train set. Growing up in Edison Park near the Chicago & North Western tracks, he developed a lifelong allegiance to the railroad.
Voss laid the eight scale miles of track on his mini North Western nearly 20 years ago. Since then, he has been constantly adding to it. There are 22 complete trains and hundreds of cars.
The details are meticulous: A wedding party leaving a church; tiny pigeons roosting on the roof of a rust-stained industrial building; a grandfather flying a kite with his grandson; and smoke billowing from a building.
“Nobody else in the country has one,” Voss said proudly of his hand-made replica of the former railroad’s Madison Street terminal.
It’s his attention to detail that has attracted the admiration–and even envy–of other model railroaders.
“He has a knack that most of us would love to attain,” said Marianne Benac, who, with her husband, John, has built a layout in their Berwyn home. On a scale of 1 to 10, she rates the Valley View Railroad “as a solid 11.”
Although Voss crafted many of the buildings himself, he said most were assembled from kits.
“I have about 300 buildings,” he said. “If I built them all from scratch, I’d probably be on No. 50.”
He also has about 300 people, which he hand-painted, dotting the landscapes and cityscapes of his miniature world.
But painting human figures standing about a half-inch tall is child’s play compared with stringing the wire to keep all the circuits humming in this tiny neighborhood.
“That was the hardest thing to do because it’s all underneath,” Voss said. “I guess I have about 10,000 feet of wire under there.”
Voss’ model will be open Wednesdays and weekends throughout the summer.
“We get a lot of overflow–people who have been to the museum to see the big stuff,” said Voss, referring to the nearby Illinois Railway Museum. “Now they come here to see the little stuff actually running down the track.”
A retired Prudential Insurance salesman, Voss estimates that he and his railroad play host to about 2,000 visitors a year.
“I used to make my living talking. The last thing I wanted to do when I came home from work was talk,” Voss said. “But when it comes to my railroad, it’s sometimes hard for me to stop.”
Voss will display the model on his property at 17108 Highbridge Rd., at Olson Road, in Union. Besides Wednesday and weekend hours, Voss will schedule group shows by appointment. Call Voss at 815-923-4135 for details.
