Lots of train-lovers showed up at the Lionel® Collectors Club of America (LCCA) Train Show in Sacramento from Wednesday through Saturday at the Radisson Hotel. The Trading Hall was full of trains and accessories for sale, including hard-to-find items. The“Gee Whiz”, a new, large Lionel company train layout was set up in the hotel and in continuous operation Wednesday evening through Saturday afternoon of convention week.
Many enjoy the excitement, elegance, and power of real trains as well as the equally fascinating but smaller-in-scale O-gauge electric train models made by Lionel LLC and other manufacturers. Modern technology built into today’s toy trains enables a highly interactive model railroading experience on home layouts. Today’s trains spew synthetic smoke from their stacks, emit realistic onboard digital sound effects derived from recordings of actual trains, and mimic the crew talk between a train engineer and a dispatcher. Call-outs of station stops by a conductor are included on passenger trains equipped with this audio feature.
Most LCCA members had electric trains when they were young in the late 1940s and the ‘50s when trains were the Christmas toy of choice. Others discovered the hobby later in life. Members approach the hobby through different pathways. Some specialize in collecting and operating trains known as “fallen flags,” railroads that once served a region but were closed, went bankrupt, or merged with a dominant railroad. LCCA President Dick Johnson of Cincinnati, Ohio, is an exemplar of that approach. He collects and operates trains of the now-defunct B&O (Baltimore and Ohio) railroad.
Others seek to re-acquire trains they once owned as a boy but were subsequently discarded. At train
shows, auctions, and online sites, they seek trains like the ones they owned decades ago. Club
member Barry Findley of North Little Rock, Arkansas, spent five wonderful years seeking the items
in the train set he once had as a youngster. “The thrill is in the chase,” he said.
The hobby isn’t necessarily a “guy thing” any more. Wives of members are often engaged in aspects of the hobby that appeal to them; for example, scene decoration, making and painting structures from kits or from scratch, or shopping for trains and supplies.
Krysti Dewey (now 17), of Wichita, Kansas, will attend the upcoming event with her mom and extended family. She has become a regular participant in LCCA conventions over the years, and is considered a young “club mascot.” Krysti’s favorite railroad is the C&O [Chesapeake and Ohio], and she has her own trains of that railroad. She is a skilled train operator and often helps out at LCCA conventions by sharing her affinity for the hobby with visiting youngsters.
The Lionel Collectors Club of America (LCCA) was founded in the Midwest in 1970 by a group of hobbyists to promote awareness and enjoyment of toy trains. Today, the LCCA is a not-for-profit, international hobby-based organization with more than 8,000 members who are toy train collectors and operators. Members favor Lionel trains, and the club collaborates with Lionel LLC to produce limited-edition collectible cars, train sets, and special products exclusively for members.
For more information, go to: http://www.lionelcollectors.org/
Phoos | Kati Garner
