Club keeps chugging along

Wed, Mar 28, 2007, By DIANE GASPER-O’BRIEN, Hays Daily News

STOCKTON — Growing up across the street from the foreman of the roundhouse in Beatrice, Neb., back in the 1920s and ’30s fostered a lifelong passion for trains in Lee Phelps. His hope to instill that kind of enthusiasm for collecting trains in youngsters in the area is what inspired him to begin the Stockton Train Club two years ago.

Age, Phelps has learned, is in the eyes of the beholder. “Children” young and old have joined the club, and now more than 20 members set up shop in a building on the north side of Main Street. One of those is Phelps, who at 83 still works part-time as a pharmacist. “It’s nice to see each person’s creativity,” he said of the variety of tables, “and what they come up with.”

Walk through the door of the building, which also houses End of the Line Hobby Shop, on any given afternoon, and you could find any number of “retired” men and women who now spend their time puttering around with model trains. Each member sets up his or her table with tracks and landscaping and buildings and people and street lights and automobiles. One table, set up by Marian Conyac, even has an entire carnival which the train travels around and through.

And more than one table has multiple trains — different sizes, too — that can run at the same time.

There is O gauge, the track that carries the popular Lionel trains, and N gauge, and HO gauge (half the size of a Lionel track) and G gauge, a larger track built for garden trains. “There’s a story as you go through each one,” Phelps said.

The shop is open from 1 to 6 p.m., seven days a week. And Phelps is there most of those days. “There’s always something to be changed or repaired,” he said. “I have a thousand feet of wiring under the Lionel table.”

The building, purchased by Conyac about a year ago, even features a hand-crafted large wooden train on display, along with anything that has anything to do with trains or railroads, ranging from antique cars to full train sets on shelves. There is a Lionel bank and a life-sized, 85-pound brass bell from a diesel train in Oklahoma. “If you’re going to have a train store, you need to have train things in it,” Conyac said, shrugging her shoulders.

While a lot of the members are experienced model-train collectors, there also are several youngsters who have set up tables as well. “I like running the trains mostly,” said Brandon Kollman, a sixth-grader and, at 13, one of the youngest members. “Working on the landscaping is hard.” Kollman’s table isn’t quite as elaborate as those of his elders, but sparking imaginations was part of Phelps’ idea when he started the club. “Kids also can learn so many things here,” he said. “We all help each other out. There’s honesty, dependability, cooperation that you rely on.” “This allows you to show your creativity,” Phelps added. “It’s fun. I like people, especially the kids.” “The kids,” Conyac agreed. “The way their faces light up.”

Not every member totally is enamored with trains. “I don’t really know much of anything about trains,” Conyac said. “I do the landscaping.” Conyac leaves setting up the trains and the electrical part of her table to Steve Hunter, her handyman at a couple of other businesses she owns in town. The train club has invited school classes to come in for field trips. “Every kid gets to run a train,” Phelps says proudly.

People come from near and far to check out the store, either to browse, purchase something at the hobby shop or simply to watch the trains in motion. Visitors from more than 20 states and several foreign countries have signed the guest book. “People stop and gas up and eat and come in to see what this is all about,” Phelps said. “I haven’t had a one who hasn’t been amazed at what they see. “Some people come in to run a train,” he added. “And some come in just to appreciate what’s here.”

Reporter Diane Gasper-O’Brien can be reached at (785) 628-1081, Ext. 126, or by e-mail at dobrien@dailynews.net.