THUNDER BAY – For many adults, like Brian Thom, getting a train set as a child was the highlight of their youth.
The model train enthusiast has been hooked on model trains ever since he received his first train set more than 60 years ago.
Thom joined many other enthusiasts this weekend as they showed off their model railway layouts at the Thunder on Rails Model Railway Show, a charity event supporting the Metro Lions Club, which was held both Saturday and Sunday at the West Community Centre.
“It’s my hobby, and it has been my hobby for most of my life,” Thom said.
“It has all different kinds of aspects, the scenery, the wiring, you tend to pay more attention to things and how they are build and how to build them.”
Thunder on Rails gave the community an opportunity to check out hand-built model railway layouts.
The two-day event featured a variety of intricate layouts on different scales of model railroad.
Thom said a lot of work and time goes into creating model railway sets.
“It will take several weekends just to do the track work, the wiring, and building the box,” he said.
“After that the process is a little slower, because you are getting into the scenery, the buildings, and all that is over a long period of time.”
He added that people are always adding and altering aspects of the layout, so the set is always changing.
Thom said the most important part of Thunder on Rails is helping the charity, and promoting the hobby in hopes of getting more youth interested.
