“Videogames have taken over kids’ lives,” Bochicchio said. “Kids don’t build anything anymore. I want them to be able to use their hands, to be able to make models. Basically I want them to have a finished product when they’re done, something they can be proud of.”

For Bochicchio, it’s his eight-year-old autistic son who rekindled his interest in the hobby. He saw it as a way to connect with his child and also remember the time he spent with his own father decades ago.

While building his own collection, Bochicchio became acquainted with the online hobby community. It wasn’t long before he created an electronic storefront and his house turned into a model train warehouse. After the post-Christmas demand didn’t die down

Dan Morgan from www.modeltrainsforbeginners.com has been trying for years to encourage kids into the hobby of model trains. Video games just don’t give you those hands-on skills so important in life.

It’s been widely reported that the planning, construction, problem solving and creativity skills developed with building a model train layout are unrivaled in any other hobby.

People that complain that it is an expensive hobby just haven’t realized the full potential of the hobby. If you are new to model trains, check out www.ModelTrainsForBeginners.com

Public Invited To See Model Train Displays

November 17, 2011 –

Ten local model railroads will be open on Saturday, November 19, in an area ranging from Santa Barbara down to Simi Valley. This event is free to the public.

These model railroads are on a self-guided tour organized by the hobby group, Model Railroads of Southern California, and will be the group’s 28th tour since 2006.

Visitors will see carefully crafted miniature worlds in which trains operate in truly realistic fashion. Scenes scaled down from real life include a Northern California forest, the railroad areas of such towns as Santa Barbara, Lompoc and San Pedro plus the wide-ranging coal mining areas in the Appalachians. An extensive garden railroad also will be on display.

For general tour information, contact Bob Chaparro at chiefbobbb@verizon.net or (951) 925-2069 (9 a.m. to 7 p.m. only, please).

MORE than 4,000 visitors made tracks to Spalding Model Railway Club’s 2011 successful two-day show.

Model railway enthusiasts from all over the country went along to show off their layouts or to admire the work of others at the event, organised by Holbeach man Edward Dickerson on behalf of the club… full article at spaldingtoday.co.uk

The Spalding Model Railway Club meets every Wednesday and Friday evening at Pinchbeck Village Hall. New members are always welcome.

The Sandhill Central Model Railroad Club will host its 29th annual pre-holiday train show from noon to 4 p.m. Saturday, Nov. 19, and Sunday, Nov. 20.

The show will be held in the Historic Aberdeen Train Depot and Museum in Aberdeen, for the second year. The depot is located at the corner of Main and Sycamore streets in downtown Aberdeen.

Admission is $3 for everyone, except that children under 4 feet, 8 inches tall are admitted free. Why that particular measurement? Because that is the distance between the two tracks on a modern railroad!

In addition, visitors will be offered raffle tickets for an electric Thomas the Tank train set, and other Thomas items.

Several new elements are being added to this year’s show, which should increase the interest of everyone interested in railroading. These new features will include tours of the Depot Museum, a model “N” scale layout, a small layout for the children to run, and a “sales store” where various train items (some new, some used) will be available for sale.

Visitors to the show will see a large HO-scale train layout featuring the town of Aberdeen and surrounding areas. The Aberdeen layout was started in 2007. Many buildings and scenes representing the Aberdeen area have been built by members to represent current town and area businesses and buildings. Additional buildings are currently being planned.

For information regarding the Sandhill Central Model Railroad Club meeting times or any other information call Jim McNiff on (910) 692-7439.

The train display to be featured at the annual Ohio Valley Lines Model Railroad Club open house next week in Ambridge is a work in progress.

The open house will be held every Saturday and Sunday from Nov. 26 to Jan. 15 — except Christmas Eve, Christmas Day, New Year’s Eve and New Year’s Day — at the club’s library and museum on Merchant Street.

Club President Frank Kocher said members have spent about 10 years building the 50-foot by 50-foot display, which depicts small and large industry from Pittsburgh to Wheeling, W.Va., in the 1950 and 1960s.

The club has about 20 members.

He expects the display — which represents the era when trains switched from steam to diesel power — to be completed next year and become a permanent fixture at the club. Some parts have been revamped for the open house.

“We have a section to add devoted to (downtown) Pittsburgh,” Kocher said. “This year, we re-did a 20-foot area, changing the track and all the signals with new technology.”

Digitally controlled, the HO-gauge layout has more than 400 feet of double-track right of way and hundreds of trains and pieces of scenery — including a 2-foot-by-35-foot steel mill made from blueprints of an actual mill.

Augusta — Whether revisiting a nostalgic memory or a taking a first time peek at model trains chugging along the tracks, family members of all ages will delight at the sights and sounds of the Model Train Celebration at Maine State Museum in Augusta, Friday, Dec. 2, from 9 a.m. to 4 p.m. and Saturday, Dec. 3, from 10 a.m. to 3 p.m., with free admission for all.

The Great Falls Model Railroad Club and Maine 3-Railers share their collections and knowledge about model trains during this two-day event. Members of each club will set up and operate a variety of displays complete with accessories and seasonal scenery. The event features G, HO, O, and N-gauge model trains.

For more information, call 287-2301 or visit mainestatemuseum.org.

RAILWAY modelling is a growing hobby.

Hornby, the famous British model-making company, recently recorded a large increase in sales and profits, partly due to increased sales in Europe.

Ray Hensher, of Sheffield 0 Gauge group, is clear about the growing attraction of building scale models of railway landscapes.

“People like doing something relaxing. So many people are stressed out at work, and model railways are good for people, because when you’re doing this you can’t be worrying about your job. For me it was an absorbing way to calm down after a busy day at the bank.”

Ray has now retired from his job as a manager at an international banking company and he reflected that the hobby does tend to attract the retired, although the group does have some younger – and teenage – members.

This is great news and let’s hope it continues into 2012. But then I have always said that railway modelling is very inexpensive when you consider the huge amount of benefits and the enjoyment…

Miniatur Wunderland in Hamburg, Germany is a “one of a kind” model railroad that you will need a full day (and maybe even 2) to fully explore.

It is believed to be the largest of it’s kind in the world and consists of over 11,000m of track in HO scale covering about 1,500 square metres and growing.

It is modeled based on Southern Germany, the Austrian Alps, Hamburg, America, Scandinavia and Switzerland.

Model railway clubs are a great place to learn and mingle with people of the same interest. This video shows some great views of the Wordsworth Model Railway Club. It is the coming & goings at South Fangore.

Members of the Heritage N-Trak Group of Channahon spent most of their day Tuesday setting up their train modules so the public can enjoy their passion.

For more than a decade, the N-Trak group has set up a display in the basement of the Morris Area Public Library the week before Thanksgiving. It all started when a member happened to walk into the library.

“Larry Rude stopped in and we made an acquaintance. It was just out of the blue. He walked in and said we have theses trains and want to do a train show for you,” said Carol Hutchings, children’s librarian. “And the rest is history.”

Keeping kids interested in model trains is a tough ask while competing with video games and other electronic devices that the kids seem to prefer in this new age.

This is a big problem (I believe) as these kids are not being equipped with the hands on skills acquired from model railroading.

Model railroading equips kids with planning, building and creative skills that just can’t be equaled with a video game.

I realize video games are complex and require kids to think about what they are doing in the game, but nothing can beat actually getting their hands dirty, and watching something they have created actually work.

What do you think? Agree or disagree?

The Sebring Model Railroad Club knows a thing or two about model trains. For starters, the group has built a 3,000-foot layout in the Sebring Station, which it owns. The club is celebrating National Model Railroad Month by holding its annual open house, which started Saturday and will continue this weekend at its clubhouse, a former Pennsylvania Railroad Station. People come from across Ohio and Pennsylvania to view their exhibit, said Dennis Sautters, club president. Sautters of Canton said model trains “fascinate people. At one time, the railroad played a very important role in our country

The Sebring Model Railroad Club has been around for 63 years and started in a garage. It is now located in a train station which is a very fitting home.

Model Railroad Clubs are the absolute best place to learn about model railroading. You surround yourself with like-minded people and by bouncing ideas off each other end up with a much better layout.

The Sebring Model Railroad Club is located at Sebring Station, 216 E. Pennsylvania Ave., Sebring or call 330-966-3186.

A 105-year-old locomotive retired in Hillcrest Park since 1954 will soon be on the move.

It’s headed for the Clovis Depot Model Train Museum at 221 W. First St.

Joe Bennett, a local house mover whose father originally moved the train in 1954 when the Santa Fe railroad gave it to the city, has agreed to move the locomotive.

According to Clovis MainStreet Executive Director Robyne Beaubien, the cost of the move has been estimated between $10,000 and $20,000. Beaubien said the money to move the train was provided through a $20,000 grant won by the New Mexico MainStreet Centennial Project.

This looks like a major job…

WEST CHESTER TWP. — The world’s only train-themed family attraction is gearing up for the holidays with its most popular event of the year.

EnterTRAINment Junction’s fourth annual Christmas Holiday Celebration kicks off Saturday, as the attraction turns its train displays into a winter wonderland for both young and old.

The event features three free holiday train displays at the attraction’s Expo Center, a “Journey to the North Pole” attraction where visitors travel through a winter-themed landscape which ends in Santa’s village, and decorates the building’s Main Street area with holiday lights.

The event is the biggest time of the year for the West Chester Twp. attraction, which houses the world’s largest indoor model train display and the American Railroading Museum, said Bill Mefford, spokesman for EnterTRAINment Junction. The holiday exhibit is expected to draw thousands, Mefford said.

“The response is huge,” Mefford said. “It’s by far the most popular time of the year for EnterTRAINment Junction.”