It was one of the biggest weekends of the year for fans of a hobby you might not know anything about.
“It’s basically the Super Bowl of model railroading,” said Phil Edwards, president of the CNY Chapter of the National Railway Historical Society.
The first weekend of November marked the 50th anniversary of the Great New York State Model Train Fair. It’s the culmination of the hobby each year, and it takes a lot more time and effort than you might think.
“You work on it in bits and pieces here and there,” said model railroad engineer Stuart Brorson. “It took several months.”
Brorson’s grass-inspired model table was just one of about 300 at the fair. Edwards said nearly all 110,000 square feet of the Empire Expo Center were full with trains.
Multiple tables made their model railways fully out of Legos. And in addition to model railroads, vendors sold train-centric memorabilia, such as custom stoplights and how-to-model-railroad guide books.
“This building is wall-to-wall, model railroading,” Edwards said.
For Edwards, joining the National Railway Historical Society was a no-brainer. And as Brorson says is typically the case for the modelers, Edwards got involved through his parents.
“Model railroading has been a family hobby as long as I can remember,” Edwards said. “I became active with the chapter about 30 years ago.”
And if her kids have any say, fairgoer Bridget Dixon and her family will be on the hobbyist track.
In their first trip to the fair, the Dixons came without a clear plan for the day in mind, but were impressed by the mass of the fair. The children particularly enjoyed the mini-train.
But even though the Dixon kids seemed to love the model trains, some modelers voiced concern about the interest of youth going forward.
“If everyone only looks at their phones all the time,” Brorson said, “there is a threat.”
“It’s where you learn to work with your hands, how to build things. How electricity works. Engineering. There’s lots and lots of skills that can be learned being in this hobby,” Edwards said.
With the advance of technology, Brorson said he already utilizes an electronic weight-detection system that automatically switches his trains to the correct tracks.
After 40 years as part of the model railroading community, Edwards said his main goal is to keep the “big, happy family” alive.
“Above all, this is a family type thing,” Edwards said. “Kids love doing it, but so do adults.”
Edwards says he has a succession plan in place for the Central New York chapter of the Historical Railway Society once he can no longer be president, as they hope to host the event for “the next 50 years.”