Tiny locomotives, hand-built scenery and a miniature Collierville town square filled the room at Whispering Woods in Olive Branch as the National Model Railroad Association’s Bluff City Division held its second annual model train show, drawing hobbyists young and old, according to the DeSoto Times-Tribune.
The NMRA is a nonprofit that sets standards for the model railroading hobby and hosts gatherings where members and other railroaders can meet, buy models and see layouts built by clubs and individuals. Three presenters set up full train layouts at this year’s show.
A 15-Year Labor of Love at the Model Train Show
Thomas Mogish of the Memphis Modular Group brought a layout he has spent about 15 years repairing, building and wiring. He has worked with model trains since age 10 and picked the hobby back up after college when he found his old train pieces while cleaning out his parents’ house. Some of the scenery came from mentors who left the hobby and from a club that is no longer active, while other sections he built himself in high school and college, including a scene based on piers in Maine.
His layout runs a model Union Pacific Big Boy and an Amtrak passenger train using Digital Command Control, which lets him change speeds and run sound and lights from an iPad or a hand remote.
“It’s really special where I can share my life’s work to people and show people that this hobby is feasible for someone of a younger age,” Mogish told the newspaper.
Collierville in Miniature
Craig Lord and the Bluff City Benders Model Railroaders ran an N-scale club layout, built at 1:160 scale, featuring Union Pacific and Western Pacific trains, a large farm scene, a newer cityscape and a scaled-down recreation of Collierville’s town square. The layout has grown over about six years.
Lord said the club started with Collierville to honor the town’s historic train depot, where the group has been allowed to meet and set up. Members photograph real buildings and redraw them at scale, then build them from styrene or cardboard.
Why N-scale: Lord said it allows longer trains and more portable modules, though the small size demands precise work.
Experience: Lord has worked in N-scale since 1973, after starting with Lionel trains as a child.
The payoff: He said kids recognize the square, and grandparents share its history with the club.
Thomas the Tank Engine Takes Top Honors
Chandler Elder presented a smaller layout inspired by the “Thomas the Tank Engine” books and TV series, which first sparked his interest in trains. Elder said he built it in about a month, with the scenery taking most of his time, and he believed it was voted best train set at the show. A friend in the United Kingdom 3D-scanned the real station that inspired the books for the model, Elder said.
Elder shares his work on his YouTube channel, “Mr. C’s Railway,” and said his next project is filming larger-scale versions of the characters, much like the original show.
Whispering Woods Hotel and Conference Center, on Hacks Cross Road in Olive Branch, regularly hosts community events, conventions and gatherings that draw visitors from across the Mid-South.
