Suncoast Model Railroad Club's Largo warehouse features train track displays

Model train tracks on display at Largo warehouse

FOX 13 photojournalist Barry Wong shows us the dazzling display at the Suncoast Model Railroad Club's warehouse in Largo.

LARGO, Fla. - The Suncoast Model Railroad Club’s 2,500-square-foot warehouse in Largo features dazzling displays of train tracks.

"We are in the Midwest, and our layout is designed to go from the Potomac River to Cincinnati," Suncoast Model RR Club Vice President Carl Marchand said.

The layouts are for model trains, featuring one room of HO-scale (1/87 scale) trains and another of N-scale (1/160 scale) trains.

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"It's about history. We try to reflect how railroads operated, and our railroad actually can perform like a true railroad. We can actually set out cars, run passenger trains, run freight trains," Marchand said.

Marchand oversees the HO-scale layouts. Like most of the club’s members, he was first exposed to model trains as a young child.

"I had them as a child. As time went on, I retired. I found this club, and it was perfect," Bill Knapp said. "In a lot of cases, when people were younger, they would have trains, then they would transition to having a family. After the family's gone, they want something to do and have a hobby, and so it draws them back in."

Knapp has been a member for 35 years. The club was founded in 1979. They currently have around 60 members, in addition to some seasonal snowbirds. Knapp, who oversees the N-scale layouts, loves to work on the scenery.

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"I'll come in and work on something and let a train run around, and it's just peaceful," he said. "It's quiet. I call it my sanctuary."

Within that sanctuary is an importance on realism.

"We have a good time just trying to copy the realistic railroad as much as we can." Marchand said. "It's the difference between a toy train and a model train."

For Marchand, Knapp and the other members, the trains are much more than toys, but the feeling of childhood remains strong.

"I just think people love trains in general. It reminds every one of their youth," Marchand said. "It is just something interesting about watching a steam locomotive or a series of cars go by. It's sort of what we call the magic of model railroading."

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