All aboard. There were 21 stops on Saturday’s annual Brant-Haldimand-Norfolk Model Railroad Layout Tour, from Port Rowan to Jarvis to Brantford.
First-time hosts Randall and Patty Dravis welcomed visitors to their Delhi home featuring a layout of fictional Bailey Falls, Colorado, circa 1950-1975, and HO model trains from the Denver and Rio Grande Western Railroad.
Randall, 76, remembers building his first model train layout with his father when he was 10. Randall and Patty, who did all the landscaping and artwork, started their current 6’x18′ L-shape layout in 2015. It took two years to come up with the structural design.
“We moved around a lot, so everything was in sections. This is the first time I’ve built one that is stationary, first time we had the space,” said Randall.
Bailey’s Falls was named after a family cat that passed away.
“It was my wife’s idea – Bailey’s Falls with waterfalls.”
Landscaping details include a theater playing the Steve McQueen movie Bullitt, and a miniature model of McQueen’s car, a 1968 Mustang GT Fastback; a carnival with a turning merry-go-round, and model replicas of his brother-in-law’s and grandparent’s houses.
“My daughter feels me the car. I didn’t even know what because he drove,” Randall laughed.
Randall said he enjoys building the kits and seeing them in operation.
“The best thing is enjoying your accomplishment, what you’ve been able to do. There’s structures that you buy from kits, there’s structures you create yourselves. It’s the little things.”
It’s not complete, however. Randall and Patty still tinker with it, adding new features and occasionally new engines and cars.
“It’s never done,” Randall smiled. “For example, this one, the Zephyr, I’m missing a baggage car. It’s got passenger cars, diner, sleeper, two pull engines, but I need a baggage car, which they put the baggage and the mail on.
“My wife (Patty) likes to add little things like that shed, and this carnival, which was added after.”
The model railroad tour is important, Randall said, for train enthusiasts to share their passion with the community and help spark interest in youth.
“It’s in our blood,” he said. “And we want it to continue with the next generation.”
