Model trains on display in Norfolk area

Daryl Dankwardt has been working on his current model railroad layout for the past 11 years. It was one of 16 locations on Saturday’s Brant-Haldimand-Norfolk Model Railroad Layout Tour. 

By Chris Abbott

Editor

Each stop from Saturday’s annual Brant-Haldimand-Norfolk Model Railroad Layout Tour had a small railroad crossing sign outside to signal visitors – come inside and meet the owners/operators.

Subtle but effective in Norfolk County, Haldimand, Brant and Hamilton/Dundas at 16 locations, including seven in Norfolk, the Brantford Model Railway Club member layouts represented everything from 1928-1932 Port Burwell to fictitious mid-50s Southern Ontario to 1989 Brantford.

Donations were accepted for student nutrition programs in Brant, Haldimand and Norfolk. The Brantford Model Railroad Club hoped to raise $2,000.

“It’s been a nice steady day,” Daryl Dankwardt, BMRC president, at his Nixon-area home on March 22. “There’s been times when it’s been pretty crazy with a whole bunch of people, some slower, but kind of a normal flow.

“Last year we had a snow storm the day before, so there was nothing till 11, then it got really busy. Today, it’s been a nice, steady day.”

Dankwardt’s current 11-year-old layout features a fictitious ‘new town’ built last winter, full of minute details including miniature doves and their droppings on the station and nearby trestle, tiny beer bottles on a picnic table, mini garbage bags… all the details of a small town and park, somewhere between Windsor and Toronto.

“It’s something you don’t necessarily notice, but when you’re a modeler, you look at all the details. I also do it to draw your eye there.”

All town names on his layout pay homage to towns from his grandfather’s past layouts, dating from the 1950s to 2012, and maybe even a bit earlier. His grandfather was in the hobby for nearly 70 years and Dankwardt’s current layout is inspired by 1950s railroads.

“I have his collection and my collection… and he (Morris Giilck) taught me a lot of these skills, and I’ve got some new skills, so we’ve taken the old school and the new school and merged them together.”

His grandfather’s tracks did not have modern bells and whistles like ‘sound’ and electronic ‘signaling detection.’

“What you see is exactly how he built things. Yes, we have more modern locomotives, we’ve got computerized chips in them that make sound and stuff, but what you see – the scenery – is done exactly like he would have done it back in the 50s, 70s or 90s. People can do scenery 10 different ways, and it all looks great and they all work, it’s just that I’ve done it the way I was taught and this is the way it looks.”

Dankwardt knows his grandfather would love it.

“He would be tickled pink to see that all the skills that he learned over the years, passed on to me. For him, the biggest thing would be the sound and the working signals that he would appreciate.”

Dankwardt remembers putting a camera on a model train, running it around the track, and showing his grandfather on a TV.

“He loved all of that.”

Electric-powered rails have not changed, except for signaling in the tracks that tells a computer where the trains is, how fast it’s going, and the train number, which can all be coordinated through cell phones or remote wireless controllers.

“About 20-25 per cent of what you see is from my grandfather, and the rest I’ve added over the years. Some cars are ‘ancient’, some you can go to the store and buy them today. Everything I have here (on display) is based on 1955 or older.”

Dankwardt says his most interesting piece is a bright yellow stock car – the very first car his grandfather built as a teenager.

“That car started the whole thing… and I still keep it on the layout and run it.”

A lot were made from kits, he said, and some have new decals and paint. Some hand-built cars (assembled from scratch) came from past friends, and their heritage continues on Dankwardt’s layout. Some older engines have been converted, adding chips, sound board and speakers.

Dankwardt can easily access a spreadsheet to see all of his rolling stock – hundreds in total - through his phone. The database is useful when visiting train shows.

“I’ve been gradually working up to where it is now over the past 11 years. There’s always new things going. You can see it’s not done yet - the scenery is not finished. It’s never ending. The trackwork part is coming to an end, but all the details…”

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Jason Gordy’s Lynn Valley Railroad was on display at his Simcoe home.

Gordy said his layout includes a propane facility, quarry, lumber yard, scrap yard, engine house, farm, mountain, and more. He runs a variety of diesel locomotives in CN, CP, Norfolk Southern, and ‘Chessie’ paint schemes. Occasionally he has a 4-8-8-4 Norfolk Southern steam locomotive on his layout.

His freight car collection is mostly stock he picked up at train shows, including Ancaster, Woodstock and Kitchener.

“I like to browse around, see what they have, looking for different loads.”

On Saturday he was running two recently-converted engines.

“They run good – I love it.”

Gordy, who has been interested in model trains from a very young age, says he might add more track in the future.

“I still have some stuff I want to fix up on it, like the tunnel over there. But some of the cars won’t fit under it, so…”

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Dave Gyselinck’s unique layout in Waterford changed when Walthers came out with a Ford Assembly Plant kit.

“It was missing half the parts – it took me seven months to get all the parts. They ran into production problems.”

Gyselink’s wife, Pat, added a Munsters House and cemetery to the scenery, equipped with background thunder and lightning sound and light effects. And tere is a town and airport that feature prominently.

Gyselinck’s hobby started about 10 years ago while working at the Ford Oakville assembly plant. He didn’t have a lot of time for it, but when he retired, it was ‘full steam ahead.’

“If I get it ‘done,’ I don’t care,” said Gyselink, who still shops at train shows and flea markets. “You get to know people. Sometimes I go just because I want to go… with no intentions to buy anything. It’s the same thing with car shows, a lot of people just go for the socializing. It’s a big get-together. Same with the train shows.

“What other plans I have, I don’t know yet.”

chris@granthaven.com