Train whistles and engines were heard throughout Savannah Center on Saturday at the Villages Railroad Historical Society’s model train show and sale.
Alan Goldberg, the club’s president, and Bob Gall, the event coordinator, worked along with the group’s 144 members to prepare for the show. The event serves as a fundraiser for the club so that members can fund the trains’ storage between shows, trucks to transport items, insurance and food for events.
The show continues Sunday from 10 a.m. to 3 p.m.
The train society also hosts another fundraising show in February, shows for Camp Villages, and a Christmas show at Colony Cottage Recreation Center to serve as a “thank you” for the Villagers’ support.
Several layouts of model trains in various gauges and scales were presented in the center’s auditorium, while train enthusiasts operated throttle controls to keep the trains chugging and blowing steam for viewers’ entertainment.
Gauges and scales, as explained by Goldberg, are the sizes of the tracks’ width and the size ratio of the model train to the actual train.
One railroad layout featured was called “Project Wildwood,” and it captured the essence of the Wildwood freight yard in 1959, detailing every facility and landmarks that were present during the time.
Another railroad on display was a standard scale, or the “Granddaddy” of all railroad layouts, and featured an original 1920’s train model that had a scale much larger than the other trains.
Meadowbrook Church and its members were invited by the society to display their railroad layout as well.
Many children were drawn to the “O Gauge” layout for its interactive components and theme park aesthetics. People could press the layout’s buttons to control the figurines and the different carnival rides presented on the model.
Dedicated attendees, including Bonnie Nelson of the Village of Polo Ridge and her grandson Cody Machande, were thrilled with the event and had a wonderful time.
“We come every year to look at the trains,” Nelson said. “Cody has been coming since he was 2, and he’s now 7 years old.”
In the other room were 36 vendors and more than 130 dealer tables filled with items related to locomotives. Some of the commodities were conductor hats, apparel, building kits, and train accessories.
