BENTONVILLE, Ark. — On Feb. 24, hundreds gathered for the 21st Annual Great NWA Model Train Show.
The event, hosted at the Benton County fairgrounds, opened doors for conductors young and old to explore the hobby of model trains. Enthusiasts displaying their layouts used the event to share their passion for model trains.
"People that like to go fishing, you know, where do they fish? Well, they go to fish where the water is at. And so, we like to share our hobby well where the people are at," Dennis Rayon said.
Rayon is based in Springfield, Missouri, and showcased his D&R Railroad at the show. The enthusiast says he and a friend spent 1,800 hours building the set with over 300 figures. He built everything from scratch with the help of 3D printing and his steel fabrication business.
"We were shut down during COVID. So, we took advantage of that. And we spent all the time we spent five days a week, 789 hours every day, building this trailer," Rayon said.
Rayon said he entered the model train world when he read a 1970's article in Railroad Model Craftsman on John Allen.
"He was out in Monterey, California. And I was so fascinated by the realism that he had made in his models. And it just got me more interested and more interested and just kind of pursued it from there," Rayon said.
Rayon following his inspiration created the detailed set that he travels with now. There are 3 trains revolving a mountain in the center of the trailer. Rayon explained that the mountain would make sure viewers couldn't see each other from opposite sides. The mountain allowed him to apply multiple themes to the set with a not-so-short list of buildings including a mineshaft, a carousel restaurant, a city park, a moonshine station, a bakery, a dress shop, and a tea house.
Each set at the show had its own character matching their creator. Yet not all were made track by track, but rather brick by brick.
"With Lego you can build anything start from scratch and whatever you can imagine you can, you know, put together," Jason Hall said.
Jason Hall attended the show as part of the Arkansas Lego Users Group. With multiple chapters throughout Arkansas and Oklahoma, the team of Lego and train enthusiasts put together a 30 by 20-foot layout.
"When you put something together, and you see the final product, I mean, it's really rewarding, you know, and it gets you off the computer. It gets you off social media, and, you know, you can just leave all that behind and just kind of enjoy the hobby," Hall said.
While the enthusiasts could keep their happiness to themselves, they'd rather share their creations. Rayon explained that he had another set at home but only a thousand had maybe seen it. He explains that his trailer has seen tens of thousands traveling to many nursing homes, schools, churches and shows in the Midwest.
"People come by and give you compliments, which you know, when we built it, Tom and I was talking about 'boy, it's a lot of fun building, it's gonna be a lot of fun showing it off.' And it is it's a lot of fun showing it off," Rayon said.
Rayon did admit that the hobby is difficult to start out with train sets hovering 100s if not 1000s of dollars. Yet for many enthusiasts, the smiles of young conductors are all he needs to continue riding this train.
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