Mike Forys\u2019 first experience with model trains didn\u2019t go as expected.<\/p>\n
\u201cMy father came back from Europe, from the war, and he brought me a European train. I loved it except that it didn\u2019t work because it had European power. But he went and bought me an American Flyer train later that year.\u201d<\/p>\n
The well-intentioned gift to the 5-year-old boy in 1946 sparked a lifelong hobby that continues today. Forys is now the president of the San Diego S-Gaugers model train club, which is best known for its display located in Grossmont Center that is open to the public on Tuesdays and Saturdays from noon to 6 p.m. There is also a window display with a button that passerbys can push and activate a train to ride around a track for a minute or so.<\/p>\n \u201cWe\u2019re one of the only layouts in the county that is totally interactive,\u201d Forys said.<\/p>\n Besides the push-button window display, visitors can come in on Tuesdays and Saturdays and operate the other features along the 18 modules that circle around the Grossmont Center display area, including a model train yard and a working crane.<\/p>\n \u201cThe least reliable but most fun is the sawmill,\u201d Forys said.<\/p>\n Other scenes in the display include a dairy farm, winery, ice house, fishing cabin, Arizona mesa (complete with a Wile E Coyote figure), and a sand house.<\/p>\n \u201cIn the front of an engine, they would put sand in there and when going through the mountains in the rain or the snow, they\u2019d drop sand on the tracks in front of the driver wheels for better traction,\u201d said Bob Graves, the club\u2019s treasurer.<\/p>\n Like Forys, Graves got hooked into model trains when he was a boy.<\/p>\n \u201cMy dad bought me, slash himself, a train set when I was 5 and a half for Christmas,\u201d he said. \u201cMy dad used modeling as an informal play school where I learned all this stuff about trains. Plus, I spent a lot of time with my dad. And I share that with a lot of fathers who come in here with their kids and they say \u2018hmmm, that\u2019s a good idea.\u2019\u201d<\/p>\n San Diego S-Gaugers got their name from the size of the models they use.<\/p>\n \u201cWe like to joke around and say the \u2018S\u2019 is for superior,\u201d Forys said.<\/p>\n There are several different gauges in model trains, including HO, O, N and G gauges, however \u201cgauge\u201d is a misnomer, Graves said.<\/p>\n \u201cGauge is the distance between the tracks. Scale is the proportion between the model size and a real-life engine. So, technically, one should say HO scale, O scale, N scale, etc.<\/p>\n \u201cBack in the 1950s, they confused gauge with scale because the larger scales had greater distance between the rails, but in a real railroad there was a standard gauge \u2014 4 foot, 8 and a half inches. That\u2019s the distance between the rails on a real railroad. Then there\u2019s another gauge they used in the mountains where they had to do tighter curves and things and have rails closer together \u2014 usually 3 feet. So some modelers will model a narrow gauge in one of the scales, so the words \u2018gauge\u2019 and \u2018scale\u2019 get really mixed up and confused.\u201d<\/p>\n Since the club formed in 2008, it has focused on making displays for model train shows and to educate and entertain the public. In its first year, it displayed at the Great Train Expo in Del Mar and before moving to Grossmont Center, had a public display at Liberty Station in San Diego. The club also travels out of the area for shows.<\/p>\n \u201cWhen we took this module to Sacramento for the national train show, we were already members of the NMRA (National Model Railroad Association) and the local chapter there didn\u2019t even know about us because we were brand new on the scene,\u201d Forys said. \u201cBut the four of us that were at the show earned what is called the Golden Spike Award, which is the first step in becoming master model railroaders. Since then, two more guys in the club have earned that award as well.\u201d<\/p>\n Most of the modules used in the S-Gaugers display come from kits that are then modified by club members.<\/p>\n \u201cOne [modification] is usually lighting because most of the kits don\u2019t put lighting in,\u201d Forys said.<\/p>\n Although he initially played with model trains for fun, learning lighting and all the other power needs of model trains had a real impact on Forys\u2019 life.<\/p>\n \u201cI became an electrical engineer so I can figure out how all of this works,\u201d he said, laughing.<\/p>\n Forys and Graves like to think their display will have the same kind of educational impact on the young visitors as model railroading had on them.<\/p>\n \u201cWe really want the general public to know about us,\u201d Forys said. \u201cAnd bring their kids and nieces and nephews (girls like trains too, believe it or not) and share the one thing we really like about model railroading \u2014 that it teaches a lot of different skill sets like electronics, carpentry, even computerized engineering, landscaping and crafts.\u201d<\/p>\n \u201cAnd how to fix things that break,\u201d Grave added. \u201cYou learn a lot.\u201d<\/p>\n![\"Mike](\"https:\/\/lamesacourier.com\/wp-content\/uploads\/2016\/08\/Train-1webtop.jpg\")
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