A group of people who gathered in 1994 at Chicago’s historic Union Station weren’t there to take the train. They were there to talk trains, and ended up making a bit of history themselves.
It was the first meeting of what would become the Chicagoland Lionel Railroad Club, now home to “the largest interactive O-scale layout in the Midwest” at its headquarters in New Lenox.
The club’s permanent layout, which fills most of the first floor of its 60-by-60 clubhouse, gets a holiday update every year in November. “It’s set up for the Christmas season. We decorate the layout and the building and have seasonal trains,” said Herb Koch, the club’s president. One of the trains even has a car that plays holiday tunes as it rides the rails.
It’s a holiday display spectacular enough to attract none other than Santa and Mrs. Claus to the group’s final open houses of the year, Dec. 2 and 9. As the Claus couple take photos with visitors, 30 club members will rotate in at the events, answering questions about the trains and the club, selling concessions, making free popcorn and manning the front desk and repair stations.
Koch said anywhere from 100 to 500 people typically attend the open houses in November and December.
“Holiday open houses are one of the key things we’ve done since 2005 when the club bought its current home,” he said.
The current display was started in 2016, when members began building a “larger and more operationally and technologically sophisticated interactive layout,” according to its website.
One of the attractions within the layout are the club’s custom cars, which it created in partnership with Lionel and sold for many years. One example is a Shedd Aquarium car, which travels the miniature rails filled with water and aquatic creatures. Aquarium staff took photos of its famous coral reef to put inside the car, Koch said.
After the Union Station meeting in 1994 to gauge interest, the club initially didn’t have a permanent home.
“When we started the club, for about 10 years they went to where they could set up trains,” Koch explained, adding they bought a trailer to house layout modules. “We would travel to St. Louis, Detroit, Indianapolis, Lexington Kentucky, Minneapolis. We were also selected as the train club to demonstrate trains (set up layouts) for Lionel’s 100th anniversary in 2000 in Dearborn, Michigan.”
Taking the layout on the road evoked his childhood love of toy trains.
“As a kid, Lionel was the biggest toy manufactured in the 1950s. Every kid in my neighborhood had a train,” he recalled. “There were times we’d be dragging tracks and trains to one house and run them (together). I always had trains on my mind … but my kids wanted trains around the tree. That grew and grew.”
His renewed interest in trains led to him helping organize the club, which first met at a toy shop in Berwyn. “I was voted in as president at the first formal meeting,” he said.
Koch’s family is supportive of his hobby, but only his grandchildren are as passionate about trains as he is.
“My grandchildren (two boys, 10 and 12) are interested, which is important to me. My wife loves trains when they are run by my grandchildren,” he said with a smile.
A huge mountain on the layout closest to the clubhouse’s entrance was the first big structure created. “There’s a Boy Scout camp at the bottom. The lower track is a logging line. The loop takes about a minute” for a train to complete, Koch said.
“Everything on the layout is something our members built, although some of the buildings were premade. It’s a museum-quality layout, mainly because of our members’ creativity.”
He said the layout contains a lot of vignettes, if one looks for them. “They are very surprising but it takes time to inspect each one. The bottom line,” Koch said, “the more you look, the more you see. It takes many visits.”
One of those includes the Blues Brothers being chased by police on Lower Wacker Drive.
Joe Smolinski, who works on the club’s website, also enjoys manning the layout featuring Thomas the Tank Engine and his friends on the second floor of the clubhouse during open houses.
“There are lots of buttons to press. I really like this layout and working with the little kids,” the grandfather of two said. “If they are 3 or 4, I give them the remote to run the trains.”
He said members keep the Thomas layout simple. “Last month we ran Halloween trains. This month it’s the Christmas trains.”
Smolinski called the club “a great group of guys. They help everyone.” He added that new members are assigned a mentor for at least three months until the person feels comfortable to run things on their own.
Charter member Jeff Mills said he’s good with his hands, so he likes “doing the scenery every bit as much as doing the trains.”
He built a version of Buckingham Fountain, adding that columns and beams on the layout representing Chicago’s L train were created with a 3D printer. That line features Union Station, Billy Goat Tavern and the Palmer House hotel.
It’s not a 100% accurate representation of trains in Chicago, however. “The L doesn’t really go to Lemont in the real world, but ours does,” Mills said with a smile. “This is a lot of fun, and we’re all 12 years old again playing with trains.”
It’s not all play, however. The organization has worked with Lionel on train design and mechanics, including in 2005 when “the club was key in troubleshooting one of Lionel’s designs,” Koch said.
In that case, rock musician Neil Young and an engineer visited with club members to discuss train controls for people with special needs, Koch said, explaining Young has a son who has cerebral palsy and was working with Lionel on an accessible product.
The club, which has 120 members, including about 20 nationwide, also has done some beta testing on a control system for Lionel that is scheduled to be released in 2024.
Club members Lyle Eimen and Charlie McCarthy spent three days in 2009 training at a Lionel facility in Ohio, learning the digital technology and how to repair electronics. McCarthy repairs trains with the current technology, and Eimen works on electric-mechanical trains from before 1990, which is when the transition to digital happened.
“People bring trains to be repaired to the open house,” Eimen said. “This is all volunteer work. I grew up with them. My dad bought us a youth set in 1958.”
A more recent member, Pat Good, wanted to join the club a few years ago but then the COVID-19 pandemic hit. He joined when things opened back up.
“I live five minutes from here. It’s really easy to run up here and run my trains and hang out with the guys. It keeps me out of the taverns and jail!” he joked. “I still haven’t seen everything.”
Model trains can be an expensive hobby, with some engines worth as much as $1,500, Koch said, thanks to the detailed exteriors and digital controls. “We’re at a point in our lives when we can afford this stuff,” he said. “It’s a family and we all enjoy the interaction.”
The Chicagoland Lionel Railroad Club holiday open houses are from 9 a.m. to 3 p.m. Dec. 2 and 9 at the group’s clubhouse, 311 S. Schoolhouse Road, Unit 4. Admission is $6 per person or $15 per family.
Regular open houses take place the third Saturday of each month except for June to August, when the club concentrates on maintenance. Information is at www.clrctrains.com or 815-485-2588.
Melinda Moore is a freelance reporter for the Daily Southtown.
