ST. JAMES — Laurence Lau sounds an electronic whistle as children study a fictionalized version of an urban train interchange. The gesture causes him to smile. He sports a traditional railroad engineer’s hat with accumulated pins from past events.
Lau is among the members of the Roundhouse Inc. St. James Model Railroad Club, which recently welcomed numerous waves of fans of all ages to their decades-old display at 307 Tiell Drive during the town’s Railroad Days celebration in June.
“It’s good to get them excited and let them know what a train sounds like,” Lau said before returning to his post at the controls of the historically accurate sound generator.
Founded in 1989, the club set out to bring to life the history of their namesake town, which is steeped in railroading, said club Vice President Dale Hedlund.
Situated roughly halfway between Sioux City, Iowa, and the Twin Cities, St. James with its 203-acre lake served as an attractive stop for steam trains needing to refill on water. The confluence of the St. Paul and Sioux City Railroad companies, the city was a nexus of power players.
When railroading was in its heyday in St. James, folks looking for work could be spotted at the establishments near the park in the middle of town — the park was also donated by the rail companies. Often, eager laborers were hired on the spot to lay rails west of the city.
“Boy would it have been fun to be a fly on the wall at some of the old restaurants in town,” Hedlund said.
Most of the model display is in the popular HO scale, which comes in at 1/87 the size of the real deal. Other less popular scales are also represented in portions of the layout.
The HO gauge portion of the display is meant to reconstruct the history of St. James railroading, Hedlund said. Specifically, it shows an idealized 1950s version of the town and elsewhere when steam engines were being replaced by their diesel counterparts. The club chose this era so as to represent both historic and more modern trains.
Their building, the inside of which is roughly the size of a basketball court, is largely filled with their display. At one end, one might find a modeled landscape resembling the Black Hills. At the other is an inner city.
Each biome comes complete with its own scaled details. Billboards, buildings and wildlife are ubiquitous offerings. In a tucked-away portion of the building, hand-patinated railcars come complete with graffiti. What can’t be pre-fabricated the modelers make out of materials such as expanded polystyrene, wood or anything else they can find.
The club doesn’t keep record of the amount of track they’ve laid over the years in this effort, but they don’t have any intention of slowing down.
“The important thing to tell people is that we’re not finished with it yet, even though we’ve been working on it for 36 years,” Hedlund said.
Getting the display to look as realistic as it does is no easy feat.
Considered a master modeler by his peers, club President Bill Nelson has developed a talent with a paintbrush as well as using materials like chalk and translucent washes to achieve a weathered appearance on his models. Decades of honing his craft have left him unsurprised that the St. James display continues to morph.
“I don’t think you ever really get done with a model railroad because once you kind of get somewhat done you can always go back and think, ‘I can add that or I can do that better,’ or something new came out that you want to put in there that looks even better,” Nelson said.
Like the many model train enthusiasts worldwide, several members of the St. James Model Railroad Club are among those who received model trains as children. Like many like him, Hedlund never really grew out of the awe he experienced as a boy.
“That will never leave. You’ll never grow out of that if you’ve got that interest,” Hedlund said.
Similarly, Nelson recalls a time when a steam engine came through St. James some years ago.
“It was kind of a living, breathing machine,” Nelson said.
Many of the club’s members have personal memories of railroads — or inhabit only one generational degree of separation. But Hedlund is encouraged by a new wave of younger enthusiasts who are poised to take up the mantle. Hunter Mann is among that cohort.
The scaled train replicas at the club’s display possess a level of detail casual visitors may not notice, but Mann is not a casual visitor. The preteen visits the display at least twice a year and has two main model trains, one of which is also in the HO scale.
“I just sort of grew into them. It’s just my favorite hobby to be around trains,” the preteen in a BNSF Railway shirt said amid the layout.
The craftsmanship of the St. James display is not lost on the youngster, who traveled from the Madison Lake area to see the display.
“I like how everything is modeled and detailed. The grass, it looks so realistic. Everything is just so beautiful and cool,” Mann said.
Asked about recommendations for folks looking to jump into the hobby, Mann suggested buying a new, not used, starter set in the HO scale. He said used sets can often be missing pieces and that plenty of models will be available at the popular size.
While experienced admirers of the display were a common sight on this day, others such as Don Jacoby are newcomers.
“This is my first time I’ve ever been here,” Jacoby said. “I’ve been in town 28 years.”
Judy Munson, another visitor, said she visits almost every year because the display is constantly evolving.
“It’s really rare compared to other communities,” Munson said. “It’s really a highlight.”
If you missed Railroad Days, don’t fret. The group is happy to give tours of their building all year. (Contact the club by calling 507-995-2955.)