As a kid, Dan Dowdey loved playing with model trains. He just never imagined that one day, he’d get paid to do it.
An exhibit fabricator at the S.C. State Museum since 1987, the talented artist, sculptor, painter, historian, welder and carpenter has had a hand in designing and building nearly all of the museum’s permanent displays, including two painstakingly detailed dioramas depicting the glory days of railroading in South Carolina. Each of the HO scale model railroads—one set in the Lowcountry of the 1880s, the other in Upstate of the 1920s—took months to build, and they have riveted children of all ages for more than two decades.
They also require regular maintenance, so just about every day, Dowdey climbs through trap doors and towers Gulliver-like over his miniature worlds to carefully inspect the tracks, dust the buildings and attend to the landscapes and villages. It’s a labor of love, and one that reconnects him with the childhood hobby that helped launch his career.
“I didn’t want to grow up; it was too much fun being a kid,” he says. “Come to think of it, I’m still a kid inside, and still playing with trains!”
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Dan Dowdey
AGE: 63
HOMETOWN: Columbia
OCCUPATION: Artist, exhibit fabricator
LITTLE-KNOWN FACT: His illustrations and animations of the submarine H.L. Hunley have been featured in books, magazines and document