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Little things in a big place
With 16,000 square feet of space, the Model Trains Station has room to grow. It’s already one of the largest multi-scale train displays in the Southeast.
Photo by Keith Phillips
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Right on track
A crew of 20 dedicated model-train enthusiasts like Bob Rayle volunteer their time to maintain displays from the 1920s to present day.
Photo by Keith Phillips
If you kneel down at just the correct height and vantage point, you could soon forget you were standing in an old cotton mill in the Upstate. Instead, you’d hear, then see, the steam locomotive as it emerges from the mountain tunnel, its metal wheels chugging along the tracks, the engine’s massive smokebox looming larger and larger as it hurtles toward you.
That act of space and time travel is one of the main attractions of what’s billed as the best multi-scale interactive train display in the Southeast. With the simple push of a button, electric current and a whole lot of creativity, The Model Trains Station in Taylors transports visitors to a simpler time.
Scott Doelling, a member of Laurens Electric Cooperative, first started playing with trains as a 7-year-old. One of his old trains is featured in a layout at the station, and he volunteers as a docent two to three days a week.
“It’s a hobby that you never really outgrow,” says Doelling, who spent 31 years in the corrugated paper business and specializes in creating scenery, such as the mountains and forests lining the tracks. “Your imagination can go wild. You can do anything.”
There are hidden gems among the many layouts, and visitors are encouraged to take part in a scavenger hunt to find them. Look closely in one display, and you’ll see a group of Boy Scouts around a campfire. Look closer, and you’ll see a bear attack right around the bend.
By pushing buttons that control different parts of another layout, children can control some of the trains that run on the tracks, give power to a sawmill or take delight when a conductor steps out from his station.
“We try to put as much interaction for the kids as we can,” says Doelling, who is one of about 20 volunteers.
Plenty of vintage trains, including some from the 1920s, still run along the tracks. But there are plenty of advancements, too, including digital programs that now allow users to control the train from a mobile phone. There is a train repair shop where people can bring in a faulty engine, and the group also allows visitors to bring a train from home and run it on the tracks.
The nine massive displays that spread out over 16,000 square feet at the historic Taylors Mill mean different things to different people, says Bob Rayle, chairman of the station’s board of directors. Nearly all of the items at the station, which opened in December 2017, have been donated by model railroad enthusiasts who wanted nothing more than to share their love of the hobby with others who appreciate the elaborate precision of hand-crafted miniature worlds.
“It’s the little things and the detail,” says Rayle. “They make the picture. They tell the story.”
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Get There
Model Trains Station is located at Taylors Mill, 250 Mill St., Suite BL 1250, in Taylors.
Hours: Wednesday–Saturday 11 a.m. to 5 p.m.; Sunday 1 to 5 p.m.
Admission: Adults $8; seniors and military $7; children (age 2 to 12) $5; children under 2 admitted free. Special rates available for groups, and birthday parties are welcomed.
Details: They are always looking for donations and volunteers. For more information, visit modeltrainsstation.com; email modeltrainsstation@gmail.com or call (864) 605-7979.