By Mark Abromaitis
THE ERICKSON TRIBUNE

Even if you’re not a train buff, you’ll be impressed by the model train room located on the terrace level of Vernon Woods, the newest residence building at Maris Grove. Elaborate and realistic, the miniature display has a number of different gauge trains and an ever-changing layout that includes three styles of hand-made bridges, tunnels, water features, and four seasons of landscapes.

Getting on track
The club has been around since Maris Grove opened over a year ago. But it  was only within the past few months that the club was able to secure a room for its layout.

Now members are busy designing, planning, and laying tracks. “We kept realizing that more and more people here shared this hobby. So it was only natural that we all joined forces,” member Dan Hetrick says of the efforts to make the room happen. Hetrick explains that most of the members who formed the club were serious train aficionados, but the club embraces even the casual train enthusiast. “We find that most members had trains as kids and got distracted with life, and this is a nice way to get back into something you enjoy and to have a real creative outlet.”

Connecting a community
Richard Lowes, a resident who doesn’t consider himself a model train expert but helped the club secure the location for the trains says, “I’m not a member of the train club, but this project is more than that. It has crossed over and become something that the whole community is involved in, takes part in, and is proud of.”