Category: News

A pair of top Texas museums that recognize railroading’s past for much of the year will offer a glimpse into present day model railroading at train shows over the Oct. 27 weekend. For much of nearly two decades, shows at the New Braunfels Railroad Museum and Texas City Museum have been a rite of passage each fall in the Lone Star State.

The timing couldn’t be better. After weeks of rain – including record rainfall in some parts of the state – the weather is supposed to be warm and sunny.

The New Braunfels Railroad Museum’s 10th Annual Fall Train Show Oct. 27-28 at the New Braunfels Civic Center will feature more than 60 vendors from Texas and beyond, displaying over 300 tables filled with new and vintage model railroad equipment.

The show will feature hourly drawings for prizes donated by vendors and local sponsors, as well as a silent action.

Kids age 5 and under can ride the Landa Park Miniature Train for free.

The show is a fund-raiser for the museum, which is housed in the former International and Great Northern Depot built in 1907. In October 1986, the New Braunfels Historic Railroad and Modelers Society was granted a long-term lease of the then-closed depot, a Central Texas landmark.

The interior was restored with Wainscoting and painted floors; the exterior color was repainted to match paint applied during an earlier remodel; and brick pavers were installed along the west side of the depot. Air-conditioning was added to aid in the preservation of the museum artifacts and displays.

The depot was constructed on a concrete slab, with concrete block (interior)/unique dark gray cement tiles with red grout (exterior). Moeller, Mordhorst and Blumberg, a local factory, cast the blocks and tiles. The materials are unique to this depot, and not used anywhere else on the I-GN system.

Chimneys and decorative dormers were removed by the railroad when worn out shingles were replaced with a metal roof. The railroad remodeled the building in the 1960s and again in the 1970s to accommodate changing railroad needs. Replicas of the chimney and dormer were replaced in October, 2012.

The museum houses a permanent HO scale layout, the Joske Department Store (downtown, San Antonio) display acquired in 2010, an HO circus (circa 1910), and an N-Scale layout, The museum also has a number of N-scale NTrak modules which are used primarily as traveling exhibits at area train shows.

Near the Gulf Coast, the Galveston County Model Railroad Club (GCMRRC) and the Texas City Museum will host their 19th annual train festival Oct. 27 to celebrate the contribution that railroads have made to Texas City and promote model railroading.

The festival runs from 10 a.m. 4 p.m. at the Texas City Museum in historic downtown Texas City.

Admission is $5 for adults and seniors and $2 for children, which includes access to the train festival and the museum (including the Texas City Explosion exhibit and the Civil War U.S.S. Westfield exhibit). The city’s popular and free-of-charge Touch-a-Truck event will also take place on 6th Street.

GCMRRC was founded in Galveston in 1989 and operated a modular N-scale layout in the Galvez Mall from 1991-95 until the mall closed. In 1996, the Texas City Museum, which was on the first floor of the former JC Penny building, invited GCMRRC to occupy the second floor if the members cleaned up the debris that was left by the previous occupant.

For many months, club members worked diligently to renovate the second floor, and today, GCMRRC is the largest model railroad group in Southeast Texas, operating six layouts in G, O, HO, N and Z scales in a 5,000 square-foot room. Work is about to begin on an S-scale layout.

The club’s layouts are fully scenicked, and trains run on either DC or DCC.

The layouts are open to the public on Saturdays from 11 a.m. to 4 p.m. and club members run trains for museum tours.

In addition the club’s layouts, five visiting layouts (G, O, S and LEGO) will be on the museum’s first floor and in the nearby Showboat Pavilion.

Texas City is home to the Texas City Terminal Railway Co., which owns and operates port facilities at Texas City including a railroad, warehouses, and docks. The railroad dates to around 1893 when a four-mile spur known as the Texas City Terminal Railway was built to connect Texas City with the North Galveston, Houston and Kansas City Railroad Co. and the Galveston, Houston and Henderson Railroad Co. at Texas City Junction.

Today, Union Pacific and BNSF Railway provide connections for what has become the 15th largest port of 150 U.S. ports.

Kansas City Southern’s Holiday Express will stop in 22 communities and eight states on 27 dates, starting with its departure from Shreveport Yard in Shreveport, LA, after an employee function on Nov. 21.

Kansas City Southern (KCS) (NYSE: KSU) recently announced the schedule for the 18th annual Holiday Express, a charitable fund-raiser for the railroad. At each stop, visitors can board the train, visit with Santa and his elves and tour the inside of three cars of the festive six-car train. Each event is free and open to the public.

Over the past 17 years, the project has raised well over $2 million to purchase gift cards, which are donated to The Salvation Army at each scheduled stop. The gift cards are used to purchase warm clothing and other necessities for children in need in the local community.

“KCS is proud to continue this long-standing tradition of bringing joy to communities throughout our network with the Holiday Express train,” said KCS president and chief executive officer Patrick J. Ottensmeyer. “This project brings people together, helps build relationships in the community and supports our corporate vision and values.”

Tax-deductible contributions to the 2018 KCS Holiday Express fundraising campaign can be made at www.kcsouthern.com or by clicking here. The campaign closes Oct. 31.

The KCS Holiday Express was built on the tradition of the Santa Train, which ran on a segment of the network bought by KCS in 1997. In 2000, a group of warm-hearted KCS employees noticed that the Santa Train was the only Christmas some kids had, and that some kids did not have essential items like coats, hats and gloves, so they committed to elevating the project. In 2001, volunteers transformed a retired freight train to the experience that communities throughout KCS’ U.S. service territory enjoy today.

Led by KCS’ Southern Belle business train, the Holiday Express train includes a smiling tank car “Rudy”; a flat car carrying Santa’s sleigh, reindeer and a miniature village; a gingerbread boxcar; an elves’ workshop; the reindeer stable; and a little red caboose. Each car is dressed in lights.

The train leaves Shreveport for Westpoint, MS, and heads to Monroe, LA, on Nov. 28. From there, it travels west to East Texas, then returns to Shreveport and heads north through Arkansas, Oklahoma, Kansas, Missouri and Illinois. The train arrives Kansas City, MO, on Dec. 14 for a public display at Union Station. The Holiday Express will remain in Kansas City through Dec. 18.

KANSAS CITY, MO – The Model Railroad Industry Division of the Hobby Manufacturers Association took time at the August NMRA convention to honor three who have made an impact on model railroading and recognize the retirement of an industry leader.

Two HMA members were inducted into the Model Railroad Hall of Fame, another was bestowed the Bobbye Hall Distinguished Service award, and new officers were inducted into the MRID. And next week’s transfer of leadership at the most recognized family-run business in model railroading earned a fist bump.

Phil Walthers and Stacey Walthers Naffah shared a few light moments leading up to next Tuesday’s transition at Wm. K. Walthers, Inc., which has served model railroaders since 1932. Walthers Naffah will succeed Walthers, who is retiring after 34 years as president of one of the industry’s largest distributors and direct sellers of model trains, accessories and related items.

The father-daughter team marked the company’s fourth change of leadership with a knock of the fists.

“I couldn’t be more proud and excited to turn over the leadership of Walthers to Stacey,” Walthers said. “She brings an enthusiasm and vision to the company that will continue to support our dedicated customers while helping to bring new people into the hobby.”

Walthers is retiring from day-to-day operations but assured MRID members that he’s not headed to the sidelines. He will remain board chairman and be available to work on special projects.

“You’re going to see me at these conventions and shows, trust me,” he said.

Walthers announced the management change in May.

He joined the company in 1972 and has been part of several milestones. The company established an importing division and added several international lines, plus it introduced Code 83 track to give layouts more realistic proportions. Also, in 1990, the Cornerstone Series buildings were unveiled, offering modelers industries to complement the many types of freight cars commonly produced.

As president, Walthers headed the 2005 purchase of Life-Like from Lifoam Industries, which included acquisition of the Proto Lines, now the company’s backbone of locomotive and rolling stock lines.

Walthers Naffah’s promotion begins a fourth generation of family leadership at Walthers, which recently celebrated 86 years in business. Founder Wm. K. was succeeded by son Bruce, and Phil succeeded Bruce as president in 1984.

Walthers Naffah, who has been with the company nine years and most recently served as vice president of sales and marketing, is a graduate of Boston College and earned her MBA at Northwestern University’s Kellogg School of Management. Her studies included best practices in operating multigenerational family businesses and entrepreneurship.

She joined the company as manager of consumer marketing and corporate communications after 13 years in advertising sales and marketing with ad agency giant J. Walther Thompson and media powers Time magazine and Reader’s Digest. She is a past president of MRID and current president of the World’s Greatest Hobby, Inc., a nonprofit industry organization that promotes model railroading.

“I am excited and humbled to take the helm and to pursue the opportunities presented by this great family business,” she said. “I’m honored to carry on the legacy of the hard work of those before me. Model railroading is truly one of the classic and timeless hobbies. It transcends ages from the young child with his or her first train set to the adult hobbyist creating highly detailed worlds in miniature.”

Walthers, who has been with the company since 1972, became president in 1984 and was elected to the HMA’s Model Railroad Hall of Fame in 2010.

“I would like to congratulate Phil on his achievements in the industry and for being the longest running president of Walthers thus far,” MRID President Gale Cousins said. “In addition, I would like to welcome Stacey to her new position and wish her much success.”

The salute followed the induction of Coach Yard founder Dr. David Allen and USA Trains’ Charles Ro Sr. to the Model Railroad Hall of Fame. Bachmann Trains’ Richard Janyszek received the Bobbye Hall award.

Neither Allen nor Ro were in attendance but both were lauded for their combined 80 years in the model railroad industry.

Cousins, who leads North American sales at Marklin, described Allen’s pursuit of excellence as a pioneer in the brass model industry. While working with Japanese builders to bring high-scale fidelity after founding Coach Yard in 1984, Allen wouldn’t accept no for an answer.

“Many times he heard the words ‘it can’t be done’ or it is ‘too difficult,’ ” Cousins said. “But rather than quit, he continued to strive for the quality he expected. Rather than simply accept what they had to offer, he trained them on how to create what he wanted. He soon gained their respect as an innovator and continued to teach their team on ways to etch brass to achieve a higher detail of brass trains.”

With Korean builders, Coach Yard developed a seven-layer etching technique to enhance realism. Also, Allen was a selfless adviser to the U.S. brass import industry, Cousins said.

Ro turned his hobby of collecting model trains into a business and became the largest Lionel dealer worldwide.

“He wrote the very first million-dollar order for Lionel, and his name was becoming as popular as Lionel’s,” Cousins said.

While selling Lionel, Ro developed G-scale trains through USA Trains to introduce North American prototypes to a scale mostly dominated by LGB’s European models.

Janyszek became the 12th recipient of the Bobbye Hall award, which recognizes an individual who goes above and beyond and exemplifies Hall’s penchant for helping and never asking anything in return.

Janyszek served 14 years on the MRID Council in various leadership roles, including president. He also oversaw the HMA’s reorganization from 2014 to 2016 as president.

Cousins praised Janyszek for being “instrumental in doing some belt tightening and fundraising to improve the HMA’s financial position.”

Elected to the MRID Council were Bachmann’s Doug Blaine, Caboose Industries’ Steve Olson and Cowcatcher Publisher Tim Blackwell.