Railroad Club shows off fun hobby

jclark@sunmulti.com

This is a hobby that you can make your own, and you can create a world full of anything you want.

“It is the world’s greatest hobby,” said Bill Attaway with the Middle Georgia Model Railroad Club. “It’s anything you want it to be.”

As groups of people filed into the Century of Flight Hanger at the Museum of Aviation last week to see the model train display, the Middle Georgia Model Railroad Club greeted the visitors. With one walk through the display, club members and visitors were seen in deep conversation about the hobby.

At first glance, the trains are the thing that draws the eye to the tracks, but the details of the to-scale scenery came to life when people would stop at a section for a little while.

“You can build things you are proud of,” said Attaway, while standing in front of the first sections of tracks a club member built.

The two sections that showed what an area that had been logged contained a “can you find” list that included a to-scale skunk, moose, and bear.

Attaway stated that the hobby is a good way for students to “learn the practical uses of math” because each section of track is built to scale.

“(The students) are in effect a junior civil engineer,” he said.

While walking around the larger track display, Attaway described how a person could build anything he or she wanted, from the older trains and terrain to the newest trains of today.

Attaway said if someone is interested in the hobby, the club meets at IHOP on Watson Boulevard every third Tuesday of the month. See more photos of the Middle Georgia Model Railroad Club display in our Photo Gallery.