Tiny trains, big imaginations

By DEVIN WEEKS

Staff Writer

COEUR d’ALENE — Little houses, tiny hotels and a literally miniature golf course are just a few of the small wonders to see in the Coeur d'Alene Public Library today.

The model train enthusiasts of the Inland Northwest Free-Mo-N (Free Modular N-Scale) group have put together about 100 feet of working model train track and scenery looped throughout the Community Room for all ages to enjoy.

"You can be an older person and you can ‘play,’" said Gary Frizzell, a Free-Mo member who helped set up the display on Friday.

"You can create your own little world. No one can say, ‘No, that can’t go there, that doesn’t look right.’ You can do whatever you want," he said. "It’s fair to say that it brings out your inner child. It sounds stereotypical and mainline, but that’s what it does."

The display includes an entire world in a 1:160 scale. The trains are replicas of actual trains that one might see chugging through the Northwest.

"I have an interest in trains and I thought it would be fun to come watch them play with the trains," said Jeremy Garcia of Coeur d'Alene, who stopped in to see the display Friday afternoon.

He motioned to a tiny Union Pacific train stopped on its track.

"It's a passenger train," he said. "These trains are models of real ones, so that's really cool."

Frizzell explained that modern model trains are now digitally run.

"You used to turn the track power up and the train would respond based on what currents were on the tracks," he said. "Now there’s a little computer chip in each of the engines, so you don’t control the track, you control the engine. You send a signal to it to say, ‘Go this way.’ You can turn the lights on and off, the sound on and off."

Frizzell and his colleagues build separate pieces of the N-scale modules and bring them together a couple times of year for the public to see. They also meet up at each other's houses to share their love of the hobby.

"I grew up in L.A. and we lived right next to a train yard," Frizzell said. "I could hear the train coming and I could step out in front of my house and see a train going by between my two neighbors’ houses. I could just see the top of it, and that was what I did. I was hooked."

He said it is a fairly inexpensive hobby, especially if someone just builds a section of a display, but the trains can cost up to $200 for ones with light and sound.

"You don’t even have to have trains that run," Frizzell said. "You can build your module and bring it here and we’ll run it. We’ll gladly test out your modules for you."

Inland Northwest Free-Mo-N's train display will be rolling along the tracks in the Community Room from 10 a.m. to 5 p.m. today. The exhibit is free and open to the public.

The Coeur d'Alene Library is located at 702 E. Front Ave.

Info: www.inlandnorthwestfree-mo-n.weebly.com