Tiny trains deliver big joy

Festival of Trains runs until January 1

By Carol South
Herald contributing writer
With eyes as big as saucers, vibrating with excitement, Zack and Hunter Gushurst dashed for the trains.
Big trains, little trains, steam engines and diesel, the 11th Annual Festival of Trains at the City Opera House is a little kid's version of train nirvana.
"Trains are Zack's favorite thing, he can say any words but he can say, 'Choo chooooo!'" said Tammy Gushurst, as she followed her bouncing sons, ages 3 and 2, around from display to display Friday afternoon.
The Festival of Trains is once again turning another generation of youngsters onto the magic of model trains. From now through January 1, the Festival of Trains will showcase displays of O, HO, S and Z-scale models, complete with elaborate scenery, towns, tunnels, farms and circus settings. A hobo village, ice skating pond, cattle drive, logging operation and Coast Guard helicopter are all sprinkled throughout the displays.
"I think liking trains is born into kids," said Dick Hein of Glen Arbor, a first-year volunteer with the Festival of Trains. "I was six months old when my father bought my first train; it was so big, they probably could have put me on it and rode me around under the Christmas tree."
Besides being loads of fun, Hein believes that getting kids involved in trains is an excellent educational opportunity.
"With trains, for anybody getting into it, you'll learn carpentry, electricity, geology, how trains run and history," he said.
The Festival of Trains is not just for the little ones. Lots of big kids come to look, too, reminiscing about their specials train sets from the past.
"We have a lot of three generations come, grandpa, dad and kids all come," said Joe Dowdall, a model train enthusiast most of his life and volunteer at the Festival of Trains. "We had a dad telling how when he was a boy, grandpa got him a train set and grandpa said when he was a boy his father got him one, too. So the pyramid goes on."
The annual Festival of Trains draws thousands of eager visitors every year to the City Opera House. An interactive adventure, buttons allow attendees to operate 33 different accessories and four trains. Kids can run trains, blow whistles, flash signals, turn a windmill, run a carousel and operate a trolley car, among other things.
Each year, a bevy of model train hobbyists help plan for and set up the elaborate displays. Traverse City owns all displays at the Festival of Trains and these volunteers also purchase each year's expansion using funds generated by the previous festival.
Beginning around Labor Day, volunteers gather to paint, refurbish and plan for the upcoming event. About a week before opening, they descend on the City Opera House to set up. Some volunteers burn vacation time for the project while a retired engineer draws up detailed blueprints of each display.
But the miles of miniature track and wiring, crates of scenery and hundreds of trains and accessories always make it up in time.
"Everything is in pieces at first and we have to put it all together," Dowdall said.
With last year's festival drawing 6,000 attendees, the money generated by ticket sales gives a real boost to the Opera House's operating budget. During the past 11 years, the Festival of Trains has raised more than $100,000 to help with costs of maintenance and operation of this 120-year-old facility.
This year, with the City Opera House closing for extensive renovations that begin in mid-January, Bryan Crough, Downtown Development Authority Executive Director, had to find a place to store the cherished displays until next time. He picked up the phone and managed to surprise the city manager.
"I called Richard Lewis and said, 'You may not know it but you own a really, really big train set and we need a place to store it," Crough recalled. "The upshot is that we're going to store it at a city facility for the year."
With an estimate of 12 to 15 months to complete the Opera House's $7.5 million renovation, Crough is not sure the facility will be available next year for the Festival of Trains. Given the festival's popularity and tradition, he plans to explore other options.
"We would like to bring the festival back next year in another venue, even if it is just a part of it," he said.