Crossroads Railroad Club “models” Vandalia community
VANDALIA, OH — Vandalia may be known for aviator love, but here, surrounded by trees and tracks on a Tuesday night, it’s trains bringing people together.
The Crossroads Railroad Club, meeting at 304 N. Dixie Dr. and founded in 1978, has long been part of Vandalia history, crafting models far more intricate than children’s sets.
Here, members create whole worlds with unique scales and landscapes, each with their own living personalities. Models shop on windblown streets. Teens swim at the base of a waterfall. Carefully modeled trains run smoothly along the tracks, and down the loop, a series of circuit boards keep the whole operation running.
“There's a wide variety of things that people might have that they like … [about] the hobby,” Michael Stough, treasurer and acting N scale superintendent, said. “There are people that like the electrical stuff. There are people who like painting and weathering stuff. There's the scenery.”
With 59 active members, there’s plenty of interest to go around. Yet their reason for joining, Stough said, often goes back to an interest in trains.
Stough himself has loved railroads since childhood, sharing his passion with his father and hearing stories about his grandfather, a Southern Pacific Railroad firefighter.
Trains have been a form of connection, and it’s not all serious. A Yeti hides along one mountain ridge. A UFO can be spotted in the hilltops. Printed memes hang above the desk.
“I've got some place to go,” Stough said. “And, of course, you get a new set of friends that have the same interests as you do.”
Offering an invitation to anyone in the community, Stough noted that the group is always looking for new members. Crossroads Railroad Club meets Tuesdays from 5:30–9 p.m. in the basement of 304 N. Dixie Dr. Club dues are $40 per year, granting access to information, equipment, and plenty of local locomotive love. For more information, visit https://www.crossroadsrr.com/.
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