Drew Benjamin, a freshman at Baker High School, wants to start a club for model train enthusiasts. A meeting is planned on Saturday, Jan. 18, at noon at the Baker County Library in Baker City.

For Drew Benjamin the whole thing started with Thomas the Tank Engine.

The loquacious locomotive, introduced by British authors Wilbert and Christopher Awdry in the 1940s and later starring in a long-running television series, is a “golden memory of my childhood,” as Benjamin puts it.

Not that Benjamin, a freshman at Baker High School who turns 15 in February, has completely given up Thomas for ostensibly more mature fare.

“Even still today I like watching Thomas,” Benjamin said on Friday, Jan. 10.

And those cherished memories continue to influence his interest in model railroads.

The level of that interest is easy to gauge with the briefest glance around the room adjoining the garage at Benjamin’s home in Baker Valley.

A plywood platform, set at about chest height against the room’s northeast corner, is criss-crossed with sections of rail.

Nearby stand stacks of plastic bins crammed with locomotives and railcars, lengths of wire and the other accoutrements that a model train enthusiast requires.

Benjamin said his railroad is very much a work in progress.

As he nears the end of his first semester in high school, he concedes that the academic demands have trimmed the time he can devote to his favorite pastime.

His current goal is to finish the set up by his junior year.

But Benjamin said a model railroad never needs to be complete so long as its designer keeps tinkering.

The options, he said, are limited only by imagination.

Or, perhaps, by suggestions from other model railroad fans.

Which is one reason Benjamin is trying to start a local club.

He’s scheduled a meeting for Saturday, Jan. 18, at noon at the Baker County Library, 2400 Resort St.

“We want to figure out who the rail fans and modelers are around the Baker area,” Benjamin said. “Trains are fun and we want to build a community around that.”

Benjamin, who moved from Ontario to Baker City about five years ago, said he belongs to a model railroad club in Caldwell, Idaho.

But since he can’t drive, he can’t attend every club meeting.

“I wanted something closer,” he said.

Benjamin said he has friends who are also interested in model trains, and he hopes to bring adults into the club as well.

Railroads and history

Benjamin’s interest with the rails isn’t limited to models.

Ever since he first rode on the Sumpter Valley Railroad, the restored narrow-gauge, steam-powered attraction in Baker County, he’s been fascinated with the renowned “Stump Dodger,” which hauled millions of board-feet of ponderosa pine, tons of gold-bearing ore, and thousands of passengers during its run from 1890 until it closed in the 1940s.

Benjamin was, as near as he can remember, 3 or 4 when he climbed aboard one of Sumpter’s restored cars for the first time.

The event was a special trip when “robbers” wielding revolvers and rifles held up the Stump Dodger.

“I could just never forget that memory,” he said.

Benjamin said he’s eager to join the cadre of volunteers who operate the Sumpter Valley Railroad as well as depots in McEwen and Sumpter.

Moving from wood to metal

Benjamin said his progression in model railroads was typical.

He started with wooden trains and tracks.

He provided all the power, having yet to graduate to trains propelled by electricity.

“I played with them for a while,” he said. “I would make up a huge set up and play with them for days on end.”

Benjamin was about 9 when he bought his first electric locomotive.

His grandpa, Dave Benjamin, who lives in Parma, Idaho, donated sections of track.

For years, birthday and Christmas gifts have tended toward a common theme.

“From then on I received more cars, engines,” Benjamin said.

An alternative to screens

Benjamin believes model trains can give people of his generation, who have never known life without smartphones, an option that doesn’t involve scrolling through social media or websites.

The hobby requires both physical skills and creativity, he said.

More elaborate railroads can include trees, mountains and other elements that can be quite realistic when rendered by people who have both the ability and the patience.

“It’s not an easy task but it really is worth it in the end when you can see something running,” Benjamin said.

He’s also excited about the potential for model railroading to forge friendships that might not happen otherwise.

“I think the hobby can bring us all together,” Benjamin said.

Drew Benjamin is inviting anyone interested in model trains to attend a meeting Saturday, Jan. 18, at noon at the Baker County Library, 2400 Resort St.

Benjamin, 14, a freshman at Baker High School, wants to start a local club devoted to the hobby.

“Trains are fun and we want to build a community around that.”

— Drew Benjamin, 14, who wants to start a model railroad club in Baker City