Page 48 - All Scale Rails Magazine Issue 27_ 2021
P. 48
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now, three different clubs had been formed floor in the middle of Union Station! Howev-
and were growing, bringing together model er, after the meeting, a few people pushed
railroaders with similar interests in three dif- some of the wooden benches together and set
ferent cities across the country and they all up a few tracks just to run what they could,
had Jerry to thank. right there, in the middle of the station.
A family member’s medical issues prompt- After a few meetings there, a local hobby
ed him to request an assignment closer to Mil- shop owner came and offered to the group the
waukee. After securing an assignment and meeting room at his hobby shop. The day of
moving back to his hometown, Jerry joined the meeting it was standing room only with
back up with his friends at the Lionel Railroad people spilling out of the hobby shop onto the
Club. One day Lionel contacted the club to sidewalk, waiting their turn to get in to the
see if they would be interested in setting up meeting. Thus The Chicagoland Lionel Rail-
their layout at a large hobby trade show down road Club was born. Residents of Kenosha,
in Chicago. Lionel wanted a functional layout Wisconsin who wanted their own local club
to show off their merchandise and they wanted instead of going south to Chicago or north to
the Milwaukee Lionel Railroad Club to do it! Milwaukee contacted Jerry, who enthusiasti-
To sweeten the deal, Lionel offered to pay the cally helped them form the Lionel Club of
club in product to man the layout for the Kenosha.
week-long show. Jerry is a devoted ambassador for the mod-
Once in Chicago, Jerry posed the question, el railroading hobby. Every place that he
“Why didn’t Lionel just invite the local Lionel goes it is simply in his nature to bring others
club to display?” The answer was simple and into that wonderful world. Each of the clubs
unbelievable: there wasn’t one. Again he is family oriented; they go on family themed
thought that surely there would be people who trips and host events and fundraisers for local
loved Lionel and would be interested in be- Children’s Hospitals and other charity organi-
longing to a club. He had no idea how right zations as well as Boy Scout Badge programs.
he would be. Putting up flyers on the layout, The Lionel Railroad Club even has a unique
Jerry collected numerous contacts that would patch design that Boy Scouts can earn and is
be interested in joining a Lionel club, if there approved by the BSA for display on their uni-
was one. forms.
The place where people could gather had to Securing a job at a local hobby shop after
be big enough to hold everyone and it had to he retired, Jerry thought he had scored the
be a centralized, well known place to make it ultimate job: getting paid to work with trains!
easier to find. So Jerry picked a time and told One day the store owners decided that to pull
everyone who could, to meet in the Grand in a younger crowd and generate more inter-
Hall in Union Station, Chicago. When the est in model railroading from a younger de-
people poured in, many who had come via mographic it would present “Storytime with
trains, some with boxes full to the brim with Thomas the Tank.” Voted by his peers to be
locomotives and rolling stock and others with the most identifiable with the kids, Jerry
carts full of trains and track, Jerry’s plan for a would don an Engineer’s cap and a bandanna
low key first meeting took a sharp turn. and would do the story time presentation.
Jerry explained that there was no way that As with everything he had done up to this
they could set up a train layout right on the point, Jerry poured his heart and soul into En-
48 All Scale Rails
