The Southern Alberta Model Railway Club hosted its annual open house this weekend, allowing the public to see their newly expanded facility in Gyro Park.
The club has seen a steady growth in membership from people of all ages since its incorporation in 1972.
Braeden Dunne, 20, became member of the railway club after an open house in 2015.
Soon after his enrolment, plans for a major expansion took place, with construction finishing in September 2017.
“The expansion is a very great thing for us,” Dunne said. “Not only does it allow us more room to grow for the layout itself, it gives us more space for our open houses, and it gives us more opportunities for the trains.”
Like many other members in the group, his passion for modelling began at a young age.
“My dad got me into the hobby at about age six. He had a little setup, a little layout in his basement for me and that was when I was first introduced to modelling myself,” Dunne recalled.
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People who visited the open house have fond memories of the club, hoping to pass them along their kids.
“My dad brought me here one time, when I was like 10, so that would have been 20 some years ago.. and we had our kids with us, so we thought it would be fun to show them,” Colin Sheen said.
“Our little boys are obsessed with Chuggington, the show Chuggington, they love trains.”
The work done by the club is not going unnoticed.
“A lot of the details – the small little details. Like there’s one over here, there’s a house and they’re playing basketball and there’s even a guy dunking on the rim – so even little details like that is pretty cool,” said Sheen.
The club has grown from a modest 10 members to 30, meeting every Tuesday.