Looking for a unique gift for the train aficionado in your life?
An Oliver, B.C., resident is selling his model railway layout, a one-of-a-kind design that took hundreds of hours to create.
“Holy smokes … six months times 40 hours,” Cowboy Rowland deadpanned when asked by Global News how long it took to build.
Rowland said the N-scale layout comes apart in two sections – 4×8 and 3×8 – and features four trains on two tracks. The display also has working lights, and comes with scores of trains and cars.
“When I was young, my dad had an HO setup,” said Rowland. “Being a little kid, I was always intrigued with it and always wanted one, all my life.
“A neighbour of mine was selling some N-scale trains, so I picked up a couple of locomotives and I had a little track. One thing led to another and I just started building it.”
As for why he’s selling it, Rowland said it’s a long story, stemming from the COVID-19 pandemic and, with the border temporarily closed, how he and his band couldn’t cross into the U.S. to play gigs.
So a room dedicated to music in his home instead became an area dedicated to fun.
Now, though, he wants to return the room to music, so the train set has to go. That, and he’s picked up a passion for flying remote-control airplanes.
It’s selling for $1,750, though Rowland says he put an easy $8,000 into the work of passion.
Rowland said he’s had some nibbles, mostly about piecemealing the layout. However, he says it’s all or nothing.
“Some guys want engines, some guys want cars, some guys want scenery,” said Rowland. “And I have boxes of more stuff as well.”
Like most layouts, Rowland’s version has a wide variety of scenes, including a town setting, agriculture, a mountain, a resort, water scenes and a baseball diamond.
“Once I got enough track, I took a felt pen and measured it all out,” said Rowland. “It kind of progressed, one thing after another.”
The train set can be viewed on Facebook.
Buying a set like that isn’t for the faint of heart, as it requires space. But one Okanagan resident involved in the model train hobby says buying second-hand sets makes financial sense.
“We see five, six or seven (layout sales) a year,” said David Winter, a longtime member of a model train club in Peachland, adding enthusiasts can save money because most layouts have plenty of everything that’s needed.
However, Winter also cautioned that “it can be tough to sell a railroad as-is because sometimes it just doesn’t fit the second person’s plans.”
Regardless, Winter says layout sales are still a good opportunity to get into the hobby, or to further one’s collection.
In fact, he says his local club has benefited from layouts either being sold or gifted to them.
That club, the Central Okanagan Railway Company, has a massive and interactive layout in HO-scale in Peachland’s museum. Winter estimates the layout has in excess of 700 feet of track.
“When they come here to the museum and see the trains run,” said Winter, “quite a few of them come back again and again, with their parents, just to see them run.”
He added the club has model trains and related parts that they give away.
“They can take them home and create what they want,” said Winter. “And if they want to get more serious, then at least they have a start.”