Larry Causey reported on the show in the Temple Daily Telegram.

A good crowd, fascinating model train layouts and wall-to-wall vendors filled the Frank W. Mayborn Civic and Convention Center on Saturday, for the 22nd annual Temple Model Train Show.

“It’s turning out to be a real good show,” Bill Lancaster, show chairman for Central Texas Area Model Railroaders, said. “The vendors seem to be doing fairly well.”

About 2,000 people came to the show last year, he said. CentraMod sold 63 tickets in the first 30 minutes Saturday.

Vendors offered model train equipment of every size and description, along with books, videos and T-shirts. Huge, detailed model train layouts drew streams of onlookers.

The winner of a portable model train layout will be drawn, an hour before the show closes today. The show runs 11 a.m. to 5 p.m. Admission is $5 and $4 for senior adults. Active duty military and their dependents get in free today.

Josh Chlapek, 23, who graduated from Temple High School in 1999, started coming to the model train show about 15 years ago. Chlapek, now living in Denton, had his G-gauge layout set up Saturday in one of the side rooms.

Chlapek said he started in model trains with a circle on a table. His layout now is too big for a garage or living room. Saturday, he had an outer loop with two inner loops, and three trains running at the same time.

In his “switching yard,” he has other trains, including a Santa Fe passenger train.

Sena E. Ash reported on the show in the Temple Daily Telegram.

People just like trains.

That’s why the 21st Annual Model Train Show at the Frank W. Mayborn Civic and Convention Center attracted several thousand people from all over the state Saturday.

Jim and Debbie McKimmey of Cameron came to look at the big model train sets and attended the modeling clinics to learn how to make trees and scenery.

McKimmey, who is a retired cop and firefighter and has been a train modeler for many years, explained, “I’ve always loved trains.”

“A lot of these folks grew up during the ’40s and ’50s, and that’s why I think they like them,” Mrs. McKimmey said.

Not only do people like trains; they like the nostalgia surrounding them. While model trains were available in every size, shape and color (Civil War Train Set – Assembles in Minutes!! – 131 pieces), many booths also sold ’40s and ’50s memorabilia.

The train show continues from 11 a.m. to 5 p.m. today.

One booth owner said he worked for the railroad in its heyday, the ’40s, ’50s and ’60s. Over his 34 years of traveling with the railroad, he picked up bits and pieces of train paraphernalia, which he now sells at train shows.

He has date nails, old timetables and a sign that says, “Kindly flush toilet after each use except when train is standing in station.”

He said he was working for the railroad when coal was phased out in favor of diesel. (Which might explain why one booth was selling coal in little sandwich bags.)

Jennifer Marciniak reported on the dedication in the Temple Daily Telegram.

The Santa Fe Gardens will be dedicated officially today in conjunction with the grand opening of the Santa Fe Community Market.

The dedication, which will feature State Rep. Dianne White Delisi, R-Temple, as keynote speaker, will be at 10:30 a.m. at the garden area under the 3rd Street bridge near the Santa Fe depot.

As part of the opening ceremony, the hand-pumped train cars under the bridge will be opened to the public for the first time.

The cars, for now, will only be open to the public on the third Saturday of every month for $1 per person per ride, said Mary Irving, curator of the Railroad and Heritage Museum.

The cars have the potential to be opened up more frequently during the summer depending on the customer base.

“This is a real nice little park for families to come and bring their toddlers,” said Mrs. Irving. “It’s just a really, really nice little park.”

By opening the cars on the third Saturday of every month, Mrs. Irving said, museum patrons will also be able to visit the CentraMod Model Railroad exhibit, which is open at the same time.

Randy Ray reported on the show in the Temple Daily Telegram.

The expanded version of the Texas Train and Heritage Festival shifts into high gear today and Sunday for the first of two event-filled weekends. Activities for the 20th annual festival are planned this weekend and for Sept. 21-22.

This weekend will offer music, living history demonstrations, Civil War-era re-enactments and other activities on the grounds of the downtown Santa Fe Depot, 315 W. Ave B.

The second weekend will feature the annual Central Texas Area Model Railroaders’ Model Train Show at the Frank W. Mayborn Civic and Convention Center, 3303 N. 3rd St.

The festival started Friday with a Tejano Night concert and dance featuring music by Marlisa Vela and Co., and Los Desperadoz.

Anna Foster reported on the depot in the Temple Daily Telegram.

The Temple City Council unanimously approved Thursday officially abandoning 1st Street between Adams and Central avenues and renting the Moody Depot for use by the CentraMod Model Railroading Club. City staff laughed in relief after the vote on the one-block segment of 1st Street, thanking the council for its action – the street has been physically gone for weeks as construction crews work on the city’s downtown plaza project.

Planning Director B.A. Bailey said in response to a question from Mayor Keifer Marshall Jr. that although many people – some city officials included – thought the action had already been taken, the official procedure to abandon the street had not been done. Ms. Bailey did show the council, however, part of a council-approved resolution from several years ago that authorized the staff to go after the grant they eventually received to fund the project, which committed the city to abandoning the street.

The project will replace the Municipal Building’s main parking lot with the downtown plaza, which will have a visitors’ center and be used for festivals in addition to parking space.