THE VIRGINIAN-PILOT
Copyright (c) 1996, Landmark Communications, Inc.
DATE: Thursday, January 25, 1996 TAG: 9601240137
SECTION: SUFFOLK SUN PAGE: 18 EDITION: FINAL
SOURCE: BY FRANK ROBERTS, STAFF WRITER SUFFOLK
LENGTH: Short : 46 lines
IF YOU LIKE trains, you'll want to make tracks Sunday to Nansemond-Suffolk Academy, where 90 tables will be filled with just about anything connected to model railroading.
A meet of the Virginia Train Collectors will run from 9 a.m. to 1 p.m. One or two sets may be up and running, but emphasis is on selling and trading.
``Our guys call it the best day of the year,'' said meet chairman Russ Dolbear. ``Trains all morning, the Super Bowl in the afternoon.''
The statewide organization holds most of its meetings in Richmond and Fredericksburg, but it comes to Suffolk once a year.
Past meets were held in the Bennetts Creek Rescue Squad building, but moving to N-SA means double the space to attract people, primarily collectors/enthusiasts, from Virginia, North Carolina and Maryland.
All scales are represented, from HO to O and F gauge. Some LGB, produced in Germany, also will be for sale.
``It's not a cheap hobby, but a young kid can have an inexpensive set to get started,'' Dolbear said. ``About 25 cents can get you light bulbs, couplers, smokestacks at the meet.''
He added, though, a dedicated collector would have no trouble spending $2,500 or so for a pre-World War II Lionel Blue Comet, ``a prize that's highly sought after.'' Dolbear sees his enthusiasm for train and track as ``looking at a piece of history. I don't know how many other toys made in 1910 are still functioning.''
Early trains, made of die-cast metal or lithograph tin plate, were followed after World War II with plastic models.
``Now, it's back to quality,'' he said, with Lionel and others producing die-cast trains.
Dolbear, who lives in Chester, said, ``I enjoy sharing with kids.'' He hosts an annual open house, and 75 to 90 children attend, he said. His interest stems from his childhood. ILLUSTRATION: Photo
This Lionel No. 51, circa 1912, is on display at the Virginia Train
Collectors meet at N-SA.
by CNB