Garrett displays custom 200 square foot Lionel Model Train set
Highlands local and Center for Life Enrichment President Lee Garrett has had a love for Lionel model trains since he can remember sitting underneath the Christmas tree at eight years old.
Now, his basement is a wonderland for any model train lover, with a full-scale replica of his hometown with train tracks and several engines on the tracks above.
Garrett said that Lionel model trains were a staple for Christmas in the ‘50s and ‘60s.
“I got my first Lionel train when I was eight years old and I still have it and it still runs,” Garrett said. “Lionel trains were symbolic with Christmas, having a track run around the Christmas Tree. The man who invented Lionel trains in the 1900s was smart by marketing them at Christmas time.”
Thinking back to the first time he witnessed the small train work its Christmas magic, Garrett said he remembers the small amount of smoke it let out of the top and the logs he could put in the back of the train.
“Back in the day, you could press a button coal would come out, or logs would come out,” Garrett said. “You could blow the whistle and put a small white pellet in the stack of the engine to get the smoke to come out. For an eight-year-old, that was pretty good stuff.”
Now, several decades later, Garrett said the entire model train sets have gone from analog to digital.
“Everything back in those days were analog,” Garrett said. “It was very difficult to control them because of the rheostat. Now, these trains will go three scale miles an hour.”
Another difference over the years that Garrett mentioned was the scale size of the train.
“Back in the day, the trains were not scale,” Garrett said. “They were referred to as O-27 or O-31, which was in reference to the diameter of the track. It had nothing to do with true scale. That was done so they could get them in peoples’ houses.”
Growing up in the Virginia area in a town of close to 100 people, Garrett said he got to ride on the one of the last steam trains in America, the Powhatan Arrow, which increased his interest in model trains.
The Powhatan Arrow was one of the passenger trains of the Norfolk and Western. Its route ran from Norfolk, Virg., to Cincinnati, Ohio.
“The Norfolk and Western was the last major steam railroad in America,” Garrett said. “Everything else had gone diesel. Fast forward several years, I bought a couple of train sets here and there, then me and a friend of mine started buying and selling Lionel trains on the internet. We had a little business, and it was fun and actually a little bit profitable.”
When Garrett moved to Highlands and started building his house, he knew that he wanted to make space for a custom Lionel model train set.
“I found a group of really good craftsman out of New Jersey,” Garrett said. “They built the complete set in New Jersey. They took it apart and then built it back in my home in Highlands. It took them about a week to rebuild it. The trim carpenter for my house did all of the trim work around the base of it. Underneath, there is wiring everywhere, but with the base around it, you can’t see any of it.”
The set itself is decorated with LED signs from the ‘50s, houses replicated to look like Garrett’s hometown, a drive-in movie theatre that plays Battle Taxi, a Ferris wheel, mountains and much more, all powered by three transformers.
“I have several things that were in the Norfolk and Western area where I grew up,” Garrett said. “I have my grandfather’s community store that I worked at as a kid, the house I grew up in, the church I went to, all those things are here. It was important to me to have all of those staples where I grew up. I always say that I learned more practicing law in a town of 100 people than I ever did in law school.”
On July 20, Garrett will give a presentation at the Center of Life Enrichment in Highlands on the history of Lionel toy trains.
“The company started in the 1900s, but still goes on to this day,” Garrett said. “The 2020-2021 catalog contains 200 pages each. I basically just put together a PowerPoint with a few videos.”
Garrett said he hopes people get a couple of things away from his presentation, one being how Lionel trains dominated the Christmas scene back in the ‘50s.
“These Lionel trains were always constantly changing,” Garrett said. “Just the fact that they have endured for over 100 years is fascinating.”
The presentation “The Magic of Toy Trains,” will be held Tuesday, July 20, from 10 a.m., until noon and children may attend at no cost.
For more information, contact the Center for Life Enrichment at 828-526-8811.
Article by Christopher Smith