For the Love of Model Trains

One of the largest and most extensive model train layouts in the Central Valley makes its home inside Selma’s former train station. The Fresno Model Railroad Club has been adding and restoring layouts in the building for the past 50 years. 

Geoff Brown has been the head landscape designer for the Fresno Model Railroad Club for more than 25 years.

“The scenery is what captures my attention because I love doing it as you can see haha. I make all the trees and I’m trying to teach some of these newbies,” Brown says.

One of those newbies is two-year member Dave Theis. He enjoys the sense of community and acceptance that he found at the Fresno Model Railroad Club.

“The first time I came here, one of the guys that were here, John, a tremendous fellow, hands me a controller and says, ‘here you go. Run a train.’ They were just welcoming, friendly. It was just a great place to be a part of,” Theis says.

As much as these trains might look like toys, Brown wants to make it clear that they are not toys.

They’re adult trains. You wouldn’t give this to your kid because he’d make dust out of it and then there go $300 to $400. You can let them watch, but you don’t let them play with it,” Brown says.

As these members continue to show love and appreciation for their model trains they continue to prove that you are never too old to be young at heart.