By David Humphrey
For The Herald Bulletin
ANDERSON — From the 1940s to the 1970s, the city of Anderson served as a crossroads for the country’s railway system.
Passenger and freight trains passed through while transporting travelers and goods across the nation.
Roger Hensley remembers those days.
“When I was a youngster trains were the thing for kids,” he added. “Everyone loved to watch trains as they passed through town and everyone wanted their own model train set.”
Now, train enthusiasts have the opportunity to relive those days again.
“What’s a Christmas Without Trains?” will be on exhibit through Dec. 30 at the Madison County History Center, 7 W. 11th St.
Visitors are given the opportunity to enjoy model railroad sets, and watch videos containing footage of historic trains. Model railroad enthusiast Hensley will be at the center to answer questions about trains, both big and small alike.
Hensley also serves as president of the Madison County History Center. His love for trains began at an early age.
“I would lie awake at night and hear the train whistle coming from a distance,” Hensley said. “The cars were barely visible with the dim lights inside as the train moved steadily along the track. I’m not really sure what I was doing out of bed at two o’clock in the morning, but seeing and hearing those trains was quite an experience for a person my age.”
The earliest model railways are the carpet railways designed in the 1840s. Electric trains later appeared around the turn of the 20th century.
During this time, Joshua Lionel Cowan founded the Lionel Manufacturing Co. Though he wasn’t the first to design and manufacture model trains, the Lionel is perhaps the most popular model train of all time.
However, in the 1960s the sale of model trains went into a decline, likely due to an increase of traveling by automobiles and airplanes. But Hensley’s interest in the hobby continued.
“In 1971,” he recalled, “I went into Woolworth’s and bought all of the HO train models they had. I built two four-by-eight-foot layouts for my kids. But they weren’t interested in trains at all. It turned out to be my hobby not theirs.”
An HO scale yard, models of Hoosier traction cars, HO passenger and circus equipment, and HO scale buildings are among items on display at the train exhibit.
There is also a video that features vintage film clips of trains from the early to mid-1900s. Some of the footage was filmed in downtown Anderson, including shots of the Big Four Depot.
This was the site where many young men from Anderson departed for boot camp during World War II. Historians estimate that during the mid 1900s, a train passed through Anderson every eight minutes.
“That’s a pretty good estimation,” Hensley said. “I would say that millions of trains came through Anderson from the mid-’40s to the mid ’70s.”
At “What’s A Christmas Without Trains?” children of all ages can be an engineer and operate model trains through mountain side tunnels, or maneuver hook ups in the miniature train yard.
On Dec. 21, a Bachman HO train set will be given away, courtesy of the History Center.
“Kids enjoy trains because they move and do things,” Hensley said. “You can interchange cars and arrange your set over and over again and never grow tired of it.”
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Train exhibit is model for fun
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