Retiree captures magic of play with model trains

BAILEYVILLE — A U.S. Army troop train, loaded with tanks, missiles and men, departs from the Vanceboro Railroad Depot. It winds past the Lionel Wood Mill and the Cedar Grove dance hall, across barren fields and remote streams and past the Washington County Jail where prisoners peer out the window.

The guards strategically stationed on flat cars remain vigilant. Suddenly the search light spots a single-engine plane as it prepares to attack the train. The soldiers move into action, load their missile onto its rocket launch and fire. The plane falls from the sky and Sam Gagner, model train enthusiast, has saved the world.

The troop train is part of an elaborate model train set that includes passenger, lumber, and freight trains. Part of the collection dates back to 1954, when Gagner purchased a Lionel Train set as a Christmas present for his son, Jeff.

Gagner, a retired paper maker from the Georgia Pacific Pulp and Paper Mill in Woodland, said that he grew up during the depression and his family could not afford a luxury like a model train set. He said his son was 6 years old when he got his train.

After purchasing the train set for his son, Gagner helped him mount it on a single 4-by-8-foot sheet of plywood.

“I bought the train at Western Auto and we would run it for a while, and put it away. Then I would get the bug and go back at it again. Pretty soon I had six sheets of plywood. Every time we got started we would lay out more track and add more buildings,” he said.

Gagner said that his wife Lois, a special education teacher at the Woodland Elementary School, and the other special education teachers, often brought their pupils to visit the Gagner home at Christmas time.

“To see those kids down there around the train set, is really rewarding. They are so happy to see it and they really enjoy it,” he said.

The train collection has grown to more than 200 feet of track, 11 engines, and more than 75 railroad cars. It also includes several original steam engines that are no longer available today except to collectors. Gagner’s collection includes not only the troop train, but passenger, freight, lumber, tank and work trains.

“The work train has a caboose with living quarters and it carries spare parts in case there is a breakdown. The work train also has a hand car with two fellas who pump their way around the track. I can put them on the track and they go where they want to. Kids got to play, you know,” he said with a laugh.

Gagner’s train collection takes up about half the area of his basement and includes an elaborate town with houses, stores, ornamental lighting and people who go in and out the stores. The main depot at Vanceboro has a large service garage that houses five steam engines. The steam engines move out of the garage with the aid of a rotating table that Gagner said was his round house. When he turned the round house, the tracks lined up and the engine pulled out of the garage and onto the siding.

Besides a wood mill, the Casey Jones Cafe and several houses, the set includes the Washington County Jail and a scaffold next to the jail. Justice is swift in Gagner’s town. The prisoner standing on the scaffold with a noose around his neck, can be dropped through the trap door with the push of a button.

The entire system can be operated by a central control panel that is a maze of wires, buttons and switches. Gagner, who wore a stripped railroad hat, sat on a stool in front of the control panel and moved the trains around the track.

Gagner said that he was proud of his hobby and was happy when he could demonstrate its versatility to other people who enjoyed the recapture of their youth and the magic of play with model trains.