It’s like stepping back into a bygone era, one not that long removed but quickly forgotten.

In a 900-square-foot building in the front yard of Harold “Buz” Beal and Helen Beal’s Jonesport home is the Maine Central Model Railroad.

Over the past 17 years, the couple has painstakingly created an HO-scale replica of the route run by the Maine Central Railroad, which went out of business in 1985.

Buz has been intrigued by trains since age 12, when he received an S-scale locomotive for Christmas (that engine is mounted on the wall just inside the door to his railroad building).

“I always wanted to do this, but I was in the service for years and I couldn’t do it,” Buz explained. “After I got some age on me, I could do it.”

Railroading is in the couple’s blood. Her father was a boilermaker and two of her brothers worked for Bangor & Aroostook Railroad. His grandfather was an engineer and his uncle a conductor for Canadian Pacific.

Yet Buz ended up going in a different direction.

“I was born here, into a family of fishermen, so I went into the Coast Guard for 26 years,” he said.

Buz and Helen started the project in 1988, working on it eight to nine months of each year and completing it a couple of years ago. It took some 4,000 trees, 400 animals and people, 3,000 feet of track, 417 freight cars, 20 engines and thousands of hours to complete.

Traversing the walkways alongside the layout, it’s possible to pick out distinctive landmarks from along the MCR route: Union Station and Stephen King’s house in Bangor (complete with figures representing Steve and Tabby on the front porch), Harbor House, BJ Coop Lobster House and Mansfield House in Jonesport and Machias station. Buz handpainted the impressive scenic backdrops for the display.

The couple had planned to have the railroad for their own enjoyment, but word got out. The MCMR has been open to the public for four years.

“The original idea was just for ourselves to run it, but people heard about it and it just snowballed,” Buz explained.

Now, once a week from Memorial Day through Labor Day, Buz, his nephew Harry Fish and Steve Peabody of Jonesport and Lyman Crowley of Beals Island get together and run the railroad, following the route that it once took. (In the offseason, call ahead. The Beals will do their best to accommodate visitors.)

“It’s not run helter-skelter,” Buz said with a bit of disdain.

Inside the door of the display room, there are two maps on the walls, with colorful pins stuck in them, representing the places in the United States and the world where visitors to the MCMR had come from.

When groups come to visit, eight to 10 at a time are allowed inside. “If you get too many, you can’t get around,” Buz said.

The couple keeps a close eye on little children who are visiting.

“If one gets under a table, and pulls out a wire, we’d never find it,” Helen said.

The layout has been pretty much complete for two years. If there’s a problem, “we take it up and redo it,” Buz said.

Helen fondly recalled getting passes and going on vacation on the train. Remembering the history of railroads is a big part of the Maine Central Model Railroad.

“They’re trying to get rid of it in the state,” Buz said. “This keeps it alive, and let’s the children see what railroading used to be. People lose sight of the fact that railroading built this country.”

For more information about the Maine Central Model Railroad, call Buz or Helen Beal at 497-2255. Dale McGarrigle can be reached at dmcgarrigle@bangordailynews.net.