Model train village a Christmas tradition
Jim Armstrong works on his miniature train village inside the garage of his Franklin Township home. Armstrong’s father, Jim Sr., bought his son a Lionel train at the age of 6 and it’s been a family passion ever since.
Jim Armstrong works on a miniature train at his Franklin Township home.
Jim Armstrong works on a miniature train village inside the basement of his Franklin Township home.
WAYNESBURG – What began as a childhood hobby with model trains has turned into a sprawling Christmas tradition each year when Jim Armstrong Jr. transforms his Franklin Township home into a miniature winter wonderland.
Each year, Armstrong sets up more than a dozen trains of various sizes and eras that chug around his basement game room and adjacent garage, and the setup is growing each year.
“I’ve got a passion for these things,” he said. “It’s a lot of work, but it’s a lot of fun.”
Six trains steam around more than 40 ceramic houses, purchased over the years by Armstrong’s mother, that form a miniature village in the garage. A few feet away in the basement four trains wrap around the Christmas tree with four more on an adjacent set of tracks that take up nearly half of the basement filled with dozens of “plasticville houses.”
Another 10 trains are in storage and may come out one day to expand the exhibit, Armstrong said.
Beginning in early November, Armstrong pulls out countless tubs filled with trains and accessories and begins crawling around the floor putting up a little bit each day.
“I put a lot of time and effort, crawling around on my hands and knees to set it all up,” he said. “It takes time and patience.”
The patience comes in handy when prop telephone poles fall down, lights don’t work or trains derail in the corner behind the tree.
Armstrong’s father, Jim Sr., bought his son a Lionel train at the age of 6 and it’s been a family passion ever since. The family always had a train running around the Christmas tree, along with miniature villages, in their Claysville home, he said.
Armstrong continued his father’s tradition through the years, but took it to another level while raising his own family.
Armstrong, 72, owned and operated Jim’s Stop and Shop convenience store in Prosperity for 33 years before selling the store in 2010. Armstrong and Diane, his wife of 51 years, lived in an upstairs two-bedroom apartment those final five years before moving to Greene County after selling the store.
He had to go on a short hiatus while living there since the small, two-bedroom apartment was not nearly large enough to set up the model trains during Christmas. He would rearrange the furniture – much to Diane’s chagrin – while typically setting up only a train or two in one of the bedrooms.
That all changed when they moved to their home in Franklin Township.
“When I came here, I went crazy,” Armstrong said.
He’ll keep the exhibit up until February, when he reluctantly dismantles the village piece by piece.
“He’s got tubs everywhere, but he enjoys it and that’s what’s most important,” Diane said. “I just tell him to make sure to clean it all up.”
Now, Armstrong is passing on the tradition to his 11-year-old grandson, who has taken an interest in the train sets.
“I just have something in me where they fascinate me,” Armstrong said. “I can’t explain it.”