Herbert has built a city that is prototypical of those in the late 1950s to early
1960s. The “vegetation” he uses is frommoss, sedum, butterfly bushes, nandina,
and roots of dead plants right from his own yard. To lengthen their usefulness
he sprays these cuttings with hair spray before installing them. His total display
is over 70 feet in length.
Herbert has even built all the tracks for his trains, which means cutting
matchstick sized pieces of wood into lengths of about 2 inches, staining each
piece and placing them a scant 3/8 inch or so apart to hold the rails his train will
ride. Each cross section of wood is anchored in two places with a metal “spike”
to replicate actual train tracks. The rails come in a continuous roll of metal. It is
painstaking work and he has made over 600 feet of that track, including trestles
and bridges, all cut, stained and glued. It would have to be a labor of love.
Throughout Herbert’s city (as in Jim’s) are telephone poles and electric street
lights. He has strung over 500 feet of 12 gauge wire for the telephone lines and,
of course, his street lights actually work. One of the buildings in his city, he said,
included 80 pages of assembly instructions and “you better follow them step by
step or you get in trouble” by gluing the wrong parts together. The buildings he
uses come as kits like model cars or planes.
Surprisingly, Herbert’s interest in trains didn’t blossom until he was an adult. As
a child, his hobby was building models, which probably explains why he enjoys
making his own scenery.
Seven years ago, the SML Model Train Club, at the suggestion of member Jerry
Hale, a prominent figure in the SML community and the owner of an impressive
O-gauge train display himself, decided to hold an annual charity event for the
benefit of A Child’s Christmas, a program through Lake Christian Ministries
Discover Smith Mountain Lake
Winter 2015
18
