North Olympic Peninsula Railroaders
What: 18th Train Show and Swap Meet
Where: Sequim Prairie Grange, 290 Macleay Road
When:10 a.m.-5 p.m. Saturday, Oct. 21; 10 a.m.-2 p.m. Sunday, Oct. 22
Cost: Free entry
Featuring: model train items and memorabilia, door prizes, children’s trains, and more.
More info: Call 582-1316 or email stevenstripp@juno.com
Even car guys can like trains.
For 40-plus years, Pat Furey of Sequim worked for General Motors designing interiors for automobiles, or “literally everything inside the glass,” he says, in Australia, England, Germany and the U.S.
Furey remains a train man though at 80. He said the allure of trains stuck with him because “that was the big Christmas gift when I was small.”
Growing up in New York, he remembers going into the showrooms for model train companies Lionel and American Flyer and being “wowed.” Over the years, Furey said he’s become less of a collector and more of a scene-setter with his model trains. Well-placed designs are set around his home but not in the bedroom or bathroom out of concern for making his house a “museum of trains.”
Furey finds how he sets the trains are a form of expression though.
“I see them as 3-D paintings,” he said. “I give them a little more than just a train.”
One example is a pig sticking its head out a rail car with two alligators outside. Another is a beached whale atop a custom cart Furey built after seeing a similar scene in a book.
“(Trains) are something I’m definitely in control of,” he said. “There’s no pressure. You can build at your own pace and you have an end result that’s completely coming from your own capabilities.”
Charter club
Furey is one of a few charter members still with the North Olympic Peninsula Railroaders, a miniature railroad collectors’ club, which holds its 18th annual show this Saturday-Sunday, Oct. 21-22, in the Sequim Prairie Grange, 290 Macleay Road.
He recalls learning of the club after a recommendation from a consignment shop owner that suggested he go. There he met up with club founder Joyce Horner in her Whistle Stop Barber Shop in Carlsborg and several model train fans like himself. From there, the club and show grew from word-of-mouth, he said.
The club’s first show saw about 500 people visit Greywolf Elementary in June 2000.
Furey said everyone was so excited they setup a second show in October 2000, which saw half as many people.
Despite less draw initially, club members stuck with an October date to guarantee children could attend during the school year, he said, and give visitors a chance to shop for Christmas and/or get ideas for gifts.
The show remains free to attend, and door prizes continue for visitors including an electric train set for one lucky child. Last year, about 500 people attended.
John Kumparak, club vice president, said this year’s show will “be a little different this year, but still have plenty to see and do.”
Club members continue to work on a large HO-scale layout that goes on display annually at the Clallam County Fair, but this year due to a lack of volunteers they won’t be able to transport the layout to the Sequim Prairie Grange.
“We’re looking forward to meeting new club members to help us continue building it and find new opportunities,” Kumparak said.
The club will host 20-plus vendors and four running train layouts including an N-scale, HO, O, and G-scale tracks with two available for children to use.
Steve Stripp, president of the club, said despite not having the large layout, the show this year is the “most hands-on for visitors than in years past.”
Along with the club’s annual show and participating in the fair, the club continued its tradition of displaying and talking trains at the Dungeness River Festival in September.
Furey said one experience at the festival sticks with him to this day about setting the perfect scene.
He had a tiny toy mouse placed on a train for fun and asked a girl if she could find it, which she did.
Furey said he forgot to put the mouse back there the next day and the girl came back with a friend to show her the mouse.
“She couldn’t find it and was almost in tears,” he said. “I glued it there later so I’d never forget it again.”
The North Olympic Peninsula Railroaders meet at 3 p.m. the last Saturday of every month in the Sequim Library, 630 N. Sequim Ave. except December. Their next meeting is Oct. 28.
For more information on the club and/or show, call 582-1316 or email stevenstripp@juno.com.
Reach Matthew Nash at mnash@sequimgazette.com.
Members of the North Olympic Peninsula Railroaders, from left, Steve Stripp, John Kumparak and Pat Furey discuss trains and the upcoming show for the club on Oct. 21-22 at the Sequim Prairie Grange. Sequim Gazette photo by Matthew Nash
In Pat Furey’s train collection, he views them as a 3-D painting where he tries to set an interesting scene that makes you want to look closer. Sequim Gazette photo by Matthew Nash
This mouse was glued to Pat Furey’s train after the Dungeness River Festival one year, he said, because he forgot to put it back in place the second day of the festival and a girl came back to show a friend and it was gone. “She couldn’t find it and was almost in tears,” he said. “I glued it there later so I’d never forget it again.” Sequim Gazette photo by Matthew Nash
Richard Bell with the North Olympic Peninsula Railroaders speaks with brothers Ben and Jack Clemens of Port Angeles at the club’s annual Trains Show and Swap Meet last year. The show continues this Saturday-Sunday at the Sequim Prairie Grange. Sequim Gazette file photo by Matthew Nash
