The Maine Central Model Railroad tracks wind through real Maine places, passing mines and mills, lobster boats and lighthouses, cities and villages. Sharp eyes might spy Stephen King’s house and Dysart’s Truck Stop in Bangor, the former Champion Paper in Bucksport, lobstermen docking at Cape Split, lumbermen rolling logs, a hunter surprised by a bear, even an accident scene complete with an ambulance.
Maine Central Model Railroad covers 900 square feet and features 4,000 trees, 407 train cars, 3,000 feet of track, 11 bridges and trestles, and 200 switches
“We hit about everything,’’ Harold “Buz” Beal told me in 2009. “There’s even an outhouse. Now that’s getting down to the nitty-gritty.” At that time, the model, built with the help and support of his wife, Helen, was in a garage adjacent to his home in the down east lobster-fishing village of Jonesport.
I visited a few more times, but when Buz passed in 2013, I feared for the Maine Central Model Railroad’s future. But thanks to a $2.6 million donation from the Wyss Medical Foundation, the railroad will relocate to a purpose-built home on the campus of Kennebunkport’s Seashore Trolley Museum.
Realizing a childhood dream
“I’ve got railroading in my blood,’’ said Buz, a Jonesport native and 26-year Coast Guard veteran. His grandfather was a Canadian Pacific engineer. Buz began planning the model’s layout as a boy.
He had a track plan. And he knew the model would fill the building before they started construction. The finished model covers 900 square feet and features 4,000 trees, 407 train cars, 3,000 feet of track, 11 bridges and trestles, and 200 switches. But it wasn’t until around 1989, when he had returned to Jonesport after nearly 50 years away, that he began building this dream with Helen.
Twelve years and thousands of hours later, they completed it. “You have to have the place, the opportunity, and the patience,’’ he said. And the right partner. “Helen’s family were railroad people. We’ve been married 25 years [in 2009] and never had an argument. We’re two peas in a pod.’’
Maine Central Model Railroad built by hand
Buz and Helen built everything by hand using tweezers, glue, and plaster of Paris.
“We didn’t know what the heck we were doing. We did it as we went along, 6 to 8 feet at a time,’’ Beal said. In Jonesport, the model rested on a maze of tables with varying heights. “I didn’t want it all the same; it gets humdrum if you do that,’’ he added. The design allowed visitors to walk through the layout.
Helen built the tiny houses and cut 600 windows by hand using an X-Acto knife. She also affixed trees and painted all the small pieces. Buz painted the houses and built the larger structures. Some cars were built from scratch, some made from kits, others bought. The granite cliffs and wooded mountains were created with layered plaster-soaked paper towels.
All aboard! Operating the trains
The model has three sections, and full operation requires a trained volunteer operating each. In addition, there are boxcars and grain cars, gondolas, and cars designed to carry gas, oil, or coal.
“You have to know all the businesses, how many cars can fit on a siding by each business, and know what every car is and what it carries or is used for. There’s a lot to it. People look and don’t realize that,’’ Buz explained.
When the model was in his garage, he would operate one train through the entire layout for most visitors. That took 10 minutes. When he flipped the power switch, lights came on inside the buildings, and the clang, whistles, and chug of trains filled the air.
“I don’t know what it is about a train that’s so fascinating. It’s just two engines pulling cars behind; it’s not rocket science,’’ Buz said, as his eyes followed the train through the Maine landscape. “It’s just mesmerizing. I never tire of it.’’
Bright future for the Maine Central Model Railroad
After the Seashore Trolley Museum‘s new building is complete, a professional model railroad layout moving company will help set up the layout in its new home. It also will add the new sections needed.
The museum plans for volunteers and a future all-ages Model Railroad Club to help refresh the layout and build the landscape and new buildings for the new sections. In keeping with the museum’s focus, new additions likely will include trolley lines.
The Seashore Trolley Museum will change from seasonal to year-round operation when the building is complete.
I imagine Buz would be thrilled.
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Read about another impressive model railway at Sky Lodge, in Moose River, near Jackman, Maine.
