Toy Train

Sykesville dedicates its new train station tomorrow, with children outnumbering town officials and the local Rotary Club replacing railroad executives at the ribbon-cutting. The station, a replica of a rural depot, will serve Little Sykes Railway, a toy train that has carried some 5,000 riders on roundtrips since the town acquired it four years ago. The 700-square-foot building was a community project. The town staff designed the building. The Sykesville/South Carroll Rotary raised about $10,500 to pay for the materials, including a metal roof, cedar siding and fir beams and brackets.

Thanks to Bob Heaton and other Ten Hills-Hunting Ridge-Academy Heights readers for adding to the popular traditions surrounding the Edmondson Village Shopping Center. Last week, I rattled off a listing of 1950s stores in the center and managed to forget about Edmondson Sporting Goods, where Heaton "dropped a small fortune" on toy locomotives and cars for his model railroad layout. "I was in a syndicate with five other guys, and the 8-foot layout was in my basement.

A set of circa-1915 Baltimore-made toy electric trains, wrapped in brittle newspapers and stored away for the past 40 years, could be bid up to the cost of a new Ford Explorer when sold today at a local auction house.The pair of locomotives and an electric streetcar, with nine freight and passenger cars in their original pasteboard boxes, were produced before World War I by an electric motor company named Voltamp and modeled after B&O Railroad trains and city trolleys. The dozen pieces could sell for more than $30,000 at a Greenberg auction at the Sykesville-Freedom Fire Company in Sykesville.

Somewhere up in roundhouse heaven, the 19th-century railroad barons who fought ruthlessly for coast-to-coast dominance must be shaking their heads over the great modern day courtroom clash of the toy train titans. The trade-secret fight between Columbia's MTH Electric Trains, formerly known as Mike's Train House Inc., and suburban Detroit model-train icon Lionel LLC, once the world's biggest toy maker but now in bankruptcy, has generated reams of court filings and countless billable hours from lawyers over design drawings for model trains.

Bruce and Linda Greenberg have turned childhood hobbies into a successful business as owners of Greenberg Shows, a Sykesville company that organizes toy train and dollhouse shows.The Greenbergs' first toy train show was in 1976 at the Ellicott City Armory. They now do 35 shows a year in Maryland, Pennsylvania, New York and New Jersey.The Greenbergs also are expanding their shows into convention centers and fairgrounds in such states as California and Texas. But their annual show at the Timonium Fairgrounds -- the closest to their home -- continues to be their biggest.

Purkey's Toy Trains will hold its grand opening from 10 a.m. to 5 p.m. Saturday at 7604 Main St., Sykesville. The store is believed to be the first of its kind in the historic town. Owner Wiley Purkey, 47, opened the store Oct. 1. His train shop offers new train sets from Lionel, MTH, Marx, K-line and soon LGB. The shop also has wind-up toys, O-Scale cars and trucks, Plasticville buildings and used trains. The train shop adjoins Purkey's other business, Craftsman Art Co., the framing shop he has operated since 1988.

It always seemed to be a damp December evening when my father escorted me to Heller's Govans Hardware Store on York Road for Christmas browsing. There, amid the saws and paint cans, were miniature yards full of catsup red cabooses, yellow cattle wagons and silver passenger cars.The store had an odor of smoke pellets, machine oil and turpentine. Maybe only the scent of a fresh balsam Christmas tree can match that odor for memories, better if the two are mixed in the same room.We were not alone that night.

It seems that we are never too old to be interested in the wonder of toys and trains.I know that they have always had a way with me, no matter where I see them.Whether the toys are in a display case or in the hands of a child, I stop and take notice.On Sunday from 9 a.m. to 3 p.m., children and folks like me will have a wonderful time scouting the Old Toys and Train Show and Sale in the social hall at the Reese Fire Department.This is the second year for the event and it promises to be as exciting as it was last year.

Thanks to Bob Heaton and other Ten Hills-Hunting Ridge-Academy Heights readers for adding to the popular traditions surrounding the Edmondson Village Shopping Center. Last week, I rattled off a listing of 1950s stores in the center and managed to forget about Edmondson Sporting Goods, where Heaton "dropped a small fortune" on toy locomotives and cars for his model railroad layout. "I was in a syndicate with five other guys, and the 8-foot layout was in my basement.

In many American homes, it is no surprise to find a train chugging and puffing under the tree on Christmas morning. But more often these days, the train is not for junior, it's for dad. Toy trains are growing more popular among baby boomers who remember having the model trains in their youths, and one local toy-train company is capitalizing on the trend. Mike's Train House, or MTH Trains, has been slowly growing its line of old-fashioned, die-cast locomotives and highly detailed cargo trains to cater to the aging boomers and to stiffen competition with the nation's best-known toy-train maker, Lionel.

Sykesville dedicates its new train station tomorrow, with children outnumbering town officials and the local Rotary Club replacing railroad executives at the ribbon-cutting. The station, a replica of a rural depot, will serve Little Sykes Railway, a toy train that has carried some 5,000 riders on roundtrips since the town acquired it four years ago. The 700-square-foot building was a community project. The town staff designed the building. The Sykesville/South Carroll Rotary raised about $10,500 to pay for the materials, including a metal roof, cedar siding and fir beams and brackets.

In many American homes, it is no surprise to find a train chugging and puffing under the tree on Christmas morning. But more often these days, the train is not for junior, it's for dad. Toy trains are growing more popular among baby boomers who remember having the model trains in their youths, and one local toy-train company is capitalizing on the trend. Mike's Train House, or MTH Trains, has been slowly growing its line of old-fashioned, die-cast locomotives and highly detailed cargo trains to cater to the aging boomers and to stiffen competition with the nation's best-known toy-train maker, Lionel.

Purkey's Toy Trains will hold its grand opening from 10 a.m. to 5 p.m. Saturday at 7604 Main St., Sykesville. The store is believed to be the first of its kind in the historic town. Owner Wiley Purkey, 47, opened the store Oct. 1. His train shop offers new train sets from Lionel, MTH, Marx, K-line and soon LGB. The shop also has wind-up toys, O-Scale cars and trucks, Plasticville buildings and used trains. The train shop adjoins Purkey's other business, Craftsman Art Co., the framing shop he has operated since 1988.

A set of circa-1915 Baltimore-made toy electric trains, wrapped in brittle newspapers and stored away for the past 40 years, could be bid up to the cost of a new Ford Explorer when sold today at a local auction house.The pair of locomotives and an electric streetcar, with nine freight and passenger cars in their original pasteboard boxes, were produced before World War I by an electric motor company named Voltamp and modeled after B&O Railroad trains and city trolleys. The dozen pieces could sell for more than $30,000 at a Greenberg auction at the Sykesville-Freedom Fire Company in Sykesville.

The incoming-call telephone board at Mike's Train House in Columbia looks like a flashing set of Christmas lights as callers beg for Amtrak diesels and Pennsy GG1 electric engines, dining cars and cabooses to highball around their basement rail layouts.This unadorned warehouse is the home depot of the country's No. 2 producer of O-gauge classic electric toy train sets and costly collector pieces, detailed steam locomotives that sell for $300 to $1,400 and occasionally jump in value the day they are delivered.

Bruce and Linda Greenberg have turned childhood hobbies into a successful business as owners of Greenberg Shows, a Sykesville company that organizes toy train and dollhouse shows.The Greenbergs' first toy train show was in 1976 at the Ellicott City Armory. They now do 35 shows a year in Maryland, Pennsylvania, New York and New Jersey.The Greenbergs also are expanding their shows into convention centers and fairgrounds in such states as California and Texas. But their annual show at the Timonium Fairgrounds -- the closest to their home -- continues to be their biggest.