It’s all aboard at one Burnside area residence, as three generations of model railroad enthusiasts have found that life on the tracks is a great way to stay close as a family.
“I started getting into model railroading around the end of World War II,” recalls Robert McKenzie Sr., who turns 78 this month. “Most of my friends were into the military toys, but I fell in love with trains. I could hear them at night from my bedroom window when I was a child. I still find the sound quite soothing today.”
That passion was passed along to his only son in the 1960’s.
“Dad got me hooked on railroading before I can even remember,” laughs Robert Jr., who has lived and worked in the Burnside area for the last two decades. “For years he would come home after work each day and we would tinker with the trains right up until my bedtime.”
It was a family tradition that the junior McKenzie then passed along to his own son Samuel.
“Yeah, they got me too,” smiles the 29 year-old, who is expecting his first child this October. “Gramps and Dad are more into the actual trains themselves, but I prefer working on the scenery – the track, buildings, street scenes, the grass and trees, etc.”
Five years ago the trio – who are all longstanding, card-carrying members of various model railroading clubs and associations – began work on a 200 square-foot, multi-tiered HO Scale layout in Samuel’s basement.
“We had to build a huge shed in my backyard because the damn thing expanded so quickly,” he laughs, adding that the three men still convene there every Sunday after church services.
“At least our wives always know where we are,” chuckles Robert Sr. “And they’re just happy to see us keeping ourselves out of trouble.”
