Entertainment - Entertainment News

POSTED: Friday, Apr. 17, 2009

Miniature trains provide big family fun

Normally I like to write about activities that we have done and places we have gone as a family, but there's an event this weekend that I'm fairly sure should be a lot of fun. That is, if you love trains.

The Bellingham Society of Model Engineers is having one of its occasional free open houses from 11 a.m. to 4 p.m. Saturday, April 18, at the club's meeting place near Alger, about 10 miles south of Bellingham. The club has a 15-year history in the area and is probably most well-known for the impressive layouts its members had constructed in the basement of a building at 111 Grand Ave.

We went to see the display before the club lost its lease in mid-2003. It was really something. There were multiple sets of "rolling stock" (what hobbyists call their trains and cars) that chugged along all sorts of terrain, from city to country to mountains. The whole thing had a decidedly Northwest feel.

Now club members are building from scratch layouts in HO scale and the smaller N scale at the club's current location,1469 Silver Run Lane. Construction began on the current layouts in 2004.

In addition, there is a 7.5-inch scale railroad outdoors, featuring trains you can sit on and ride. These will be available weather-permitting. Saturday's forecast calls for cloudy skies with only a chance of showers, so who knows?

To get to the site, take Interstate 5 south to exit No. 240. Drive east on Lake Samish Road, about a half-mile to the stop sign. Turn left on Old Highway 99 and the BSME is on the right about a quarter mile along, adjacent to the Alger Community Church.

For more information, call (888) 511-3293 or check out the club's Web site at bsme.org.