Today, the whistle blows as many as 40 times a day, inspiring Kitterman to create elaborate landscapes for model trains.His company, Kittworks, primarily designs O-scale modular train layouts.

A family tradition of setting up the train for the holidays turned into a lifelong passion for Swartz. After many years of setting up and tearing down the layout, Swartz built a permanent 210 ...

The show is legendary. There were 65 large modular layouts there with probably a minimum of 30 modules in a layout. With all the entries, that’s like 1,800 modules.

At least twice a year, the 45-member group takes their modular, computer-controlled train layout on the road. It takes about four hours to arrange the 24 modules, bolt them together and connect ...