Gloucester County hobbyists ride the rails Ð in small scale

While most kids find an iPod or Nintendo DS under the Christmas tree these days, every year Dave Skinner tries to bring children back to his childhood fascination of toy trains.

For Skinner, now in his 80s, it's a hobby that still persists and has grown bigger every year.

This weekend, as part of November's model railroad month, a number of county residents are opening up their homes to show off some of South Jersey's best model railroads.

The annual event is now in its 16th year.

Skinner, who has about 1,000 feet of rail in his basement, said he's seen about 800 people come through his Woodbury home in the two days of the event. This year, the free open houses will be held from noon to 5 p.m. on Sunday and Nov. 14.

His setup located in the basement depicts the interchange between his fictional railroad and the Baltimore and Ohio and Western Maryland in the mid 1950s.

"It's really become a fixture," Skinner said. "I've already had a lot of phone calls with people who are concerned they have missed it this year."

Skinner said he has about 40 to 50 engines on the layout, all of which are runnable, but don't operate at the same time. Usually about a half dozen engines run at once and it takes no fewer than eight people to operate it.

The open houses, Skinner said, have sparked an interest in some of the youth who don't often experience model train setups such as this.

"All us guys had trains under the Christmas tree in our youth," he said. "Today it's computers and games and everything but trains. ... I'm thinking this year, that some of the kids that were so good at running the train, I'm hoping they come back."

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