Huge model train set on Quietside takes visitors on journey through 20th Century New York City

SOMEWHERE ON THE QUIETSIDE, Nov. 3, 2025 - There’s nothing like a well-done model train set to stir our inner Casey Jones.

In an attic atop a two-car garage here, an “O-Gauge” set covering nearly 1,000 square feet blended artistry, engineering and nostalgia into one euphoric experience.

Its owner - my new friend Tom - had already changed the Halloween theme to one looking forward to Christmas when I arrived Sunday morning.

We were recent dinner mates at the Common Good Soup Kitchen. We were there for the communal sustenance, not just the food although it was delicious.

He told me about his train set. I was intrigued. We agreed that I would not publish his name nor his address to help him control visitation, although he is well known to neighbors and friends. Over the years, he said he resisted television crews seeking to tell his story in a broadcast.

When I arrived and saw the entire array in front of me, it triggered childhood memories of when I closeted myself in my bedroom to hoard Dinky toys, tin solders the size of lollipops and Revell airplane models.

But this was on a different scale.

Tom grew up in Queens, New York. The bridges in Manhattan each has a story. So his acquired replica of the Hell Gate Bridge held particular relevance as it was the span over one of the city’s most treacherous waterways - the northern neck of the East River which can roar at 5 knots at the peak of the tide.

The real Hell Gate Bridge

I came to appreciate Tom’s historic references and his investment in each memory, like where he lived in the village of Douglaston on Long Island as an adult. Tom ordered bespoke name plates from someone he found on the internet who made such things and installed them on faux buildings he acquired.

Tom recreated the city he knew as a child, with a Queens sensibility and humor - like the Chinese restaurant, “Wok This Way,” or the bankruptcy law firm, “Dewey, Cheetum and Howe.” He turned many generic buildings into a parody. Some of the names were of real businesses.

Perhaps my favorite was the Subway train running inside the city lines. The names of the stops were accurate, as this 20-year commuter could attest to.

Tom’s train set already has the two of the city’s most recognizable skyscrapers - The Empire State building and the Chrysler building. He’s thinking of adding the Met Life building.

The creator of this reimagined New York City restored Penn Station, one of the greatest architectural tragedies of all time when it was demolished in 1963.

Penn Station was a Beaux-Arts architectural magnum opus of the 20th century. Designed by McKim, Mead, & White, it opened in 1910. It boasted 84 granite Doric columns and its monumental architecture echoed the great spaces of Ancient Rome. Note the horse carriages in front of its entrance.

I was motivated by Tom’s rebirth of Penn Station to read up on its demise when I got back in front of my computer.

By 1960, affordable air travel and the growing supremacy of automobiles spelled the decline of the railroad. Penn Station witnessed its ridership plummet.

In 1962, plans were made public to demolish the station to make room for a new entertainment arena: Madison Square Garden. The terminal was to be rebuilt entirely underground.

Despite vociferous dissent, its granite columns and steel-vaulted ceilings met their end starting on Oct. 28, 1963.

“Though Penn Station was not saved, its controversial demolition spurred the passage of the watershed 1965 New York Landmarks Law,” According to the New York Historical Society. “Since its creation, the law helped save Penn Station’s sister terminal, Grand Central, along with 30,000 other historic buildings around the city from destruction.”

Fully realizing his new home was in Maine - Tom built his garage and attic in 2005 - he did pay homage to the state’s lumber history with trains that carried lumber.

He even acquired a mini mechanical conveyor belt which moved lumber next to the tracks.

For model train buffs like Tom, the click of wheels on miniature rails is more than a sound - it’s the heartbeat of imagination and history.

Model train collecting is a deeply personal expression of memory and motion. It bridges generations - each train not just circling a layout, but looping through time, and stirring forgotten thoughts and questions.