Georgia Magazine - August 2018 - 25

KATHY THOMPSON

RICA

AM
E

Nick Fraser of Dunwoody
is an Eagle Scout who
earned the Boy Scout
Railroading Merit Badge
S
UT
CO
(right), which the Piedmont
CO
URTE
SY B O Y S
Division of the National Model
Railroad Association Southeastern Region
helped develop to generate interest in the
hobby. Fraser worked with a neighbor
who is a model railroader to build his
own layout to meet the requirements
for the badge. While earning a merit
badge always should be fun, Fraser
says, "this one was a lot more fun
because it was one focused on one of
my hobbies: railroads."

"My wife knows that vacations will usually involve
something to do with trains. They are in my blood," he
says.
Austin is a member of the Piedmont Division of the
SER-NMRA, which covers metro Atlanta and North Georgia and has almost 500 members.
"What's valuable about groups is the cross-pollination," Austin says. "Going to shows, swap meets and
meetings gives us a chance to help each other, show off
what we've done and learn something new."

A model couple

COURTESY NMRA

When Sally Bando married her husband, James, in
1977, he came with more boxes of trains than clothes.
At a 2008 train show, she saw steam puffing from an Fn3
(garden-scale) locomotive and was hooked. Bando and

her husband belong to several
train organizations. She's currently the operations director
for the Piedmont Division of the
SER-NMRA and treasurer of the
SER-NMRA.
"This hobby draws people
from all walks of life and with all kinds of backgrounds
and skills," she says. "It gives my husband and me something to do together. He does the mechanical work, and I
like building the structures and scenes."
The Bandos' two indoor layouts and one outdoor layout built around a filled-in swimming pool are part of the
annual Piedmont Pilgrimage tour on Saturdays and Sundays from Oct. 13 through Nov. 18; the event is free and
open to the public.
"We try to set the outdoor one up differently each
year," Bando says. "We enjoy turn-of-the-century Western
modeling with Indians, the Pony Express, Western towns
and cowboys. We have a herd of buffalo, and I might put
an elephant in it, just to hear the kids giggle. They are
always fascinated."
The Bandos are also "rail fans" who travel to view real
trains in action and take pictures. Sally Bando embroiders
T-shirts and bags with trains and logos for clubs and to
sell at train shows.
"I guess you could say that trains have become a way
of life for us," she says.
COURTESY NICK FRASER

The Tri-State Model Railroaders group in Mineral Bluff created an
HO-scale replica of the Louisville & Nashville Rail Line from the year
1952, when the line's passenger division ceased. Visitors can see
the layout, which features more than 100 structures, at the Mineral
Bluff Depot during monthly open houses.

Join the club
"Scale" refers to
the size of the pieces compared with the items they represent. Above is the
same engine shown in six scales: from left, Z (2-3/4 inches), N (3-1/4
inches), HO (7 inches), S (9-3/8 inches), O (12-1/2 inches) and large
scale (20-3/4 inches), sometimes called garden scale. "Gauge," another term used in model railroading, refers to the distance between
the rails on which the model trains run.
August 2018

The Piedmont Division is one of the most active in
the country, and there are several hobby shops and many
events in metro Atlanta, but clubs are sparser in South
Georgia, says Todd Tait, who heads the South Georgia
Model Railroad Club in Tifton.
Two years ago, he visited the Tifton Terminal Railway
Museum and offered to help them with a layout.
"I took out an ad in the paper and shook the bushes,
and now there are about six of us working on it. It's a
win-win. It gives the museum an HO [-scale] display of

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Table of Contents for the Digital Edition of Georgia Magazine - August 2018