Full disclosure: The model railroad club in the basement over at Dole Library pasted a tiny Wednesday Journal logo on the side of one of its tiny little buildings along the path of its tiny little model railroad. They also put a Journal logo on the side of a tiny delivery truck next to the building.
They sent me a picture of it. It made me smile. I showed it around the office. More smiles. Then I put it up on a tiny bulletin board in our office.
I think this happened because for a while there I kept running into Frank Vozak, president of the Oak Park Society of Model Engineers. Turns out we share a pharmacist — the wonderful Tom Rains at the great Sears Pharmacy on Madison — and a certain interest in ice cream at Culver’s.
So after we talked about our favorite drugs and custard, I found out he was big into little trains and that the model railroad club was still in the basement of the north branch library. I guess I always knew it was there though I’ve never seen it. Hell, I didn’t go to the Home & Studio until I was 40.
Now though the model railroad club is in the news. After years of trying, the Park District of Oak Park convinced the village government to sell the Dole property to the park district. Now the parks are the landlords to the library’s Dole branch and to a model railroad club that has been paying $87.86 a month in rent since forever. Under a new lease, the rent will rise to $204.11 per month. (Who comes up with these peculiar amounts?)
The park district, while happy to have jacked up the rent, has another concern with an entity that is clogging up a good bit of the basement of its newest property. Turns out that beyond its little train tracks, miniature VW vans, and wee little plastic people, the club itself is teeny-tiny.
Currently there are 35 members. According to Jan Arnold, park district chief, just nine of those members are from Oak Park and that’s a concern since her job is, she says, to “maximize the space for Oak Park residents.” That’s why the new lease strongly urges the club to add nine more Oak Parkers before this year is out and an additional 18 locals during 2020. The park district is also requiring the club to expand its puny open-to-the-public hours from two to six per week.
Arnold says the park district wants the club to grow and will help market it. Failing to hit membership targets would not necessarily require the club to pack up its things and store them in the attic. But it might. That’s a big sword hanging over a tiny railroad.
So if you want to know more about HO gauge, have a thing for small fake fir trees outside of two weeks a year in your Christmas village, like the sound of bells clanging and have always admired those striped engineer hats, this is the moment to join up.
If like me, your memories of a childhood train set or a Strombecker car racing track set mainly revolve around staging massive collisions, then you might be less welcome. Though if you are from Oak Park, they might still accept you but prohibit you from ever touching the on/off switch.
