Natalie's Everyday Heroes: NAPM keeps model railroad tradition alive

 

MILWAUKEE (CBS 58) -- Milwaukee has been a hub for model railroading since the 1930s.

It's been home to a major supplier of model railroad kits and model railroad magazines.

To this day, it's still home to a club that's cemented that status.

North American Prototype Modelers created a permanent home for a massive model railroad.

They're keeping the tradition alive and bringing in a younger generation.

The work on the railroad is never done. From construction, to landscaping.

"We're making treetops," said Michael Hirvela. "In the end, you wind up with almost the top of a forest."

It's all in service of keeping the trains running.

"Starting here, as our starting point, is our main union station," said Mike Beckemeier. "It's about 18 tracks."

Beckemeier has been something of a head conductor here from the start.

"Oh, this all started as an idea back in about 1977," he said.

Mile after mile of tracks.

"You pass the power plant, which is where all the coal comes and gets the electricity generated," Beckemeier explained.

Towns and countryside to see out the windows.

Freight trains, passenger trains, school buses and homes.

Each detail is there. Down to the tiny signal lights, changing colors.

"Each aisle is a transition as you get further and further west," he said.

The tracks take visitors on a tour from the Great Lakes to the west coast.

With moments in history along the way, too.

"Whether it be a passenger train from 1935 or 1947, or watching mixed freight trains in Iowa, there's something they would like to replicate or recreate," he said.

It's all to scale, of course. This is North American Prototype Modelers -- a club of more than 100 members dedicated to model railroading.

"This is a Chicago northwestern," said Riley Richmond. At 24, he is the newest member.

"Most of us, we've been train enthusiasts since we were young kids," Richmond said.

Richmond has made trains his career.

"I'm a locomotive engineer, so I actually operate locomotives," he said.

It doesn't matter if they're large or small.

"Just growing up, we were just really attracted to the sights and sounds of everything, and we like the historical aspect of it," he said.

That's what these guys all have in common.

"I got a picture of me on the floor with a wind-up set. I'm only three or four years old," said Hirvela. 

A love of the line.

Drawing members from Illinois, Minnesota, even Washington state.

"This one in Milwaukee is probably the largest in the area and we draw members from quite a distance," said Beckemeier.

"Even, ok, at my age -- I'm still learning stuff," Hirvela said. 

He has been doing this: "Oh boy, longer than I care to admit," he said with a big laugh.

But it never gets old.

"There's always something new and interesting," Hirvela said.

"In the simplest terms, it's about recreating a moment in time," Beckemeier said.

As a founding member, Beckemeier is happy to see a new generation come on board.

"Bringing new people into the hobby is important because there are times we thought, gee, is model railroading dying as an art form?" he said.

With 4,200 square feet to manage, the art is clearly alive and well, with plenty of respect for the past.

"It's a labor of love. This has taken decades and decades of hard work to put together. And people are really really proud of it," Richmond said.

For more information on NAPM, you can visit North American Prototype Modelers, Ltd.

And if you'd like to tell Natalie about a hero in your life, send her a message at [email protected].