The University Railroad Club found its home in the basement of 1701 University in 2003. Room 4 is the club’s headquarters where members hold meetings, discuss field trip plans, and, most importantly, build extensive model railroad systems. Room 4 is less of an office and more of a recycled kitchen-turned-railroad museum.

Davidson Ward, a University of Minnesota junior and the Railroad Club president, welcomed me at the door despite my late arrival at what I had thought would be an official meeting, with all of the chairs pointing in the same direction and a speaker running through the agenda for the two-hour meeting. Instead, I found a small group of university students, alumni and faculty that share a common central focus: trains.

Ward, an architecture major, can trace his love for the locomotive back to the first grade when his grandparents took him to see his first train. He admits that most members “spend about an hour down here at most just piddling around.” Ward also noted that trains are not usually the topic of conversation but rather “the catalyst for conversation.” There is much to be done on the models during the two-hour informal meeting times, especially with a miniature railroad system that spans terrain from Chicago to North Dakota. The rail system even has some familiar stops for Minnesota students, most notably the abandoned Bunge tower and the Amtrak station on University.

Ward admits that while the club has plenty of members who come for the “expensive toys for kids who didn’t grow up,” each meeting welcomes a few detractors who criticize the models for their lack of scale and their disregard for reality. Ward does not seem too concerned with practicality himself. He sees each track laid as an opportunity to explore one’s imagination.

Soon the Railroad Club hopes to add a third level to the model, branching off of the upwards-winding tracks on the far end of the model. This will allow a conductor with the help of computer chips and a fully digital remote to switch tracks and move farther west.

The fascinating aspect of this club is the amount of material that is recycled or second hand. Many of the trains are donations (including a display case with the original model for the first St. Paul-Minneapolis trolley system) and most of the scenery is made from hand. The best-looking trees on the set are actually made from rotting sagebrush, hand painted and covered in a layer of foam for texture.

Some of the members of the Railroad Club have made their love for trains into serious careers, including University of Minnesota alumnus Andy Inserra, who has become a track engineer since his graduation. But this club is accepting of all levels of locomotive enthusiasm. The club is holding its annual Gopher Rail event on Jan. 31 at 1701 University. It is for the Railroad Club and its members to invade the entire building with more than 600 feet of rail and talk everything trains, or just to hear that whistle blow.