MONROE - From age 4, Brian Stackpole has been enamored with intricately designed scenes displaying a busy countryside or train yard as locomotives steam through on tracks as thin as toothpicks.
That was 66 years ago. Now the Monroe native spends each day with his creations as well as the parts that make model railroads possible.
"Through everything, I've just had a love of trains," Stackpole said. "It's a lifetime hobby."
Stackpole began his hobby alongside his father. Originally, he planned to become an engineer while attending Embry-Riddle Aeronautical University in Daytona Beach, Florida. After graduating in 1969, he lived with his wife Joan in Albany, Georgia. There, he started on his hobby once more.
In 1980, the pastime was no longer a source of enjoyment after Stackpole lived through the death of a son.
"I couldn't look at my stuff after that," he said.
But his wife had other ideas, suggesting Stackpole create a display that could be viewed by youth groups like area Cub Scouts. He remarked that once he sat down, he spent an entire day building before he realized the sky had grown dark and Joan, clad in pajamas, was asking if he was tired.
The result of his work was a mobile display, complete with a topped scene in which the train can travel forward and in reverse along a single track. Much of his work references pop culture or emulates actions of the everyday.
Even during time spent as an electrician, Stackpole continued pursuing his hobby. He purchased the building now known as The Hobby Depot along the 800 block of 17th Street in Monroe in the early 1980s, he said. The building began as a location for Stackpole Electric.
Throughout the years, his son Jon would help create scenes. At one point, the pair attended a national show and ran trains for seven continual days, Stackpole said.
He ran the electrical business until back surgery forced him into retirement in 1996.
Stackpole said after the first back surgery his doctor said he would need to stay off his feet for two months to recover. That wasn't an option for the model railroader, who posited he would be back in the basement of the hobby store, where the modules were kept, within two weeks.
"He said, 'you're crazy,' and I said, 'you're crazy,' and then I proved us both right," Stackpole said. "I would have gone stir crazy. There's only so much you can read and so much television you can watch."
Thousands of man hours have gone into the models that fill two rooms of the basement. Stackpole said 125 hours were invested in each running foot of one 8-foot module. As trains roll through, model warehouses built by Stackpole from scratch are lit up to appear as though welding were being done, miniscule people toss snowballs at one another and across the bridge, two train cars were sticking out of a body of water, the result of a crash requested by Jon.
"It's just a matter of imagination," Stackpole said. "I get ideas from all over. Just open your eyes when you drive down the road."
Stackpole plans to peruse other work at SLICE on Saturday and Sunday during the Green County Model Railroaders 39th Annual Model Train Show Swap Meet and Displays, though last year he had 200-250 guests of his own at The Hobby Depot who visited to see his models.
That was 66 years ago. Now the Monroe native spends each day with his creations as well as the parts that make model railroads possible.
"Through everything, I've just had a love of trains," Stackpole said. "It's a lifetime hobby."
Stackpole began his hobby alongside his father. Originally, he planned to become an engineer while attending Embry-Riddle Aeronautical University in Daytona Beach, Florida. After graduating in 1969, he lived with his wife Joan in Albany, Georgia. There, he started on his hobby once more.
In 1980, the pastime was no longer a source of enjoyment after Stackpole lived through the death of a son.
"I couldn't look at my stuff after that," he said.
But his wife had other ideas, suggesting Stackpole create a display that could be viewed by youth groups like area Cub Scouts. He remarked that once he sat down, he spent an entire day building before he realized the sky had grown dark and Joan, clad in pajamas, was asking if he was tired.
The result of his work was a mobile display, complete with a topped scene in which the train can travel forward and in reverse along a single track. Much of his work references pop culture or emulates actions of the everyday.
Even during time spent as an electrician, Stackpole continued pursuing his hobby. He purchased the building now known as The Hobby Depot along the 800 block of 17th Street in Monroe in the early 1980s, he said. The building began as a location for Stackpole Electric.
Throughout the years, his son Jon would help create scenes. At one point, the pair attended a national show and ran trains for seven continual days, Stackpole said.
He ran the electrical business until back surgery forced him into retirement in 1996.
Stackpole said after the first back surgery his doctor said he would need to stay off his feet for two months to recover. That wasn't an option for the model railroader, who posited he would be back in the basement of the hobby store, where the modules were kept, within two weeks.
"He said, 'you're crazy,' and I said, 'you're crazy,' and then I proved us both right," Stackpole said. "I would have gone stir crazy. There's only so much you can read and so much television you can watch."
Thousands of man hours have gone into the models that fill two rooms of the basement. Stackpole said 125 hours were invested in each running foot of one 8-foot module. As trains roll through, model warehouses built by Stackpole from scratch are lit up to appear as though welding were being done, miniscule people toss snowballs at one another and across the bridge, two train cars were sticking out of a body of water, the result of a crash requested by Jon.
"It's just a matter of imagination," Stackpole said. "I get ideas from all over. Just open your eyes when you drive down the road."
Stackpole plans to peruse other work at SLICE on Saturday and Sunday during the Green County Model Railroaders 39th Annual Model Train Show Swap Meet and Displays, though last year he had 200-250 guests of his own at The Hobby Depot who visited to see his models.