Roanoke Times
Copyright (c) 1995, Landmark Communications, Inc.
DATE: SATURDAY, December 24, 1994 TAG: 9412270040
SECTION: CURRENT PAGE: NRV1 EDITION: NEW RIVER VALLEY
SOURCE: ADRIANNE BEE SPECIAL TO THE ROANOKE TIMES & WORLD-NEWS
DATELINE: SHAWSVILLE LENGTH: Medium
A bingo game? No, it's Haven Harless and the wood chips are flying at his workbench. He is covered in them.
Move over Santa, you have some competition: Harless, a 74-year-old retiree from Norfolk and Western Railway and a former pastor, is making model trains and he doesn't even need the elves. A Roanoke native, Harless, has been woodworking for the past nine years since he sustained an injury at NW where he worked shifting cars on what he described as ``a small engine No. 7.'' The trains Haven creates these days are the larger and faster 611 and 1218 models.
``There was a catalog with two engines on the front, a 611 and a 1218. I looked at 'em and decided I'd like to make one,'' is how Harless describes his moment of inspiration.
Harless says he was offered $2,000 for the first train he made, a train he later donated to Richfield Retirement Community in Salem. It's a story he has told many times. Since then Harless has made about 30 trains. He sells them to visitors and gives them to family members. He's a speedy worker, churning out a train in merely a month.
Harless sits at a workbench in the corner of a big, sunny recreation room. Only a couple of feet away sits the 3-foot engine he donated to Meadowbrook. It's a silver and black 611, just the right size for a very small train engineer to send down the miniature tracks Harless has created.
It's best to get his wood-working equipment out of his hand before trying to engage Harless in a conversation. Deep in concentration as he carved the intricate lights for his latest train, Harless did not hear a question at first during the interview.
A question he definitely won't miss is one about his family. Harless will happily tell you he has plenty of people to make trains for: six children, 17 grandchildren and 21 great grandchildren.
Harless uses his wood-working skills to make jewelry and wooden crosses as well as trains. As he goes back to work, Wanda Boone, activity director at Meadowbrook, says, ``Haven, don't you want to credit the good Lord with your talent to make trains?''
``Yep,'' says Harless with a big smile and then he moves his wheelchair back to his workbench and the wood chips begin once again to fly.
by CNB