THE VIRGINIAN-PILOT
Copyright (c) 1995, Landmark Communications, Inc.
DATE: Friday, December 15, 1995 TAG: 9512140150
SECTION: VIRGINIA BEACH BEACON PAGE: 04 EDITION: FINAL
SOURCE: BY JO-ANN CLEGG, STAFF WRITER
LENGTH: Medium: 86 lines
At five minutes before six Monday evening John Miller of the Tidewater Big Train Operators' Club stood in the middle of Virginia Beach's Fire Station 10 on Providence Road, surveying 500 feet of train track and a couple of hundred engines, train cars, structures and miscellaneous bits of scenery.
Miller took stock.
The NASCAR track in the middle of the display was ready, the monster trucks in position and all billboards were upright and pointed in the right direction. At the far end of the track, club member Bob Green sat at a console dispatching a half dozen trains.
Across the room, fire education materials were laid out on a long table. At the end of the tracks Wags, the motorized fire dog, sat ready in his miniature truck. His keeper, fire educator Tricia Behan, stood beside him waiting to answer questions from the small guests.
To Miller's relief, all was ready for the evening's show except for one small item. The elephant in the circus layout still wasn't blowing bubbles.
Moments later fire captain Dennis Keane added a small amount of soapy liquid to a reservoir and stood back to watch as a steady stream of bubbles began to gush from Dumbo's trunk.
It was time to open the doors and let in the kids. And the parents and grandparents and just about anybody else who had noticed the big invitation written on a billboard in front of the station.
This is the second year that firefighters and train club members have joined to offer the public a weeklong chance to see the big trains in action.
Keane and master firefighter Keene Black, both model train buffs, came up with the idea last year when they were shift mates at Station 10. Initially they intended to do it just as a treat for the children of fire department employees.
They ran their idea by Chief Harry Diezel who suggested opening the show to the public and using it as a chance to do some fire safety education as well.
When several thousand people showed up in a week's time to view last year's show, the department decided to make it an annual event.
``It went a lot easier this year,'' Keane said. Last year he and Black had spent the better part of their free time from Thanksgiving on setting up and testing the layout.
This year, with major support from the club, the bulk of the job was accomplished in just one day.
``We had between 15 and 20 club members here last Friday,'' Miller said. ``We got a lot done.''
On cue the doors opened and families started pouring in.
College Park Elementary School students Tori and Jessica Rushing were near the head of the line.
``We drive by almost every day,'' their mother, Lynn, said. ``We had to come to see the trains.''
A half hour later Tori, 8, and Jessica, 7, were still watching the trains pass and the elephant blow his bubbles.
So was 3-year-old Adam Burton whose parents had brought him from Chesapeake to see the display. Bundled into a heavy jacket and wearing a stocking cap pulled almost down to his eyes, he stood motionless watching the trains go by.
``He loves trains,'' his mother Annette explained. ``The last couple of months he's really got interested in them.''
Adam was soon joined by another 3-year-old, Christopher Sanders. ``I don't think he's going to leave,'' Maria Sanders said as her small son's big brown eyes scanned every corner of the magical scene in front of him.
Christopher, for his part, said nothing. Like Adam, he was doing what 3-year-olds do best: watching with fascination as a wonderful small world passed by. MEMO: Station 10 is at 5656 Providence Road, just east of the I-64 overpass.
The train show continues from 6 to 9 each evening through Saturday.
Free. ILLUSTRATION: Photos by L. TODD SPENCER
At Virginia Beach's Fire Station 10 on Providence Road, 500 feet of
model train track, a couple of hundred engines, train cars,
structures and miscellaneous bits of scenery are set up for an
annual public viewing.
Lauren Post, 5, has a look of awe as she and her dad John get a look
at the model train scene at Fire Station 10 on Providence Road. The
display continues through Saturday.
by CNB