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Building train display an annual tradition for school board member
Paul DePace has devoted more than three decades of his life to public service, as a member of the District 24 Board of Education. But he’s also dedicated many years to his hobby — train collecting.
Every year, DePace builds a holiday village in basement, centered around his train sets. He leaves it up for several months, but it will soon be time for the trains, houses and accessories to head back into storage.
Growing up in Brooklyn, DePace said his father would put together train sets in the living room around Christmas time. Eventually, his father sold many of those sets to buy a television set, but by then DePace’s had developed his love of model trains.
In 1989, DePace decided to start building displays at his Elgin Street home in Valley Stream, beginning with a Lionel train set he bought for his son. His displays have grown from a three-foot by six-foot wooden board in the living room, to 10-by-12 feet.
DePace has about 15 sets of “O” gauge trains and uses about five or six each year. He said he creates a different set up every year. “It’s like you’re creating a city,” he said. “I’m already thinking about next year.”
This year’s display had six train sets running on three different levels. He called places in three states last year to get green and brown mountain paper so he could make cliffs at the edge of each level.
There are other “moving parts” including a skating rink and ski slope. All the buildings and street lamps light up. In front of his display, DePace has all the transformers together so he can operate his trains. He has buttons to blow the train whistles and operate the railroad crossing signs.
DePace said he starts putting together his display in October and he usually has it finished by the middle of December. His favorite part, he said, is actually building the display. Once that’s done, then it’s just turning the lights on and running the trains — something he does about a half-hour everyday in his conductor hat until the display comes down.
The wooden boards go up first to support the display. Then DePace creates the layout of the train tracks. After that, he places the houses, followed by the accessories such as people, cars and trees, working from the back to the front. There is also fake snow to put down. The most time consuming part of it all is doing all the electrical wiring.
Before finishing up, DePace makes sure to test everything. He runs the trains to make sure that they don’t hit any buildings when going around or curve, or that there are no slow spots on the tracks. “The greatest pleasure is blowing that first whistle,” he said.
His grandchildren love coming over to see the trains, DePace said, and often ask to operate the controls. He also invites over neighbors, friends and colleagues from the school district. When people see the display for the first time, DePace said they are usually blown away. “They don’t expect this,” he said.
In past years, DePace’s displays have even had themes including a tribute to Disney World and animal kingdom. And every year, he takes a picture of his train village for the following year’s family Christmas card.
DePace estimates that he owns at least 200 model train cars. “One of these days I’ve got to do an inventory,” he said.
He describes himself as a train “operator and a little bit of a collector.” While many train enthusiasts have moved to remote control sets, DePace admits he likes his board with all the transformers at his fingertips. “I want to still feel like I’m running the trains,” he said.
