'I've been workin' on the railroad ...'

LEHI — Model railroaders do more than run their tiny trains around a track.

They also create a world of their own, and this year the layouts include a return of fictional character Harry Potter's Hogwarts School of Witchcraft and Wizardry.

While the Ophir-Tintic and Western Model Railroad Club sponsors the event, clubs and model railroad enthusiasts from around the state are expected to make an appearance, said club president Larry Carter. Among them: The Hostlers from Ogden and Reed Cowan , who builds his train display with Legos.

Enthusiasts include people who run Lionel and American Flyer trains without scenery to purists who, as craftsmen, create layouts that are painstakingly built to scale, including the height of the trees and bridges. Other layouts are much simpler, Carter said.

One display has a bridge running over a deep gorge.

"Kids go look at it and are just in awe," Carter said.

Some trains are computer controlled or operate by remote control.

"It's exciting to run my own railroad," said model train enthusiast Robert Sheaver.

Most of the club's 30 members live in Utah Valley, but it also draws from outside the valley, including Shearer, N scale vice president from Centerville. With luck, this year's show will include a wireless throttle that can run up to 99 of the tiny locomotives, Shearer said.

N scale is about half the size of HO scale, which is about half the size of O scale, said Judy Chaston, vice president of HO scale. Chaston works with her husband, Larry, on the hobby. Injured in the war in Afghanistan, the former Special Forces soldier now handles all the wiring while his wife builds the layout.

Prior to her husband going to Afghanistan, Judy went with him on business trips and worked on the models for her layout in her hotel room. That's where she built many of the parts for her Harry Potter layout.

Measuring 6 by 12 feet, it has the Hogwarts castle on one side and the London train station and railroad on the other. This year she's working on adding flying quidditch players.

"You never finish with these," she said of the layout.

While the display won't get any bigger, it will get more detailed, she said.

"I've been asked 'Where did you get the kit?"' she said. "There is no kit."

Rather it's made up of parts from several sources.

Several vendors are expected to be on hand peddling parts and models for the hobby.

The Ophir-Tintic club will have about three of its own members' displays. Among them is a model representing Larry Chaston's Afghanistan military base camp, she said.

About 10 club members are collaborating to create one large layout.

"It's a great time for Grandpa and Grandma to grab their grandkids and spend a day indoors enjoying trains," Carter said.