Model railroader recreates 1950s Flagstaff

FLAGSTAFF, Ariz. — It's a busy spring day in the mid-1950s near the train depot in downtown Flagstaff. A railroad worker sweeps the platform at the depot; a worker at the Northern Arizona Warehouse Company loads boxes into a blue GMC pickup truck; nearby, a policeman in a black uniform walks his beat on Beaver Street; and two men in work aprons and suspenders chat, while a black poodle looks on at the Flagstaff Lumber Company.

"It's Saturday chatting at the lumberyard," said Phil Scandura, who made all the structures in the small shelf layout in his office, depicting a slice of the Atchison Topeka & Santa Fe railroad through Flagstaff circa 1950s. "I've played with trains since I was very little, and I still play with them, and I'm proud of that."

A shelf to the left holds a spur of track running out to what was then El Paso Fuels and Flagstaff Roofing Supply, both located on Butler Avenue, which is historically correct but not geographically, as it was far from the downtown section depicted.

"I just liked that area and wanted to capture it," he said. "I wanted some industry to bring railroad cars back and forth to. A shelf layout is often like a puzzle — deciding how to move a railroad car from one place to another in the least amount of moves."

Working from his own measurements, track maps and other historical information, Scandura, 50, labored for two years to bring this little world into reality, something he really loves to do.

"The two years includes research and planning, and a few of those days when I just didn't feel like working on it," he said. "Any veteran model railroader will tell you the layout is never really finished. There's always more detail you can add — more people, or a truck that needs painting."

Scandura calls himself an "amateur historian and preservationist," with an interest in local Flagstaff history and culture.

"I've just graduated to the point where my preference is modeling prototypes when I actually can," he said. "It's about historic preservation, even if only in miniature — sometimes these buildings aren't protected, and they end up being torn down."

He unveiled the shelf model in early May, mostly just for friends and family to enjoy.

One wall has a section of track running past Beaver and San Francisco streets.

"This part of the shelf layout captures a slice of Flagstaff," he explained. "Imagine yourself standing at the passenger depot looking south across the tracks. You'd see the lumberyard and warehouse, and over to Rio de Flag and the old bridges."