Oct 16, 2022
NILES — Wanting to share his love for model trains, Dennis Mamone welcomed people aboard at the Iron and Steel All Gauge Model Train Show and Expo featuring 65 vendors.
The Saturday event was at the National McKinley Birthplace Memorial Museum in Niles.
“It’s a great hobby,” said Mamone of Boardman, who organized the show. “It’s making a comeback. It’s not what it was in the 1950s and 1960s, but I’m seeing some younger kids getting interested even though we have to compete with technology.”
Mamone, a retired social studies teacher, received his first train, a South Pacific diesel set, in 1954 as a Christmas present.
While he’s always had an interest in trains, Mamone said he became a serious collector about 25 years ago.
“I buy, sell and collect,” he said. “I’ve been going to shows for years and I started a show 10 years ago.”
One of the highlights of Saturday’s show was a model replica of William McKinley’s funeral train Mamone built for the National McKinley Birthplace Memorial Museum.
“I built it in about two weeks from scratch,” he said. “It’s the trail of the train that carried McKinley after he was shot in Buffalo.”
It’s now on permanent display at the museum.
Mamone dedicated Saturday’s show to his wife, Anna, who died in May.
“She was my rock and my inspiration,” he said. “She supported me.”
Among the vendors at the show was Dominic Colucci of Poland, who’s been selling model trains for 40 years.
“It’s for anybody who wants a hobby,” he said. “It’s something that fascinates people. There are a lot of die-hard hobbyists.”
Bryan Painter of New Brighton, Pa., another vendor at the show, said that collecting model trains is an inexpensive hobby.
“The prices are going down,” he said. “The old guys are dying and their collections are being sold. The market is getting flooded.”
Among the newer model train hobbyists is David Polito of Boardman.
“When I was a kid I always wanted trains,” he said. “I got my first trains at an estate sale five years ago. I bought a whole box for $25. I’ve been collecting ever since.”
Also at the show was Kenneth C. Springirth of Erie, Pa., who has written 49 books on trains and trolleys.
Springirth said when he was growing up in Philadelphia, his father was a trolley car motorman.
“I do this in honor of my father,” he said.
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