METAIRIE, La. — Along the tracks at the Crescent City Model Railroad Club in Jefferson Parish, there are tiny towns, representing something much larger than the people, street signs, and buildings that make them up.
“This was the brewery, the Bullfrog Brewery,” said club member Kenneth Gaudet as he points to a section of train track. “We’re in here, three or four o’clock in the morning trying to get a scene right.”
Complete with actual dispatchers, radios, and engineers, Gaudet says this complex system of model trains is a big draw when the club hosts open houses.
“The most we ever got was like 1,000 people came through in a weekend and that was because of a Times-Picayune article,” said Gaudet. “We operate like a regular railroad.”
Started in the 1950s, the club moved into its North Lester Avenue building in the 1970s, picking up national recognition along the way and running trains ever since, at least until Hurricane Ida derailed everything
“We had extensive roof damage,” said club president Greg Javonillo.
Javonillo says four holes in the roof meant the disassembly of tracks, detailed scenes, and landscapes to make sure everything was protected. That turned the club’s focus on trains to a focus on expensive repairs.
“In order to bring it up to code we have to basically completely redeck the entire roof and remove all the shingles,” said Javonillo.
Unable to host open houses, the club is trying to raise money to get back on track and back to turning a hobby into a lesson across generations.
“For kids it’s a fascination with something they see in real life, miniaturized,” said Javonillo.
It’s a miniaturized version with big impacts.
“Some of the kids don’t want to leave and the parents have to drag them out,” said Gaudet.
Wanting to get back to that, has this club going full steam ahead.
The club, which is designated as a charitable organization by the IRS, hopes to have repairs done before Christmas. There is a go fund me account set up if you’d like to help.