Home visit with model railway – if there is enough space

He is an avid model railway enthusiast and wants to bring his hobby to others. That's why Horst Schröder (62 years old) also goes to children's birthday parties or to facilities for people with disabilities that contain units of his system. However, Werdohler now has a problem.

VERDOL – For the three ten-year-old children Julian, Liana and Louise, time flies this afternoon: Horst Schröder built part of a model railway for them in the garage of his home in Ketteling. It is a classic arcade that is still popular from the 1960s. There are a few houses scattered around the board, and there is a castle at one end. Small trains that stop at train stations run on different tracks and through a tunnel. But above all: simple technology. The trains are started or stopped using two switches, and the switches can be adjusted with the push of a button.

“Kids enjoy old things like this more than a digital model train,” Horst Schröder said. He should know, because about six years ago, the 62-year-old began introducing young people to model railroading.

But are kids still interested in such things when video games have been around for so long? “No,” says Schroeder, not entirely clearly. When he started setting up his units at children's birthday parties, he quickly realized that there was nothing more exciting for girls and boys. Basically, model railways still appeal to children, although many lose interest in them as they grow older. Then other leisure activities will become more important.

Play without language problems

Julian, Liana and Louisa from the Schroeder neighborhood in Keitling are not yet that old. For them, model railways are still a great hobby. “When Horst builds his railway, we'll be there,” Liana says and the other two agree. Then they engage again in playing with locomotives, wagons and miniature figures.

Next week, Horst Schröder, who is also active in the Lüdenscheid Model Railway Club, will travel again with one of his units. He will set it up at the European Festival of the “Europe for All” project and its network partners at the Werdohler Gewerbehof on Neustadtstrasse and presumably it will attract interest there as well. “There will be children,” he is sure, and he would like to use his model train to break down barriers: “There will be no language difficulties when playing,” he is convinced.

The camp is bursting at the seams

If requested, Horst Schröder can also conduct “home visits” using his units. “Yes, I will ask if there is enough space to set up the track,” he says. In this way, he addresses the problem that he himself is suffering from now. Schroeder has 16 units in digital and analogue technology, each seven to eight meters long and 1.20 meters wide. Of course he had to put them somewhere. Its capabilities at home have been exhausted, which is why the typical model railway maker looks for an external opportunity for expansion. “What I need is a completely dry room with a constant temperature of at least ten degrees,” he describes the requirements. He explains that set-top boxes and circuit boards for digital modules, in particular, cannot withstand moisture.

Anyone who can help Horst Schröder with his problem can contact him on telephone number: 0 152 / 33 91 04 65 – or on Friday, June 28, from 12:30 noon at the European Festival in the Gewerbehof.