A Palos Park man’s hobby is helping to support art in the South Suburbs, lending credence to the old adage, art begets art.
While model trains are largely considered a hobby, Wes Sanders elevates it to an art, as the ever-evolving model railroad in his basement demonstrates.
More Top Picks Best Nursery Furniture Sets
“No active model railroad is ever considered complete. Ask any modeler,” says Sanders, a local entrepreneur whose lifelong hobby has blossomed as a key component of the home, tucked away on a wooded lot, that he shares with his wife, Carrie.
Sanders models in O scale, which is 1/48 actual size. His layout featuring steam locomotives and diesel streamliners navigating mountainous terrain, over high bridges and through tunnels amid a landscape dotted with detailed vignette scenes was the hook for a recent fundraiser benefitting the McCord Gallery and Cultural Center in Palos Park.
“You have to make time for it,” Sanders says, pointing out the many scenic features of the layout, including a key focal point that took considerable planning: a deep canyon spanned by soaring bridges on three levels, including a highly detailed wooden truss span. Once over the bridges, the tracks duck into tunnels that navigate trains through a part of the crawlspace to get around the furnace before they emerge in the rec room on the other side.
It’s always the 1940s and ’50s in the town of Monster Ridge, “a small town with shady bars and hotels, mining, numerous rail customers and even a chain gang busting rocks,” Sanders relates. “Sleek passenger trains compete with steam-powered freight trains to stay on time.”
The scale-size buildings along Main Street feature interior details and lighting, along with miniature citizens doing business at shops, cafes, saloons and Carrie Monster Tattoos, a salute to Sanders’ nickname for his wife.
Dozens of examples of art imitating life dot the landscape – folks strolling the sidewalks, a hobo curled up on a park bench, a street musician with an open guitar case, ladies of the evening congregating under a lamppost.
Sanders’ vision started with a previous layout when he lived in Chicago’s Beverly neighborhood, with concepts being refined since moving to Palos Park in 2017. But the seeds were planted even earlier.
“My father was in the railroad supply business,” Sanders says. “He had an O gauge model railroad he built with his father in the 1950s. This was the heyday of Lionel trains and the Lionel brand. I always dreamed of having a layout that was as good and better than anything my dad had when he was in his early teens.”
Sanders is a transportation enthusiast – a member of the Experimental Aircraft Association, he’s a pilot, and he also owns some vintage automobiles. But trains hold a special status for him.
“Railroads are a very essential element in the U.S. economy. I appreciate that the railroads significantly contribute to the quality of life we all enjoy,” he says.
As one descends into the Sanders’ basement, this appreciation is immediately apparent. Most of the square footage not occupied by the model railroad is taken up by related memorabilia, including many vintage model trains dating back to his father’s era and before. Early Lionel and American Flyer trains share shelves with more contemporary models, inviting comparisons in the level and fidelity of detail.
“I am not a true collector,” Sanders acknowledges, though his roster includes multiple eras of models, some of which date to pre-WWII, a time before plastic was in common use, with metal giving early model trains considerable heft. “None of the collection is very rare.”
On this particular day, Sanders was preparing the railroad for the evening’s guests, programming the digital control system to put specific trains through their paces. For visitors in search of a more hands-on experience, he set up a 1955-vintage Lionel train on the kitchen table, allowing would-be engineers a hand at the throttle as they noshed.
The table loop was a snap compared to the basement empire, which stretches more than 75 feet across the home’s lower level. Designing it took about a year. “Construction took about three years of work, mostly on winter evenings and some weekends, to get to where trains would run,” Sanders explains. “It required cutting into the house to create the right-of-way connecting two rooms of the basement.”
More Top Picks Best Mechanical Watches Under 500
But Sanders considers it all worthwhile, as he sends multiple trains chugging and whistling along stacked routes on multiple levels. The main line, at about 165 feet long, is a looped track that appears as a single track in the main room of the basement and a double-track right of way in the hallway area. Running above it is what Sanders calls the high line, a single track with loops at each end, “designed to somewhat hide the fact that the trains are simply going back and forth.” On the lowest tier is a freight yard and locomotive maintenance area, designed using real-life examples as a guide.
The layout’s many features are products of Sanders’ imagination but are inspired by real railroads, Sanders says. “Tunnels through mountains, bridges over canyons and ravines – I model the extraordinary challenges that railroads faced to cross our country,” he says.
When he’s not working on his model railroad or helping the local arts community, Sanders runs his Bedford Park-based direct-mailing company, which he started in 1984. Carrie Sanders is a 35-year flight attendant for United Airlines; she and Wes met nearly 20 years ago and married last summer. Both Chicago natives who love rail and air travel, together they have six grown children and four grandchildren.
Palos Park residents might spot the Sanderses cruising around town in one of their vintage cars. Guests at the McCord soiree also got a peek at their 1964 Buick LeSabre convertible, 1985 Fiat Spider convertible, a modified Jeep Rubicon and an early electric low-speed vehicle.
But when Wes Sanders is not out flying or driving, he’ll probably be working on the railroad.
“The railroad gets run far more often in the winter months, when the weather is crappy outside,” he says, noting that one of the best things about model trains is being able to share them with others. “Our house is open to friends and family all the time.”
Proceeds raised at the event hosted by Wes and Carrie Sanders support Palos Park’s McCord Gallery and Cultural Center, 9602 W. Creek Road.
Located in a historic farmhouse built in 1834, the gallery started as a nonprofit venture in 2004 featuring art classes and exhibits. In 2016, a 4,000-square-foot addition was built to accommodate gallery space, a classroom and a stage to allow more exhibits, art classes, workshops and musical performances. It has become a popular community destination, notes Carol Trzcinski, the gallery’s executive director.
“This fundraiser is part of our annual gala,” Trzcinski says. With the theme “A Gilded Affair,” the gala is scheduled for Oct. 17 at the Midlothian Country Club. The event will feature live and silent auctions, a raffle, dinner and music.
Upcoming events include an exhibit and live portrait-painting event by The Portrait Society of Illinois on Sept. 26; a fashion, fiber and textile exhibit in October, in partnership with the Palos Park Woman’s Club; and the gallery’s annual Holiday Shoppe, featuring one-of-a-kind gifts crafted by local artisans, to close out the year.
More information is at https://www.mccordgallery.org/.
Jim Dudlicek is a freelance reporter for the Daily Southtown.