Want a Model Train With That Fill-Up?
Elaborate Layout Takes Over Service
Station Bay
by Seth Goldstein
(December 8, 2003) Most drivers are familiar with service
stations doubling as mini-marts. But how about one that stocks
and sells model trains and accessories, and even goes so
far as to exhibit a four foot by eight foot layout complete
down to--you guessed it--a service station? You could soon
find it all at Dom's Car Care Center on Chatsworth Avenue,
across the street from Anderson's and Winetasters.
In time for Christmas, they hope, Dom's proprietor Nicholas
Ianello and mechanic Christopher O'Hara plan to remove a
soft drink cooler in the station office, filling the wall
space with non-potables like HO-scale cars, tracks, transformers,
and miniature houses and people. Dom's will be taking orders
for components, regardless.
 O'Hara, who started building layouts at age 11, wants to
run a train set around the office ceiling. If the display
draws a crowd too young to drive, so much the better. "Building
a train set is a good family hobby," he said. "It
can teach kids about electrical work and about carpentry."
O'Hara's layout on display at Dom's is a small example of
his work, on sale for upwards of $3,500. His biggest construction,
a 12 foot by 108 foot horseshoe, went into a week-long Swiss
Peaks tourist display in Grand Central Terminal last year.
It took O'Hara and four helpers four days to complete. Only
slightly less impressive: A $65,000 "soup to nuts" layout
that filled the basement of a private home. That's the exception,
though. O'Hara says most of his projects are in the range
of several thousand dollars. Scenery, including Styrofoam
mountains, office buildings, and fake lakes, are a big factor
in the ultimate cost.
Ianello, who wants an O'Hara layout of his own, thinks one
could be scaled to fit the village's budget for holiday decorations.
His location of choice would be the gazebo in Constitution
Park next to the firehouse.
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