Reprinted from the Daily Star

By Allison Collins Contributing Writer

January 29, 2018

[fusion_dropcap boxed=”no” boxed_radius=”” class=”” id=”” color=””]S[/fusion_dropcap]ince 1998, a contingent of Chenango County railroad buffs has been working to preserve local railway history while promoting model train collection. The Bullthistle Model Railroad Society Inc. and its affiliated museum are at 33 Rexford St. in Norwich.

The society began, members said, as the brainchild of Norwich farmer and Lionel model train enthusiast Elton Ireland, who died in early 2017 at the age of 89.

Founding Bullthistle member, Norwich resident and retired train engineer Jim Dundon said, “Elton was a farmer here and eventually he got to repairing Lionel model trains.” The latter, Dundon said, inspired Ireland to open his own model train repair shop, from which the Bullthistle Model Railroad Society grew.

“He got a group together and he always wanted to have a museum,” Dundon said, “so he finally talked (members) into it in 1998 and now, here we are.” The society’s name, he added, is a nod to the official flower of Chenango County.

The current Bullthistle president, Philip Fairchild, said the nonprofit group secured its Rexford Street property, a former Norwich grocery, in late 1999 and with the help of grant funding.

“This place came up for sale … and we were able to get a grant together and bought it,” Fairchild said. “We’ve been slowly rebuilding it.”

Today, the museum features wall-to-wall model trains of various scales (denoted by letter) and vintages, alongside operational layouts made to replicate and honor a downtown Norwich of yore.

“Norwich was a big railroad town at one time, with two lines running,” Fairchild said. “The … New York, Ontario and Western Railway used to be here in Norwich and we have duplicated the original as best as we can in HO scale.” He said Norwich, in its heyday, was “one of the bigger hubs of the O & W.”

Dundon said Norwich, as a base for O&W’s northern division, had a freight car switching yard, turntable, roundhouse, locomotive repair shop and freight and passenger car manufacturing facilities from the late 1800s through early 1900s.

“Now the freight shed is the only part of the railroad that’s left,” he said. “The O&W filed for bankruptcy in 1937 and, on March 29, 1957, went out of business. By October 1959, everything (in Norwich) was completely gone.”

Bullthistle’s detailed displays, including the centrally featured, roughly 42-foot-long O and O27 gauge layout, showcase that booming railroad town in intricate miniature.

“We’ve got six running layouts,” said Fairchild, “including one hanging from the ceiling.”

Though he said Bullthistle members have never fully inventoried the museum’s collection, Fairchild emphasized its scope.

“We’ve got Lionel, that’s the main line, and we’ve got American flyer,” Fairchild said. “Then we have manufacturers of HO scale, N gauge and also different manufacturers, (such as) our Mike’s Train House units and Williams (models) on display.” Models span from the rarest and oldest, such as a pristine 1929 standard gauge Lionel work train steam engine, to contemporary collectibles such as the popular “Thomas the Train.”

A member since 2000, Norwich resident Chris Robb, said Thomas the Tank Engine, especially, is a hit with kids.

“They take an interest in ‘Thomas’ and the N scale layout,” he said. “They like the small stuff.” Fairchild added, “You see the kids chase Thomas around the layout, and they get excited. Sometimes you get parents that want to leave and the kids don’t.”

Fairchild said that, while the museum regularly hosts youngsters, its appeal is broad.

“We get young kids, from 2 or 3, on up through senior citizens,” he said, “but we’re open to different groups. We’ve had (visitors) from nursing homes and the (Norwich) YMCA and we’ve had some school groups.” The museum, open regularly on Saturdays, welcomes visiting groups by appointment.

Bullthistle’s exhibit pieces, Fairchild said, are curated from personal collections, many belonging to members, or donated by Chenango County organizations, residents and families.

“A lot of the displays are personally owned and just on loan to the museum,” he said, “and quite a lot of it the museum itself owns.”

In addition to providing much of the collection, members also maintain it, Fairchild said. Though the museum is only open to the public Saturdays from 1 to 4 p.m. and by appointment, he said, members come in Tuesdays to “clean, repair and do whatever’s got to be done.”

That membership, Fairchild said, has fluctuated since the group’s inception, but remained varied.

He said, “There were something like 17 or 18 when we started and it’s decreased and increased, but we’re (at) about the same amount now as when we started.” Fairchild, who, together with his wife and Bullthistle treasurer, Lois, joined the group in 2000, added, “(Membership) is not just (from) Norwich, it’s the whole surrounding area. We’ve got (members) from Bainbridge, Gilbertsville and McDonough.” Robb, too, said, “We’ve got at least two or three members from Utica.”

Fairchild said, despite an aging membership, he hopes to see Bullthistle endure and possibly recruit new members.

“We want to keep it going,” he said. “We are just like any organization, in that we are looking for more members (and) younger members.” The Bullthistle Model Railroad Society meets the third Wednesday of each month at 7 p.m. in the museum.

Fairchild said nascent talks among Norwich officials about designating the corridor on which the railroad museum, Northeast Classic Car Museum and Chenango County Historical Society sit have given him hope for Bullthistle’s future.

“People are still in the talking stages of making this area down through here a historical area,” Fairchild said. “I don’t know if it’ll happen … but if they get this historical (designation) in here, I think it’s going to help a lot.”

Other plans, Fairchild said, include continuing to present Bullthistle’s toy train show each November. The event, which celebrated its 15th anniversary in 2017, features model train vendors, on-site food and free repairs for model train collectors.

Robb said the event typically does “pretty well,” with about 100 attending. Dundon added, “We’re the oldest show in the city that does toy trains.”