The Toy Collectors: 'Trains are fantastic... everybody likes a train on Christmas Day'
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Kevin Meany is living the ultimate schoolboy fantasy after constructing one of Ireland’s most impressive railway stations in his own home.
While Kevin worked hard to carve out a successful career in the pharmaceutical industry, he says he has never forgotten the value of playtime, and the extent of his passion truly is a sight to behold in his South Douglas Road home in Cork.
Kept in mint condition, even the boisterous family pet dog Bruce knows not to interfere with Kevin’s beloved models.
His newest addition to the collection — an outdoor electric train — sets the tone before you so much as enter the house. It characters include two men perched on a rock nursing cans of beer as they watch the locomotives go by with real water feeding into a nearby waterfall.
The natural woodland blending seamlessly with the railway line makes it difficult to establish where the real world ends and Kevin’s world begins.
Bird song overhead mixed with the soft rumblings of each carriage makes for an even more charming combination.
Built by Kevin himself, the trainset, which takes up most of his garden, is a feat of mini engineering.
The model is classed as G Scale — which refers to the size of model railways — at a scale of around 1:22.5 on 45mm wide (or gauge) track.
“It’s a slightly wider track than your Hornby train set,” Kevin explains.
“It’s brass rail so you can run it outdoors. People ask if the track has to come in every night. They ask me if the weather can tolerate it. Mostly it’s all fine. You can keep the track down. You can keep the wagons there. The only pieces you bring in at night are the locomotives. The railway line is elevated about a foot off the ground to protect it from wildlife. I use a garden blower to blow off the track and job done.
“I love the mechanics of it. It’s not just a case of turning on the power. The track requires a lot of maintenance. When we were building it we put a lot of work into keeping the track level. It takes a lot of work to get the train to run so flawlessly. This is a great hobby because it gets you interested in the electrical element as well as the carpentry element.”
Kevin’s indoor trainset is equally impressive, occupying a considerable portion of his upstairs 2,000 sq ft entertainment room.
Believed to be the largest train set of its kind in an Irish home, the models can be controlled by a total of three people at a time. Unlike the outdoor train which operates electrically, this model is controlled through the use of Ipads and mobile phones.
They also boast a number of endearing functions including the release of real steam in locomotives.
Hundreds of train components — from locomotives to wagons — houses, a circus tent, McDonald’s restaurant and miniature Wonderbra billboard make up just a tiny part of the train set.
There’s even a miniature cinema screen that plays real movies. Today’s offering is the Polar Express which follows a young boy as he boards a North Pole bound train passing his house at bedtime. Kevin recalled being just as enchanted by the train passing his grandmother’s house that inspired his collection all those years ago.
“I was about 10 at the time,” he said. “My grandparents used to live at the back of a train station in Cork and I loved watching the train pass by her window. That year I got my first train set for Christmas. I remember setting it up on the floor in a little circle. Eventually you put it on to a board, maybe a 6ft by 4ft board and you just build around it. It just grows and grows from there. Trains are fantastic, whether you are a young guy, older or middle aged everybody likes a train on Christmas Day. As far as I know I am the only person in my family with an interest in trains. My grandfather was a train driver, but he died before I was born.”
Kevin’s children Joelle, aged 21, and Joshua, 24, have grown up with the passion. His previous railway set up at their old home in Rochestown saw Joshua’s principal take his class there for a school tour. Wife Suzanne is also very supportive of the hobby.
“Her friends love the train and enjoy seeing it when they come over for dinner and drinks. Ever since the kids were born there has always been a train set in the house. We only got the outdoor train in the last three years but the other one has come with us through every house move.”
The enthusiast’s talent and eye for painstaking detail has not gone unnoticed. It even caught the attention of the company tasked with dressing the window of Casey’s Furniture on Oliver Plunkett Street for Christmas. Kevin said he was delighted to have the opportunity to dress the widow which has an model trainset running through its display.
The father-of-two had worked as a window dresser in a former life. While Kevin quit the industry decades ago, he said the idea of featuring a train as the focal point of a display was what tempted him back to do one last window.
“It’s fantastic to be walking around town and seeing people standing outside just watching the train go around.”
So what’s down the track for Kevin?
“After you have finished the track you can enjoy doing the scenery. You are always adding a house or a tree or train station. The collection will probably just continue to get bigger. The one in the garden took a lot of planning. The indoor train came from childhood and I have added to it over the years. I have pieces that are 34 years old. It brings you back to when you are a child. It’s a lovely feeling to have something you had as a kid still running all these years later.”