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Shandon Strawberry Festival to feature model train display, June 13
The 84th Annual Old Fashioned Strawberry Festival, 10 a.m. to 7 p.m. Saturday, June 13, throughout the village of Shandon at the intersection of Hamilton-New London Road and Cincinnati-Brookville Road. Free. (513) 738-2962 or (513) 738-4005. The day includes: Traditional Picnic-style supper at the Community House, 3 to 7 p.m.; Outdoor arts and crafts vendors; Local shops in historic houses with Welsh gifts, country crafts, original art and local history; Antique Tractor Show, 10 a.m. to 5 p.m. in the old school yard; Live Welsh harp and organ music at various locations.
Morgan Township resident Don Guill is fond of the old joke: “When the Lord was passing out brains, I thought he said trains…”
And now that he has a pretty good collection of grand scale locomotives, he’s giving his trains back to God.
“When I was growing up, I had trains around the Christmas tree and such,” he said. “Trains have always been a love of mine, but not as much as they are now.”
In 2001 he bought his first large-scale train from a man in Sault Ste. Marie, Canada, in 2001.
“The man was a retired Canada Pacific Railroad Engineer and he built himself a replica of the train he ra n all his life,” Guill said. “I bought it without knowing a whole lot about trains, but I found out how easy it is to make them.”
Well, easy for a man who has operated a metal fabricating shop, creating custom-made trailers since 1974, and who has restored 24 antique automobiles in his spare time.
Guill makes what is known as “grand scale” model trains. His are one-fourth the size of actual engines and cars, but he used as his model not the full scale trains, but HO scale models.
“I took an HO model, a measuring tape and a pair of calipers to make my plans,” he said. “You can occasionally find drawings to work from, but mostly you have to improvise.”
Since then, he’s made several engines and cars for them to pull, some for other folks with grand scale lay-outs, some for show, and some for his own mile and a half of track that he laid on his property in Morgan Twp. between Shandon and Okeana. He’s also restored a steam engine that was built in 1966 in Denver. When he bought it, it was painted up like Thomas the Tank Engine, but Guill took it all apart and gave it a more historic look.
He built a small town to go along with his railroad, including a grocery store, a church and a school house, naming the buildings after beloved relatives, and his wife Tonia did all of the decorating of the interiors.
They now operate the For His Glory Train Ministry on the site, allowing churches and other groups to bring children in for a train ride along a route that includes miniature billboards with Bible verses and tableaus of scenes from the life of Jesus, including the three crosses on Calvary and a life-size tomb, complete with the burial garments that Jesus left behind.
To top it all off, Guill recently purchased the large train light display that was once part of the Union Terminal in Cincinnati. It had been scrapped and was headed for the junk yard when Guill made some inquiries and purchased it “for next to nothing,” then re-outfitted it with LED lights to help save energy. The display is assembled and waiting for electricity to be run to the site.
Guill will have one of his trains on display at this weekend’s Shandon Strawberry Festival, but not operational. He encourages groups to come out for a train ride by appointment by calling (513) 582-1674 or (513) 738-7322.
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