More News

The hobby started for Kenny Harrison when he was a young boy. The now 59-year-old continues to work and expand his train city, particularly in the last 15 years. Harrison has laid more than a half-mile of track throughout the basement of their South Mountain Road home.

When the trains are running, Harrison stands on a wooden stage behind a cutout of a train car to control the 17 transformers for all 22 tracks.

‘‘It gets pretty loud in here with all the trains running,” he said, adding that his hobby has made him new friends. ‘‘I’ve met an awful lot of nice people doing this.”

Each layout, which includes miniature buildings, people and cars, is not intended to be a rendition of a specific area but is something he creates from his mind.

‘‘I’ve always had layout designs in my head, even at 6 years old,” he said. ‘‘Whatever comes into my head I just build. It changes every year so that way there is something new to see when people come back. We’re always adding and changing stuff.”

Though it is a work of imagination, Harrison noted that most of his layout scenes could exist in real life. Special features of the setup include handmade bridges, old and new vehicles and painted scenes on the walls. Every detail is created, made and painted by the couple.

For the youngest visitors, the Harrisons have a special table featuring the star vehicles of Disney’s animated film ‘‘Cars,” and television show ‘‘Thomas the Tank Engine.” All layouts feature things that most people would recognize, such as Mickey and Minnie Mouse operating a handcar, dinosaurs, luxury cars including a Lamborghini and Porsche and the gang from Winnie the Pooh.

Each layout can take up to three months to complete and most layouts change every year.

Included in the layouts are handmade bridges known in the model train world as ‘‘scratch building,” an antique trolley car, a carnival scene complete with tents and a roller coaster and other materials that are train-friendly — meaning it won’t stick to or damage the trains, Harrison said.

When they are not ‘‘scenicking,” a slang term used describe the construction of railroad layouts, Kenny works as an equipment operator at Ross Contracting and Mistie runs the household.

Kenny’s father, R.J. Harrison, was a railroad engineer for nearly 50 years. Mistie’s family also worked on the railroad.

Though they knew each other growing up in Frederick County and went their separate ways when they were younger, Mistie and Kenny reconnected in March 1978 and were married six years later.

Of the 22 trains, the oldest are two cars Harrison received when he was 6 years old. There is a 1931 car in the new room and a 1939 car in the first room.

Wherever the couple travels, they are always on the lookout for new items that can be used in a layout. Kenny said some visitors and family friends have donated items that are used in a layout.

Though they have lost track of the number of visitors they’ve hosted in the last 15 years, Mistie estimates that more than 1,000 rail fans, or those who enjoy learning, photographing, watching and reading about trains, have ventured into Harrisonville to see the model railroad town.

‘‘We try to put things on the tables that even the young ones can recognize but it also includes little things that remind us of our own parents and family,” Kenny Harrison said. ‘‘We both love seeing the excitement on the faces of both kids and grownups.”

Always thinking ahead to the next layout, the Harrisons said next year’s layout would feature a garden train in front of their home and a second level to the trains in the new room.

‘‘We love it at Christmastime when people’s eyes get big as saucers as they look around the room,” Kenny said. ‘‘We’ll keep doing this as long as we can afford it.”

Harrisonville: A Model Railroad Town

3837 S. Mountain Road, Knoxville

Open from Nov. 23 through Jan. 15, 2008

Regular hours are 6-9 p.m. Monday through Friday; noon-4 p.m. and 6-9 p.m. Saturday and Sunday

After regular season, call ahead for an appointment

Admission is free and donations are accepted

Call 301-834-8208 for more information