Model railroading: Riehl’s hidden hobby

Finding a vision

The story behind the scene reflects the region of the Cuyuna Range in the 1960’s, where Joe used to live. The Cuyuna Range is an iron range near Brainerd, MN, located within Crow Wing County. Iron ore was mined in the area from the early 1900’s and continued into the 1980’s. After living there for a while, watching the mining over the years, and growing up in that era, the 60’s was the age he wanted to portray in his design. There are exact plans one can follow or you can design your own, which is what Joe decided to do. Model railroading can be as prototypical and precise as one wants or you can freelance it and go to different websites, watch videos, check out magazines for ideas and just make it up as you go. Joe pointed out, “I make mistakes on mine, but it’s a mistake that can just be changed and fixed. The entire thing can constantly change and never be done.” 

Planning and preparation

Converting an extra bedroom closet into his workspace, Joe said it was the perfect space for his N scale track. The most popular size-wise is an HO scale with a ratio of 1 to 87. N scale is 1 to 167, which means every inch of track on his setup is 167 inches in the real world. The closet was the perfect size to construct his N scale. Beings we aren’t located near any hobby stores, most of his materials and equipment are ordered online. However, a lot of stuff from around the house can be incorporated into the design, as well. To design the landscapes, Joe uses foam packing pellets, plaster of paris, crumpled up newspaper, lots of paint, epoxy resin, water – that part of the hobby is very inexpensive. The expense lies within the locomotives. To buy something good, an engine for the locomotive can cost $100-$175 with Joe adding, “You get what you pay for.” The cars are the rolling stock and Joe has about 70 pieces, mostly mining oar cars.

Attention to detail

Joe subscribes to Model Railroader magazine, which gives many tips and tricks for the trade, such as how to make a blade of grass or construct a tree. It’s amazing how lifelike you can make the details, which is the ultimate goal of model railroading. Once the track is up and going, you have to focus on all of the scenery – a mixture of natural materials, home-made creations and items purchased online.

The backdrop is all painted to resemble the iron range area; around the track numerous buildings have been placed – oar loading stations, maintenance sheds, engine houses and coal loaders. You can also see a backhoe digging rocks out of a pond and a drainage system built into the backdrop. Eventually there will be workers and more cars added in, the attention to detail never ending! Joe says he likes not having to rush this hobby. His railroad has been done three different times using the same buildings, engines and tracks. 

More than just a hobby

Joe was diagnosed with his first brain tumor in 1990. Over the course of 28 years, he has TBI (traumatic brain injuries) from his tumors, related surgeries and also encephalitis, which lead to epilepsy. He has lost a lot of fine motor skills in which his doctor told him he needs to improve on. Besides being a great hobby for him, this also serves as great therapy for Joe, improving his hand-eye coordination greatly. 

Other railroaders

Joe said that Hall of Fame rock-n-roller, Rod Stewart, is also into model railroading, to say the least. Stewart has a 1,500-square-foot model-train layout that takes up the third floor his home! Inspired by the 1940’s New York Central and Pennsylvania Railroads, the layout is complete with skyscrapers, streets, cars, billboards, people, trees, and of course trains. 

One day, Joe would like to attend a national convention, but says there aren’t any around this particular area; he’s also not sure if there are any railroading clubs up here, but he would be interested in visiting with anyone else who shares his same hobby! 

Ongoing 

“Right now, the track is about 20% finished. I’ll probably be working on it for the rest of my life,” Joe admits. “My grandkids think it’s pretty neat and never thought their grandpa could do something like this,” he adds. This is more of a winter hobby for Joe, who says he sits down for 2-3 hours at a time and finds a lot of relaxation with the hobby. It’s also a project you can work on for an hour, leave, come back and work on something else. 

“It’ll never be done, so it doesn’t matter where you stop and start. But every night before bed, I have to do one full run with it to make sure it doesn’t derail. If it does, I work on it and run it until it goes all the way around,” he laughed. “Then I can go to sleep.”

Joe Riehl has lived in Grygla for the last 16 years. Between landscaping in the summer, bear guiding in the fall and building train tracks in the winter, he jokes, “Joe stays busy doing Joe stuff.” Other hobbies and interests of his include collecting Indian artifacts and pottery, landscaping and cooking Mexican food.

Hidden Hobbies

Do you have a hidden hobby that others would be surprised to find out? We’re excited to show you some of our very own community members’ hidden hobbies or special interests, but in order to make this a feature over the course of the summer, we’re going to need more of you to come forward! There is no hobby or interest too big or small to share. Whatever it is, we want in! Contact the Grygla Eagle at 218-689-6901 or grygla.eagle@gmail.com