Local train enthusiast tracks down unique pieces for collection
By Lori Berkey Contributing Writer

Kevin Mallett gets set to flip switches to activate the buzz of activity on his train set at his Northborough home.

Northborough - A fictitious village takes up the entire basement of Kevin Mallett's Northborough home. The miniature metropolis Kevin built has a little movie theater, a car dealership and an oldfashioned diner - each with neon gas signs that offer all the glitz of Manhattan at night.

An electronic two-inchtall waitress on roller skates wheels out to take an order from customers seated in a1950s toy automobile. This happens while tiny mobile hockey players vie on a little outdoor ice rink and cars pull up to a drive-through McDonald's.

And that's just a fraction of the activity. Soon, the reason the metropolis was built becomes apparent. A train zips out from a tunnel and goes along the tracks that weave in and out of all the action. The township that surrounds the tracks was constructed so Kevin could reap full enjoyment of his 3,000-piece train collection.

Kevin's initial intrigue with trains started when he was a kid in New York state. His parents bought a Lionel train set that kept his older brothers occupied during the long winters. The hand-me-down engines became Kevin's delight. But as he grew older, sports became his priority and the trains remained stuff ed in the closet for the next 20 years.

Kevin didn't think about the trains again until after he was married and his two children, Jennifer and Jimmy, were born. He decided to retrieve the old train set from his parents' home so his kids could enjoy them as much as he once did.

He packed a giant box full of the well-enjoyed, broken down rusty toys and carted them off to Massachusetts. The set needed to be fixed, so Kevin found a local toy train repair shop and went on a mission.

He had the sole hope of bringing home a restored set for Jennifer and Jimmy, but ended up being immediately swept into the hobby all over again. The shop owner showed him all kinds of trains and gadgets for fixing them.

Kevin joined the Train Collector's Association, and began traveling the country to train shows, finding the perfect additions to his ever-growing collection. He'd continually peruse the latest train publications, which would fuel his imagination of how his set could be better.

His collection spans rare pieces from the 1930s to new models with electronic features.

"They all have their charm about them," he said.

Kevin owns his own consulting firm, and when flying for business he said he comes up with his best ideas for enhancing his little village that surrounds his O-gauge threerail set.

"I have a constant wish-list," he said.

Some additional features of his village include a handmade duck pond and a warehouse with a dock where animated toy men wheel boxes with a dolly. His set even has a toy train store where window shoppers can view an extraminiature train circling around a track.

Getting all the parts to move correctly is often a challenge. But figuring out how to get things going and how to fix them when they break is what Kevin enjoys most. He loves that his pastime gets him thinking; how it's helped him develop his carpentry, electrical and engineering skills.

"It's a creative outlet," he said. "It gets me away from my business. It allows me to get lost for a couple hours and solve [something that's gone wrong]. The running joke in this house is 'the basement is full of conundrums.' There's always something that not working right and you've got to go figure it out."

According to Kevin, Jennifer and Jimmy never ended up being interested in trains. His wife, Erla, however, attends shows with him and occasionally purchases a few pieces herself.

Although his brothers never reverted to liking the hobby as much as he does, one brother enjoys the engineering aspect and regularly converses with him about how to solve various conundrums.

Sharing his hobby with others is another draw for Kevin. He has conducted tours of his village for local scout troops and neighborhood kids.