The Painesville Railroad Museum, a hotspot for local train enthusiasts, recently hosted its final outdoor model train flea market of the year.
Located at 475 Railroad Street in Painesville, the historic New York-Painesville Depot drew a decent crowd on Oct. 9, as model train collectors and owners of other collectibles gathered to sell their unique goods, along with some other household items. Buyers were able to peruse many different kinds of model trains of varying scales and time periods.
Tom Pescha, vice president of the Painesville Railroad Museum, explained that the museum holds the flea market about once a month beginning in the spring and running through most of the fall. He said that the markets are both a good way for local train collectors to get together over shared interests, and also beneficial for the museum, which is a 501-c-3 non-profit.
“Some people donate model trains to us, and if it’s something really rare we keep it, and if it’s not we sell it,” Pescha said. “The money that we sell it for goes back into the museum, to pay for projects and pay insurance and things like that.”
The rarest donated model trains, some dating back to as early as 1910-1915, remain on display in the museum for visitors to appreciate, Pescha said.
“Some of them are really old, so when we find something like that we hold onto it,” he said. “They’re very rare, especially in the good condition they’re in.”
Pescha, an avid model train collector himself, said his interest in trains has stayed with him his whole life.
“My dad gave me my first train on the day I was born, in 1949, and it still runs today,” Pescha said.
Many of the train collectors who had set up booths were market regulars, and make a habit of bringing their items out every month to sell surplus trains and perhaps add a few more pieces to their collections.
Dale Pohto, of Mentor-on-the-Lake, is one such regular, who has also harbored an interest in model train collecting for many years.
“In one way shape or form I’ve collected all my life,” he said, “but I really got back into it about 20 years ago when my son was born — we would buy trains for him and I also got to play with them.”
Pohto said he usually tries to bring a selection of his trains to the flea market each month to sell some that he’s done keeping in his collection, after he has personally restored them.
“What I do is I buy a lot of these at train shows like this, that are previously owned,” Pohto explained. “I spray paint them with railroad colors that are authentic, and then decal them, then weather them and detail them.”
