Right on track: Ralph Maxton enjoys hobby of trains and, most recently, dulcimers

What used to be marketed to boys as toys seems to have morphed into an industry of technology-sophisticated scale-model trains for hobbyists and collectors.

Ralph Maxton of Cape Girardeau remembers when, as a boy, he would play with an electric train his father would set up around the Christmas tree each December. It was a seasonal thing.

And then, about 40 years ago, Marie Weiss, the mother of Maxton's wife, Martha, bought a used -- but complete -- electric train set for his two sons while the family was living in Columbus, Ohio.

Ralph Maxton's model trains chug around the tracks. (Laura Simon)

When the family returned to Cape Girardeau in 1978 -- Ralph is a Cape Girardeau native and Martha was reared in Jackson -- they brought the train set with them, and about 15 years ago Maxton set himself to the task of taking it apart and redoing some of its features before reassembling it.

"Over the years I would add to it -- engines and cars as they became available. But, I really don't collect like some people do. It's the operation that appeals to me, and I stopped buying trains in 2009," Maxton says.

Ralph Maxton conducts his model trains in his Cape Girardeau home, Monday, Dec. 22, 2014. (Laura Simon)

"It's big enough," Maxton says of the 5-foot by 8-foot setup with an outer loop and an inner loop. "It's designed so I can run two trains at the same time, and I have one section where I store a third train. For a 5 by 8, I have the maximum amount of trains you can get. All my trains are O gauge, which is the original Lionel three track. It makes for easy layout. I have trains built in the early and mid-1950s that run great -- they're 60 or 70 years old."

Maxton says his sons, now grown men, were very interested in the trains when they were younger, and that his grandchildren -- two girls and a boy -- run the trains from time to time but, he says, "They're more interested in modern toys."

Ralph Maxton conducts his model trains in his Cape Girardeau home. (Laura Simon)

Trains, Maxton says, started becoming more expensive with radio-controlled devices and other technology advances and the addition of sounds and other, dare we say, "bells and whistles." And some of the larger engines require a larger radius for turns, making the sets' layouts quite large.

"The manufacturers, however, do make starter sets which contain a certain amount of track, the transformer and all," Maxton says. "They're trying to maintain that ability for children to get started."

He adds, "I think the hobby is growing, but you have to spend a lot more money now. Lionel and several competitors make some good trains that are the old gauge. I think the transition of toys for boys to play with -- very ruggedly built trains -- are to sets that may be more interesting for children to come to play with."

Ralph Maxton's model trains chug around the tracks. (Laura Simon)

While Maxton's intensive model train years may be behind him, the retired Ameren engineer, who earned a degree from the University of Missouri School of Mines and Metallurgy, now the Missouri Science and Technology University, has turned his attention to creating mountain dulcimers and playing monthly with other similarly interested musicians.

"I was interested in building mountain dulcimers. I went online, got some plans, took some walnut wood from my wife's parents' farm. I enjoy working with the wood," Maxton says.