SPECIAL EVENT : Make Tracks to Model Train Junction

Model train enthusiasts from all over California and as far away as Oregon will be chugging into Costa Mesa this weekend for the Orange County Model Engineers’ first model railroad meet at the club’s Goat Hill Junction in Fairview Park.

The amateur engineers will bring a roundhouse full of one-eighth scale diesel-, steam-, electric- and gasoline-powered locomotives to ride 7 1/2-inch gauge tracks that wind their way throughout the 45-acre site along Placentia Avenue. The public is invited to visit Saturday and Sunday from 10 a.m. to 3:30 p.m. for free rides and tours of the club’s depot and steaming bays.

“The whole idea of the meet is for train owners to get together and have a good time,” club spokesman Bob Donnelly said by phone recently from his home in Costa Mesa. But “it also gives younger people a chance to learn a little about the history of trains and the role they played in our country’s heritage.”

According to Donnelly, Goat Hill Junction’s two-plus miles of track, intricate system of switches and side rails, depot and 90-foot wooden trestle make it one of the biggest model train systems in the world.

“Most clubs have no more than 600 to 800 feet of track. The fact that we have more than two miles puts us in the top 1% of clubs in the world,” Donnelly said. “And, of course,” he said, “other clubs charge for rides, and we don’t. You can come down here and ride all day long for nothing.”

Next year, the club is adding another mile of track, a tunnel and an additional 300-foot trestle. Long-term plans call for water towers, a signal tower and landscaping with grass, trees and an irrigation system.

According to Donnelly, more than 50,000 people have ridden the aluminum rails since the club started giving free rides in 1989. Ride days are the third Saturday and Sunday of each month, 10 a.m. to 3:30 p.m.

The club operates on the city-owned land in the park, along the east side of Placentia Avenue bordering the western edge of Mesa Verde Golf Course. It pays the city $1 per year on a 25-year lease. Clubs, businesses and individuals have donated more than $100,000 in materials and cash to the club during the past four years, which was used to buy more track and improve facilities.

The club began in 1976 and a charter membership of six men. But interest has really blossomed in the past six years, and membership has increased to 90 men and women.

Donnelly says that about 30 members own their own engines, which cost from $10,000 to $50,000 fully assembled. Those who are mechanically inclined can buy unassembled kits for about half the cost of an assembled unit. Assembled passenger cars and cabooses cost about $600.

What: The Orange County Model Engineers model train meet.

When: Saturday and Sunday, Oct. 17 and 18, 10 a.m. to 3:30 p.m.

Where: Goat Hill Junction at Fairview Park in Costa Mesa.

Whereabouts: From Harbor Boulevard go west on Wilson Street to Placentia Avenue and turn right. From Brookhurst Street, go east on Hamilton/Victoria until you get to Placentia and turn left. The park is about one-half mile down. Goat Hill Junction is on the right.

Wherewithal: Free.

Where to call: (714) 751-7706.