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HAY RIVER - Danny Dube of Hay River has been a model train enthusiast for about 30 years.

The 50-year-old bought his first basic train set when he was 20 and the hobby grew from there.

Danny Dube, a model train enthusiast in Hay River, looks over a display he will be taking to a presentation at the community's public library. - Paul Bickford/NNSL photo

"I actually became interested in trains when I was a little boy, when I was seven years old," he recalled.

That interest was sparked by the fact his father worked as a clerk keeping track of switching lists and cargo with Northern Alberta Railways in Dawson Creek, B.C.

"I never worked on a railroad myself," said Dube, who was born in Fort St. John, B.C.

His home is now dominated by a model train display on a shelf halfway up the wall. The display - about seven metres long and four metres wide - begins in his dining room and enters the living room through a hole in the wall.

The display, which uses nine-millimetre-wide track, is the combination of years of building various kits.

Dube estimated he has put together about 50 kits in the last 30 years, sometimes modifying them.

Many of those kits make up his current display.

Currently, he is working on one section of the display, which goes by the fictitious town name Lumberton.

Dube said he has been working for eight or nine years on Lumberton - which features a train station, an oil refinery, houses, a lumber yard, a bridge, a grain elevator and many other features.

The whole display also includes two other fictional towns - Grey Rock and Reidstown.

"The whole layout is 20 years of my life," he said, adding he brought the display with him when he arrived in Hay River 13 years ago.

Trains running on the display represent different eras of rail history, from steam engines of the 1800s to diesel locomotives.

Dube said he loves model trains.

"The second thing is there's so much to learn in this hobby," he said, adding it requires skills in, among other things, electrical and carpentry. "The learning never stops."

Dube keeps up-to-date by reading magazines and books, on the Internet and talking to other modelers.

"I'm a very serious modeller," he said.

Dube said he may have a couple of more years of work on the display.

At that point, he said he will just watch the trains run.

"For me, then I can enjoy what I worked so hard on," he said. "I don't want to work on it for the rest of my life."

He is not sure if he will then start working on another display.

Dube said he also enjoys designing models for other people through his part-time, home-based business, Danny's Custom Trains.

One of his creations will be on permanent display at the new Super A grocery store opening in Hay River on Oct. 6.

The owners of the store asked him to create the display, which features a railway station and 56 feet of two-inch-wide track suspended from the ceiling.

Dube worked on the display for three-and-a-half months.

"I've never done anything this big for a corporate store," he said.

On Oct. 8, Dube will also discuss model railway building in a presentation at NWT Centennial Library.

"I was asked to show young kids what my hobby is all about and how I got started in it," he said.

On Oct. 15, he will also lead a walk from the library to see the model train display at the Super A store.