By JOE HART

BOSCOBEL - Move over Wisconsin and Southern! There’s a new railroad in town. It’s called the Midwest Module Modelers (MMM), and what it lacks in stature, it makes up for in portability.

Unlike its life-size competition, the MMM railroad stands just a few inches high. It’s the creation of an area model railroad club, and it’s coming to the Boscobel High School Bulldog Café on Saturday, April 22, at 6 p.m.

The club will demonstrate a model train setup at the thirty-eighth annual banquet and program of the Christian Women’s Fellowship of Boscobel and is open to the public.

Train lovers

The MMM club began some 12 years ago at the Richland Center depot, according to Randy Sperry, a member.

“We’re all train enthusiasts,” Sperry said. We love model railroading and real railroading. We watch railroads and photograph them. It’s just an enjoyment of watching, you know, things that go fast,” he explained.

Today the club is located primarily in the various basements of its members. (Club meetings rotate from one setup to the next.)

Regularly, the club uses a set of “modules”—miniature scenes that can be hooked up in a variety of configurations—to display their handiwork for the public. Such is the case at the banquet. Each module measures two-by-four feet and features a standardized track system that locks together.

“You can add as many as you want, depending on the size of the room. We can go up to about 40 or 50 feet long,” Sperry said.

In addition to the Boscobel banquet, MMM demonstrates its model railroad creations at area nursing homes, as well as annually at Dinky Days in Woodman.

Food, fellowship

The banquet, which is themed “All Aboard,” will also feature a beef and chicken dinner; musical selections by Greg Patchak, Boscobel; and an inspirational message entitled “On Track: Overcoming Life’s Obstacles” by Bill Schultz, author, motivational speaker and former owner/manager of an executive search firm, Madison.

A freewill offering will be taken for a local, worthy cause. This time, the “Champion Games” (Special Olympics), sponsored by CESA 3, will be the recipient.

The cost for the evening is $15 per person. Tickets for the banquet must be purchased in advance by Friday, April 14 and are available by calling Cindy Knoble (391-0464), Bev Nice (375-5599), Becky Varney (537-2317), or Marion Zimpel (537-2886).