A Man and His Trains

by Johnny McDonald

Ramona’s Bob Darron helps run a railroad twice a week, but his work involves a long trip to Balboa Park.

He’s among seven members of the San Diego Model Railroad Club who operate a 4,500-square-foot San Diego-Arizona Eastern display for the San Diego Model Railroad museum.

Darron has found the hobby fulfilling after careers that included four years in the Navy, 23 more in the Marine Corps and as a systems engineer at Point Loma Ocean System Center. He retired from the Marines as a lieutenant colonel but finds time to serve as a docent at the Marine Corps Recruit Depot museum.

“I guess I own about 20 to 25 HO scale engines, some at home and others, a few unbuilt, in lockers at the museum,” Darron said.

Asked if he had a train layout at home, he said, joking: “I don’t have one at home...my wife, Eli, wouldn’t want that.”

Darron has been a member of the club since 1993 and spent six years building an elaborate replica of the old San Diego train station that is on display.

The club’s railroad layout is about 20 years old and according to Barron, has about 20 more years of work to be done.

The prototype has lines connecting San Diego with a branch to El Cajon and a short line to El Centro. It features a huge model of Carrizo Gorge (located a few miles north of Jacumba in eastern San Diego), which includes Goat Canyon Trestle, one of the largest wooden structures of its kind in the world.

“We try to put together a nice demonstration for the (museum) patrons,” Darron said. “When another member is there, we are able to run two trains in opposite directions.

“Kids often ask us to speed up the trains,” he said. “We tell them, ‘If you want that, go to the toy gallery section.’ ”

When the five-hour day’s over, the valuable and sometimes rare privately owned equipment is stashed away under lock and key.