By David Harry

Staff Writer

If it chugs or tugs, Bill Cataneyse has built or run it.

“I like big greasy things that make noise,” Cataneyse, 66, said with a laugh.

He also likes smaller things that make noise.  The Acton resident is organizing the Sanford Lions Club All Gauge Model Railroad Show from 10 a.m. to 3 p.m., Saturday, April 18, at the Veterans Memorial Gym, 678 Main St. in Sanford.

With at least 70 vendors and half a dozen model railroad layouts in all gauges on display, the first floor of the gym turns into a train lover’s paradise. Cataneyse said the show helps him recall his first love.

As someone who has captained tugboats in Belfast and installed CT and MRI scanners in hospitals, Cataneyse is not likely to be intimidated by building and wiring a model railroad layout.

A founder of the show with fellow Lions Club members, Cataneyse said he wants visitors to understand how easy it is to develop a model railroading hobby. The hobby teaches children woodworking, electrical and technical skills and an appreciation for history, he said.

“I love to see the look in kids’ eyes and want to get them working with their hands,” Cataneyse said.

The Sanford Lions Club took its cue from the Augusta-area Whitefield Lions Club, which hosts a doll and model railroad show each fall, Cataneyse said.

The Whitefield club provided a list of vendors and model railroad clubs throughout Maine that assemble layouts before the show opens. The layouts are built in sections and club members piece them together.

Vendors include owners of hobby stores and collectors who often swap and buy amongst themselves before the show starts. 

“Some of the best deals are done by 9:30,” Cataneyse said. 

In a lifetime of working with his hands, Cataneyse said he worked with his father at an auto body shop, restored a Greyhound bus into a camper and rebuilt two railroad “speeder” cars he likes to ride on railroad tracks in Maine and New Hampshire.

The clubs have permission to use the lines as they are not used by actively otherwise, Cataneyse said.

Speeder cars were used to carry inspection and maintenance crews. Cataneyse said two of his restoration projects will be displayed in front of Sanford Memorial Gym during the show.

The restored speeder cars are painted red and yellow – the colors of the now defunct Sanford and Eastern Railroad – but were bought from Ontario Northland Railroad in Canada.

Harland Eastman of the Sanford Historical Society said the Sanford and Eastern Railroad was originally built as a spur line of the Boston and Maine Railroad and ran from Portland to Rochester, N.H. 

The railroad was renamed in 1949 from Boston and Maine to Sanford and Eastern. Service from Springvale to Rochester ceased in 1952, and service on the remaining line ended in 1961, Eastman said. 

Despite his love for trains and the fond memories of his first train set, Cataneyse said he did not take up model railroading at home until about a decade ago.

Locomotives have computer chips and individual motors installed to enhance realism and allow multiple trains to run on one set of tracks, Cataneyse said.

The Internet also helps beginners with chat rooms and sites with basic and detailed answers to questions on laying track, wiring layouts and weathering buildings and railroad cars.

“There are people we call ‘rivet counters,’” Cataneyse said of model railroaders who recreate scenes specifically.

Cataneyse said he sold the layout his wife bought for him and is planning the Mousam Valley Railroad for his garage. The waterfront-themed layout – complete with piers and tugboats – is a scene based on Belfast and Searsport, but it will not be a precise re-creation.

“You can tell a guy lives here, the garage is bigger than the house,” Cataneyse said.

Admission to the show is $4 for adults, and children younger than 12 will be admitted without charge. A concession stand will be available. Parking at the gym is free. For more information, call Catanesye at 636-3434.

 Staff writer David Harry can be reached at 282-4337, ext. 241.