HOWARD: It’s a hobby, people have hobbies.
This happens to be mine.
COMM: This Maryland basement is home to one
man’s lifelong passion.
HOWARD: I am proud of it, definitely an addiction.
COMM: Covering almost 3,000 square feet, Howard
Zane’s huge handcrafted model train land is renowned as one of the finest in America,
and could be worth a staggering amount of money.
HOWARD: I would say probably around 2 million.
But I hate to do that, ‘cause I really don’t know, I couldn’t price it. It’s hard to say.
COMM: And while it’s the love of his life,
thankfully, his third wife doesn’t mind.
SANDY: I fully support it, and the best part
of all is I always know where Howard is. He is always in the basement, he is not out at
the pubs or the bars, he is working on his layout, and having a great time, so I think
it’s a great hobby. It could be worse. Even if he is a trainoholic, that’s perfectly okay.
COMM: The 77 year old began work on his Piermont
division layout 30 years ago when he retired, and went into business selling his custom
made scale buildings and trains.
HOWARD: It looks like it’s very expensive
but 90% of the buildings are scratch build, which means they are not kits, so my material
cost let’s see for a building like this over here would probably be less than $25.
So now if these were kits or I had somebody build it or I also build professional layouts
for other people, I did, I am retired from that now. A layout of this size would cost
around 3 million dollars. I can’t put a dollar amount on this because as I said everything,
most of this stuff is scratch built. The only thing of value are the locomotives.
COMM: The huge layout features around 1,400
feet of tracks, equivalent to 23 scale miles. And it takes an hour to complete one circuit.
HOWARD: Just about everybody on this planet
has some kind of an affinity or liking of trains; some carry it out a little further
than others like myself. My inspiration was my father. I did my first train layout at
age 3, so it was in my blood.
COMM: Howard’s friends have been a big help.
FRED: I bring groups down here quite often,
and people jaws just drop to the floor as soon as they walk down the steps and they
see what’s here.
SCOTT: And experience it in person, it blows
those expectations away, I mean it’s remarkable the amount of passion that I think it conveys
that Howard has for this hobby, it’s inspirational.
JAN: He is probably here 24/7. He will wake
up in the middle of the night and want to build something, and he has done this.
COMM: But his obsession with model railways
has had affect on his love life.
HOWARD: My first wife was, the trains were
competition for her at times, she didn’t quite understand. My second wife, she thought
I should be more serious. So it’s…it got to be a problem after a while. Sandy is an
artist. She is a fiddle player, and she understands art, and she understands thoroughly why I
am down here playing with this thing or building.
SANDY: I have a wing of the house for my own
which is Howard has trains everywhere else. In fact you will see trains going around the
kitchen, the dining room, the living room, everywhere else. But I do have my own space.
COMM: And although his railways might expand
in the future, size isn’t everything.
HOWARD: I just want to maintain a certain
level of quality. If I were to expand, it will bring it up to 4,400 square feet, it’s
one of the largest in the area.
SANDY: He certainly talks about having a train
under his pillow at night. I think if he could, he would. But we don’t go that far. Question
is whether Howard has some psychological obsession or impairment and…possibly but it’s a
good one.