LITTLE ROCK — Double red doors on the front of Ruland Junction open up to a fantasyland filled with toy trains, some more than 100 years old. After seven years of preparation, Wayne Ruland is putting the finishing touches on his toy-train museum at 401 S. 12th St. in Heber Springs. The museum is in honor of his father, Ed.
When Wayne was a child in New Jersey, his grandmother would take him to Penn Station in New Jersey, and she had done the same with Wayne’s father. Those jaunts to the train station had such an impact on Ed that he began collecting and making toy trains at a very young age.
“That’s a 1927 Lionel that was my dad’s when he was a kid,” Wayne said as he pointed to a train set encased in glass. “He made that shed.”
In another glass case across the room were three shelves of boxcars that Ed had made when he was a child. On the lower shelf wereboxcars he made from wooden cheese boxes when he was about 8 years old. The next shelf had some power units that he made when he was a bit older.
Wayne treasures his father’s collection, which has since merged with Wayne’s and his brother Gary’s collections.
In the middle of the room in the downstairs part of the museum, Wayne has set up a simple, but extensive, collection. There are many more pieces to his collection upstairs.
“You have to stay right with these old trains, or they’ll get away from you,” he said as he manned the control board.
Because most of the pieces had been stored in a damp, musty basement for years, Wayne has painstakingly cleaned, oiled and repaired each piece.
“This is 80 years of collecting toys,” said Susan Ruland, Wayne’s wife.
“We didn’t want perfect. This is the kind of layout a kid would have played with.”
In the museum, there are more items than just trains. Wayne pointed out a collectionof Matchbox cars.
“I’d get my allowance and ride two miles to the store on a bike and [buy a Matchbox car and] go home and play with it,” he said, grinning at a memory that took him back to his childhood. “I like transportation, and Ilike toys.”
The museum also has two small libraries: one for adults and one for children. Susan said there is also an area underneath the stairs where the younger kids can play.
Even though Wayne and Susan didn’t grow up anywhere near Arkansas, they settled in Heber Springs in 1978. After a business deal didn’t pan out, the couple got married and tossed a coin.
“It was Oregon or Arkansas,” Wayne said with a laugh. “We flipped a coin and headed toward Arkansas. The truck broke down in Heber Springs, and this is where we stayed.”
The museum isn’t finished yet, and the couple plan toopen on Memorial Day; however, anyone who would like to visit is invited to call and make an appointment for a private tour.
For more information on the museum or to visit, call Susan or Wayne at (501) 362-6342.
Staff writer Jeanni Brosius can be reached at (501) 244-4307 or jbrosius@arkansasonline.com.
Three Rivers, Pages 45 on 03/22/2012