{"id":2449220,"date":"2019-09-27T00:00:00","date_gmt":"2019-09-27T06:00:00","guid":{"rendered":"https:\/\/www.aspentimes.com\/?p=313520"},"modified":"2019-09-27T00:00:00","modified_gmt":"2019-09-27T06:00:00","slug":"working-on-the-railroad-a-lifetime-passion-for-aspen-visitor","status":"publish","type":"post","link":"https:\/\/alwaysmountaintime.com\/kspn\/local-news\/working-on-the-railroad-a-lifetime-passion-for-aspen-visitor\/","title":{"rendered":"Working on the railroad a lifetime passion for Aspen visitor"},"content":{"rendered":"
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Frank Herzog watches his model trains move around his elaborate display in the home him and his wife rent for the summer in Aspen on Saturday, September 21, 2019. (Kelsey Brunner\/The Aspen Times)<\/strong>
Kelsey Brunner\/The Aspen Times<\/em><\/figcaption><\/div>\n<\/figure>\n

Frank Herzog is like a lot of regular visitors to Aspen.<\/p>\n

A retired lawyer from Houston, he and his wife enjoy taking in the classical concerts under the Benedict Music Tent, the myriad discussions held at The Aspen Institute, and the exhibits at Andersen Ranch Arts Center in Snowmass.<\/p>\n

\u201cIt keeps us busy,\u201d he said.<\/p>\n

Something else keeps Herzog busy, and it has nothing to do with Aspen\u2019s summer offerings, or the skiing that originally attracted his wife, Dorene, and him to the area in the late 1960s.<\/p>\n

Like the Buddhist monks who build elaborate sand mandalas they later disseminate as a demonstration of impermanence, Herzog constructs elaborate miniature train sets each summer before he disassembles them and starts over again the next year.<\/p>\n

Herzog, 82, has been immersed in model trains since he was 6 years old when his folks gave him his first Lionel, and he\u2019s been building and breaking down the tracks and their surroundings in Aspen every summer for at least the last two decades.<\/p>\n

\u201cIt\u2019s always a work in progress,\u201d he said. \u201cAnd I\u2019ll take this apart and then do it again the next year.\u201d<\/p>\n

Step into the couple\u2019s rental home in the West End neighborhood and everything appears normal \u2014 at first. Downstairs in the entertainment room, however, is a bustling scene alive with tracks, electric trains and a glut of trinkets Herzog handpicked from secondhand stores in Aspen and Carbondale.<\/p>\n

The room is a place where he can unwind, as the tiny locomotives hum earnestly, boxcars and cabooses in tow, through a festive world inspired by Aspen and Americana that Herzog proudly designed himself.<\/p>\n

\u201cI get a big kick out of just watching these trains and find it very relaxing to sit here,\u201d he said.<\/p>\n

But before he can truly relax, Herzog, wearing the hats of architect, landscaper and engineer, worked three or four hours a day, for two weeks, before the set was ready for prime time.<\/p>\n

\u201cThe trick,\u201d he said, \u201cis to get your track running properly and build around it.\u201d<\/p>\n

Herzog had a stroke of good fortune when workers at a home construction site gave him some slabs of wood on which to put the tracks.<\/p>\n

\u201cI brought them home and dressed them up with sandpaper,\u201d he said.<\/p>\n

After that\u2019s when the fun begins.<\/p>\n

\u201cI\u2019m more into the landscaping,\u201d he said.<\/p>\n

Look no further than the Aspen Thrift Shop, which he visits regularly, using his wife-approved stipend of two bucks a day to support his hobby.<\/p>\n

\u201cI\u2019ve just been amazed of what one can buy what people return to the thrift stores,\u201d he said.<\/p>\n

Herzog\u2019s most recent carnation \u2014 which he recently broke down because he and his wife are headed home next month \u2014 was largely modeled after Aspen. It included a Paepcke Park with an American-themed flair \u2014 complete with tiny replicas of the Statue of Liberty, the White House, Uncle Sam and other patriotic emblems.<\/p>\n

There\u2019s also the towns of Aspen and Glenwood Springs \u2014 the way Herzog envisions them \u2014 as well as what he calls Aspen Lake, adorned with faux aquatic life and boats.<\/p>\n

Waterfalls, trestle bridges and tunnels also dominate the detailed landscape, as well as Scrabble pieces, model aircraft, salt and pepper shakers, flags, ceramic bunnies, and other second-hand store features.<\/p>\n

\u201cI go everyday to the thrift store to see if I see things that I think would appeal to children,\u201d he said, \u201cbut really to me.\u201d<\/p>\n

That the Aspen Thrift Shop\u2019s profits go to charities and fund scholarships makes the hobby even more gratifying, he said.<\/p>\n

Eventually he hopes he\u2019ll have great-grandchildren to enjoy a pleasure he\u2019s had most of his life.<\/p>\n

\u201cI have three children and 11 grandchildren, but they\u2019re all too old,\u201d he said. \u201cI need some great-grandchildren.\u201d<\/p>\n

rcarroll@aspentimes.com<\/a><\/p>\n

via:: The Aspen Times<\/a><\/p>\n","protected":false},"excerpt":{"rendered":"

Frank Herzog watches his model trains move around his elaborate display in the home him and his wife rent for the summer in Aspen on Saturday, September 21, 2019. (Kelsey Brunner\/The Aspen Times)Kelsey Brunner\/The Aspen Times Frank Herzog is like a lot of regular visitors to Aspen. A retired lawyer from Houston, he and his […]<\/p>\n","protected":false},"author":2,"featured_media":0,"comment_status":"closed","ping_status":"closed","sticky":false,"template":"","format":"standard","meta":{"_acf_changed":false,"footnotes":""},"categories":[49],"tags":[],"class_list":{"0":"post-2449220","1":"post","2":"type-post","3":"status-publish","4":"format-standard","6":"category-local-news"},"acf":[],"publishpress_future_action":{"enabled":false,"date":"2026-06-27 10:45:45","action":"change-status","newStatus":"draft","terms":[],"taxonomy":"category","extraData":[]},"publishpress_future_workflow_manual_trigger":{"enabledWorkflows":[]},"distributor_meta":false,"distributor_terms":false,"distributor_media":false,"distributor_original_site_name":"KSPN The Valley's Quality Rock","distributor_original_site_url":"https:\/\/alwaysmountaintime.com\/kspn","push-errors":false,"_links":{"self":[{"href":"https:\/\/alwaysmountaintime.com\/kspn\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/posts\/2449220","targetHints":{"allow":["GET"]}}],"collection":[{"href":"https:\/\/alwaysmountaintime.com\/kspn\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/posts"}],"about":[{"href":"https:\/\/alwaysmountaintime.com\/kspn\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/types\/post"}],"author":[{"embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/alwaysmountaintime.com\/kspn\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/users\/2"}],"replies":[{"embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/alwaysmountaintime.com\/kspn\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/comments?post=2449220"}],"version-history":[{"count":0,"href":"https:\/\/alwaysmountaintime.com\/kspn\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/posts\/2449220\/revisions"}],"wp:attachment":[{"href":"https:\/\/alwaysmountaintime.com\/kspn\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/media?parent=2449220"}],"wp:term":[{"taxonomy":"category","embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/alwaysmountaintime.com\/kspn\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/categories?post=2449220"},{"taxonomy":"post_tag","embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/alwaysmountaintime.com\/kspn\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/tags?post=2449220"}],"curies":[{"name":"wp","href":"https:\/\/api.w.org\/{rel}","templated":true}]}}