Tom’s Trains

Tom Stoor grew up in the same building where his parents operated Stoor’s Grocery on the ground floor with the family occupying an apartment upstairs.  Being the youngest of three boys by several years his older brothers shared a bedroom in the front next to their parents and Tom got the bedroom with the low ceiling in the back of the building. The ceiling was not an issue for the youngster and the positive was that the room was actually two small rooms, one for his sleeping and the other housing a good sized model train layout complete with a tunnel built in the back corner.  

When we took possession of the building at 100 E. Hooper back in 2018 Jerry Stoor told us about playing with his cousin Tommy’s train along with most of the other kids in the neighborhood. It was a popular hangout. The trains and track were long gone, but the table and tunnel were still there and we discussed at some point it might be fun to set it up again, but then the idea was put on the back burner and other more pressing needs were tackled. That is until early last winter when Carol Goodsell’s sister-in-law informed Carol’s brother, Blaine Anderson it was time for him to find a new home for his model trains.  With a train and tracks available the restoration of Tommy’s railroad was now a possibility and Jerry and Carol went to work cleaning out the space we had been using for storage for the last five years. With the rooms cleared it was determined the old tables were too rickety and the tunnel too deteriorated for use, so they were also removed, and they started from scratch.  

To dress up the project Jerry recruited Diane Olson to share her talents and she painted murals depicting Chester Hill and the geyser on one wall, Caribou Mountain, and Mt. Sherman on two other walls. Gus Greene added authenticity by building a scale model of the Soda Springs Depot. The end result is a pretty eye-catching display and was a big hit with the third-grade field trip this May. Usually, we spend about 30 minutes touring the museum with each class, but it took about an extra 15 minutes per class this year because we had to coax them out of the train room. Stop by and check it out some Saturday and prepare to duck unless you’re a kid!