United NorthWest Model Railroad Club members are passionate about their trains and passionate about sharing that love of trains with the public. That passion shows in how they speak about their club and its 17th annual show, running this weekend at Monroe’s Evergreen State Fairgrounds.

“The show was born from a desire to share the hobby with the public, the desire to share the event’s proceeds with charity, and the ability to bring the modular trains to such an event, because of the pieces being movable,” spokesman Dean Daughenbaugh explained. “Also, it’s winter, and we need indoor activities this time of year. The other goal of the event in Monroe is to promote family entertainment, and model railroading is fun for the whole family.”

If the show’s history is any indication, the public’s interest in model trains is continuing to grow, because the club just keeps outgrowing the venues for its shows.

“We started at the Elks Lodge in Lake City, then we moved to the Nile Shrine Temple (in Seattle), and now we’re at the fairgrounds,” Daughenbaugh said. “Having more space in the venues is good because it means we can invite more clubs to participate,” he said.

This year, the event will feature about 150 model railroad vendors to set up their train layouts in the fairground’s arena, along with 20 to 30 additional tables simply full of more displays.

“We’ll also have videos, because Operation Lifesaver will be there, and that is an organization sponsored by railroads to promote safety, especially for kids, to be careful around the tracks,” Daughenbaugh said.

An additional focus of this 17th annual show is the club’s charitable side. The proceeds collected from vendors who participate, and guests who attend, will be donated to EquiFriends, a local therapeutic equestrian program for people with disabilities.

“When we were looking at coming to the fairgrounds, they mentioned that we might want to look at partnering with EquiFriends,” Daughenbaugh said. “We like it, because our proceeds help a charity. Last year we donated $14,000 to EquiFriends, and in the course of the last eight years, we’ve donated about $125,000 to various charities.”

As far as the goal of providing fun for families, Daughenbaugh says guests will be able to see models of everything from early steam locomotives to modern diesel locomotives to today’s Amtrak-type passenger trains, and more.

“For the young kids, it’s the fascination of seeing the trains running on the layouts, and for the older kids, it tends to be the fascination of, ‘How do you create a miniature tree, a miniature house, a miniature of any of the buildings that are in the layouts?’” he said. He noted that vendors may even allow visitors to take turns running some of the trains.

“Model trains have evolved from something that used to be done in a basement or spare room at home, to a modular display that could be taken in pieces to shopping malls or to events, so that more people could see them,” he said.