Chain Circle Shortline

New Ringgold man creates full-size, front-yard railroadIt’s the month of Christmas.Just about everyone is decorating a tree.Near Clamtown, Dave Frederick tells folks he’s tinkering with his home train display.Invariably, people ask the same questions.Is it Lionel? Or is it S-scale? Or do you have HO?Their mouths open in amazement when he answers.“No, it’s standard gauge.”It’s the real thing.Frederick, of rural New Ringgold, has spent the past 10 years lovingly assembling the Chain Circle Shortline, a fantasy-but-real railroad in the lower front yard of the family’s 110-acre West Penn Township farm.The railroad is named after its location on Chain Circle just off Mush Dahl Road.Inspired by friendActually, nobody is more surprised at the existence of the rail line than Frederick himself.“I never thought 10 years ago I’d have a railroad in my front yard,” he says.The lifelong rail fan credits a friend, now gone, for inspiring him to do the impossible.“This is here because of Ken Smulligan,” says Frederick, a self-employed contractor.Smulligan, who passed away in 2013, was president of Tamaqua Save Our Station and the driving force behind restoration of Tamaqua’s 1874 Philadelphia & Reading Railroad passenger depot.Both Smulligan and Frederick grew up in and around Tamaqua, a former railroad hub. So it was only natural for Smulligan to suggest that Frederick build his own railroad.“He said to me ‘You have all of that land. Why don’t you put something down there?’ ”And so Frederick, along with son Dave and others, began laying track to accommodate his first acquisition,a 1942 Reading Railroad caboose he negotiated from another rail aficionado.“We put down about 30 feet of track. I got a caboose in trade from George Hart.”More carsIf one caboose weren’t enough, Frederick went after another, a 1905 Pennsylvania Railroad bobber version in handyman special condition, along with a railroad tie cart.“I have wood in the barn to rebuild the caboose,” he says.Since then, the track has more than tripled in length. And that’s good, because Frederick went after and purchased a priceless piece of rail history — a 1942 industrial locomotive that originated in Williamsport.He paid $1,200 just to move the 35-ton engine from Kutztown to Clamtown.The monstrous locomotive dominates the landscape, visually announcing the railroad to passers-by.Frederick also bought a vintage MT19 speeder car in March 2007.A speeder is a small motorized train car used to carry railroad workers responsible for maintaining the railroad right of way and making repairs.A speeder car weighs about 800 to 900 pounds, light enough to zip up and down the tracks to inspect the ties.“They go about 35 miles an hour,” he says.MemoriesFrederick is sentimental about trains. And no wonder.They’re a throwback to his childhood in West Penn Township.He has fond memories of the old Lionel set under the Christmas tree. And he remembers the sights and sounds of the real thing, too.“I could see the Lehigh and New England coal trains go by once a week,” he recalls.For those reasons and more, Frederick is proud to own a full-size railroad on his front lawn.“It’s railroad preservation. Here I can play with it every once in a while as opposed to someone scrapping it.”The private shortline provides a point of conversation for anyone coming to visit the Frederick family, which includes his wife, the former Lisa Lazur, and the couple’s three daughters and son.It seems everyone is fascinated by railroads. There’s just something about endless tracks and enormous engines that inspires awe.“It’s the size, the sheer bulk of them,” says Frederick.It’s also about their power.Mighty trains chug along and nothing can stop them.In a way, a railroad reflects Frederick’s work ethic and his view on life.He celebrated his 64th birthday on Veterans Day and says he has no plans to retire.He’ll continue to work at his contracting job during the day and play with his trains on evenings and weekends.It’s an enduring philosophy and a healthful way to live.“You just keep going as long as you can,” he says.Full power, full steam ahead.Like “old man railroad,” you just keep rolling along.