Stolen Slick-X Line railroad back on track
There is wide-eyed amazement from children and adults with the big Slick-X Line model railroad chugging away again. The 40-foot-long railroad is at the Holiday Food and Gift Festival at the National Western Complex after a long and difficult labor of love.
"It's amazing. It's a masterpiece that's for sure," said 12-year-old Nathaniel Perkins. "It tells a story with the city."
The story of the Slick-X Line goes back to when five former military members first built it. The group of model railroad enthusiasts grew to seven eventually. The group created a collapsible giant O-Gauge display 40 feet long. There were trains and buildings; life was captured in the late 1950s when trains still dominated the landscape.
"You know I just think it's such a cool brotherhood that they have," said mom Heather Perkins.
The whole display fit into a custom-designed trailer and they hauled it around to events. Not to model railroad shows, but to places like Cheyenne's Depot Days or festivals like the Holiday Food and Gift Festival so they could share it with audiences that don't often see big model railroad displays.
"And that's what we call seven crazy guys and their trains," said Ken Cook.
But in May, the trailer got stolen from a lot in Watkins where they were storing it between shows. That led them to be concerned the whole thing may be over.
Cook quoted one of the members who said, "We just lost our future. And what he meant was, we expected to be doing this for another 10 years."
But with a display that took two years to build, rebuilding by men now retired, he worried would be a job too big.
After a story on CBS News Colorado about the theft, a viewer called in information after spotting the trailer parked on a residential street and police later found it in Aurora. At an impound lot, the men went through it, realizing a lot was missing from the trailer, but not all. The scenery and most of the buildings were gone along with the expensive transformers to run the trains. But the thieves could not get the so-called "modules" out of the trailer. Those are the sections that hold the display. With that, the rebuilding process began. Many more hours.
"And we've had five work parties, some of them four days long in my driveway," said Bill Thomas.
Months later the group is back on the road.
"You know it's just neat to come out and see all those details and relive your childhood a little bit," said Heather Perkins. "I love these guys."
The smiles on the Slick-X Line guys were bigger when they saw the kids enjoying their work. They are back and their future is intact.
The Slick-X Line will be on display all weekend at the Holiday Food and Gift Festival at the National Western Complex this weekend and at the Holiday Food and Gift Festival at the Norris Penrose Event Center December 2-4.
