Robert Berbeck's love for trains, both large and very minute, is evident by his email address: dispatcher42@hotmail.com.

Rewind back to Christmas 1964, and Berbeck's wife stuck a Reading Railroad model caboose in his stocking.

"I've been at it ever since," Berbeck said, his fascination with trains dating back even further.

His dad worked for CN Express and Berbeck used to ride the train's engine up and down the rails in Ontario, and during his 27-year career with the navy, Berbeck grew very familiar with the national rail system.

"I've been across Canada seven times," Berbeck recalled. "The navy, before integration, used to send their people from Esquimalt to Halifax, by train."

It was Berbeck's lifelong affinity for trains that led him to the Vancouver TraiNgang, a modular ngauge model railroad club based in the Greater Vancouver area.

The focus of the club is 1: 160th scale model trains.

The quarter-century old club was still in its infancy when Berbeck joined up 22 years ago.

One of five members from the Maple Ridge area, Berbeck is the club's superintendent.

The TraiNgang, which started with seven members in 1986, now has 32 active members ranging from 13 years old to 86year-old Don Slee.

The club uses 41 modules in which the tracks and dioramas are laid out upon.

"Our largest layout was 52 feet long, 36 feet wide," Berbeck said.

Most modules are owned by members, who have varied interests in rolling stock, and trains of North American, European, British, and Japanese prototype may be seen rolling by on the layout.

The club received a substantial bounty from one of its early members, Robert Millar, who, when he died 20 years ago, left all of his trains and modules to the members.

"It was quite a collection," Berbeck said. "For example, he had a Rio Grande passenger train that had six engines and 35 cars."

Two of the engines and some of the cars were repainted into Milwaukee cars.

Today's members, including Maple Ridge resident and club webmaster Patrick Schafli, are readily identifiable at all events by their blue golf shirts, vests or caps complete with TraiNgang logo.

Like Berbeck, Schafli's love for the rails started at a very young age.

"I had a cousin, who is older than me, and he had an HO scale model train layout in his bedroom," Schafli remembered.

When his cousin was away at college, Schafli and his brother would sneak into his room whenever they visited his house, and play with his train set.

"We would kinda push the freight cars up and down the track," Schafli said.

Eventually, it led to him getting a model train set of his own.

"I guess I started getting somewhat interested in real trains," said Schafli, who also has a train orientated email address: loco1994@shaw.ca.

The TraiNgang set up a display at Confederation Park in Burnaby earlier this summer for the annual TraiNgang family barbecue, and were at Valley Fair Mall for a Father's Day show.

For more on this train club and its activities, people can visit www.vancouvertraingang.com.

tlandreville@mrtimes.com