Engineer railroad lover rebuilds Poughkeepsie’s past - in miniature

As trains pass through the Poughkeepsie Train Station on their way to the next destination, their sonorous chimes echo across the city. For longtime residents of the area, the railroads that border the Hudson River are as integral to the Hudson Valley as the waterway itself.

It was the local locomotive industry that drew David Todd Magill to his model train passion. As a child growing up in Poughkeepsie, Magill first fell in love with trains at the age of 4.

MODEL TRAINS: Garden railway hobbyist enjoys the small details

“My grandparents would walk me down to the yard (on Smith Street),” Magill, 44, recalled.

The railroad yard, where freight trains dropped off newsprint for the Poughkeepsie Journal, was just a short walk away from Magill's grandparents’ house on that same street. During visits there, the railroad crew would let him sit in the train cars.

“That was the first place I got a ride on a locomotive,” he said.

Around the time of that first ride, he received his first electric train set and began building model trains from kits. He stuck with the hobby throughout high school, often toting home supplies such as plywood and tracks.

After graduating Poughkeepsie High School in 1991, Magill got a job with the railroad, then known as Conrail, in 1992. It was due largely to his relationships with the staff at the Poughkeepsie Train Station, where he was a frequent visitor.

“When I got out of high school, they made sure I had a job,” he said.

Today, the Selkirk resident works as an engineer for Amtrak and looks forward to celebrating his 27th anniversary as a railroad employee in May. He enjoys his job so much that he incorporates his passion into his downtime as well.

As a model train enthusiast, Magill constructs miniature versions of the cars and tracks he rides around on with Amtrak.

One look at his basement, however, and “enthusiast” might not seem strong enough to cover it. Three years ago, Magill undertook a mammoth modeling project that remains dear to his heart.

Piece by piece, he labored on a historically accurate replica of the rail line that ran across the Poughkeepsie Railroad Bridge, now known as the Walkway Over the Hudson. The original caught on fire in 1974, rendering it useless.

“The railroad takes up my whole basement," he explained. “It focuses on the former New Haven Railroad from the late '50s to the early '60s.”

The endeavor, which took him about two and a half years to complete, extends 17 feet around the border of his basement. Yet it is far from the average toy store box railroad kit.

The one-of-a-kind retro line connects Maybrook to Canaan, Connecticut, just as the real New Haven tracks did during the '50s.

The Maybrook Line was the New Haven Railroad’s primary freight route from its western terminus in Maybrook, Orange County, that linked the railroad to New England.

"The biggest obstacle was the Hudson River," Magill said. "The Poughkeepsie bridge was the first bridge to be built over the Hudson River, completed in 1889. It’s main purpose was to get coal from Pennsylvania to New England. Beginning as the Central of New England Railroad then the New Haven Railroad, then Penn Central until May 8, 1974, the day of the fire, when the final train crossed eastbound, and that was the end of through traffic on the Maybrook Line."

Magill said it was a unique line, as most of the New Haven line trackage in New England was predominantly flat.

"As the Maybrook conquered some steep grades east of Poughkeepsie and at Hopewell Junction many heavy trains required pusher locomotives on the back to get the trains up through the Taconic mountain range," he said. "This lasted into the late 1950s when the railroad purchased more modern, powerful diesels."

On the east end of the railroad the major freight yard was in Cedar Hill, Connecticut (New Haven), Magill said, which is from where most of the trains going to Maybrook originated. They also started from Hartford, Connecticut, and Boston.

"Danbury was another busy place," he said. "During its heyday up to 40 trains a day would cross the Poughkeepsie Bridge. By 1974, it was down to one train a day each way. Now it is all a memory, which I have tried to re-create."

The replica includes recognizable details from the time period, such as the Smith Street dock of Magill’s childhood, billboards depicting period advertisements and, of course, the Poughkeepsie Railroad Bridge, which opened in 1889 and was the first bridge to cross the Hudson River between Albany and New York City.

The 6,768-foot span was used to transport goods, such as coal and grain, from the Midwest to New England, for 85 years, with as many as 3,500 freight and passenger cars crossing the Hudson River span each day, according to http://walkway.org/.

After doing extensive research on the buildings and scenery surrounding the line during the late 1950s, Magill laid the groundwork with historically accurate kits he built himself.

“You can go on the internet and buy pretty much anything you see in miniature,” he said.

This includes everything from trains and freight cars to buildings, gravel and vehicles. Magill first constructed the layout, then utilized his research to set the historical scene.

He had assistance when it came time to hand paint the fine details. His girlfriend worked on many of the buildings and tug boats, while his daughter, Madelyn, personalized the freight cars and scenery.

“My daughter, she’s 7, she’s very much involved with me,” Magill said.

"Maddie" is in charge of adding an old-fashioned aura to the scene, a personalization she accomplishes with a chalk and brush technique to make the cars look weathered and rusty. During vacations, the pair take train rides to different destinations and attend model train shows.

“It’s been great for me because I can share it with her,” he said. “It’s like a dream come true for me.”

For Magill, building model trains is more than just a hobby. It’s a family bonding experience, an opportunity to de-stress and an extension of the career he enjoys.

“It’s therapeutic,” he said.

Whether he’s jamming out to '70s tunes while building sets or operating the line with friends, he relishes the tranquil beauty of his model world. Between operating mini trains at home and riding around on them for work, Magill is one happy camper.

“I don’t consider my job that I do work because I love what I do,” he said. “It makes getting up and going to work very easy.”

As a railroader for more than 25 years and a model train enthusiast for the majority of his life, Magill has discovered his personal happiness equation. Yet that does not mean he is content to rest on his laurels — he already has plans to expand his setup.

“I’m planning on doing a second level,” he said.

He hopes to include spots such as Hopewell Junction, Danbury and Clintondale, all of which were significant points on the Maybrook Line. Magill estimates the additions will take him another year or two to complete.

Regardless of how many tweaks he makes, Poughkeepsie and the railroad bridge will remain at the core of it.

“It’s my hometown,” he said.

Sabrina Sucato is a freelance writer. Contact her at features@poughkeepsiejournal.com

Railroad rundown

4: Magill’s age when he rode on a train for the first time

20: Minutes it takes for Magill’s model train to run all 17 feet

1974: Year the Poughkeepsie railroad bridge caught on fire

1992: Year Magill got his first job with Conrail

1918: Year the Poughkeepsie Train Station opened

Share your passion

Do you have work, a hobby or other pastime about which you are passionate? Tell us about it! Send your name, email and daytime telephone with a one-paragraph description of what you love to bfarrell@poughkeepsiejournal.com; please include "my passion" in the subject line.