ROGER WASSON: I got my first Lionel train set in 1954. In 2002, I had a heart attack, and that changed things. And-- and the doctor said-- after about a year of this, I was a little nervous and everything. And he said, you need to get a hobby. I said, well, I'll go back doing hot rods. He says, no, you can't do that because you can't lift anything anymore. So I dug out my Lionel train, and a few thousand dollars later, here I am. [ART GALBRAITH, "SUNDAY NIGHT REEL"] [engine revving] [bugs chirping] [bird screeches] [saw buzzing] [horn blowing] Many of us have fond memories of our first train set and the childhood experiences of running our own railroad through our living room only to have it go defunct when company came over, or it was time to pick up and put away our toys. On this episode of "OzarksWatch Video Magazine," I get to visit with a big kid that didn't let the challenge of limited space in his basement deter him from building out his own dream model railroad that would rival the real thing in scale. Roger Wasson shares with us his hobby that got way out of hand and has many scenes familiar to Ozark's residents reflected in his solid rock railroad. So get your engineer caps on as we check out a truly remarkable sight. NARRATOR: Ozarks Public television and Missouri State University are proud to present "OzarksWatch Video Magazine," a locally produced program committed to increasing the understanding of the richness and complexity of Ozarks culture. Visit our website for more information Well, welcome to "OzarksWatch Video Magazine." I'm Dale Moore, and obviously, we are on the road. You know, it has been said that one of the greatest things you can do for yourself is to have a hobby. Well, you need to hang on to your hat. You're going to want to hit the DVR because boy, you're going to see a hobby on overload. I am so glad that you're with us today, and I'm so glad that Roger Wasson has allowed us to come into his home and to show us around. Roger, thanks for letting us come in to your house. Thank you for coming. This is-- you know what? I've been doing this a long time and I have one of those things where I occasionally say, well, I don't know where to start, but honestly, I don't know where to start. So let's start back at the beginning before we get into the hobby and what our viewers are going to be completely blown away by today. And let's talk about the early days of Roger Wasson. What-- what-- what did you used to do when you were a kid? When I was a kid I was growing up here in Springfield. Been here most of my life. I hung around garages. I liked automobiles. And so I was basically a mechanic and a-- DALE MOORE: A gearhead. Yeah, I was a gearhead. I enjoyed that. I enjoyed doing things with my hands. So did that. Is that what you-- I mean, that was your vocation in life was to be a mechanic? That was my vocation-- that was my vocation in life. I was blessed. In 1969, I went to work for Richard Petty for three years down there. DALE MOORE: Yeah. And then I came back and I bought the garage that I grew up in. DALE MOORE: Yeah. And the doctor told me I better quit. DALE MOORE: Yeah. So after about eight or nine years, I quit the shop. And then later on, we started a company called Elite Promotion to sell promotional products. And that's it. Well, let's back up a second. I could have sworn I heard you say number 43 just a minute ago. Yes, sir. Now how in the world does you hook up with Richard Petty? I was blessed. I was blessed. Took a vacation. Never seen the ocean in my life. Got to Tennessee, had the radio on. Back then, we didn't have-- you know, you-- you ran out of radio stations. It ran on to a radio station where they were in Michigan. It got rained out. They interviewed him. He said he was going to be going home, so he went home. And I thought I'm not that far away, so I went over there and sit down and-- or I drove up, and I was scared to death. And he was unloading the car and he said, is there anything I can help you with? I said, well, I want to look at the cars. You know, and he said, well, you can't see much sitting there. And long story short, we were there for about two hours and he told me, he says the boys start here at 7 o'clock. You're more than welcome to come. So at 7 o'clock the next morning for two weeks, I was there. Came home and then thought about it, and sent him a letter, and went to work for him. DALE MOORE: Wow. ROGER WASSON: That's how I-- DALE MOORE: That's quite the story. ROGER WASSON: Yeah. So did you travel around how-- how-- how many races did you see? ROGER WASSON: I been in-- well, back then, we were in almost every state. DALE MOORE: Wow. ROGER WASSON: I traveled with him for two years. I basically worked for his brother, Maurice Petty. Worked in the engine room and transmission and rear ends. And then as I learned more and more, then I started traveling with him about six months after I started-- after I started with him. DALE MOORE: How in the world did you get a bug for model railroading? Well, for one thing, I got-- I got my first Lionel train set in 1954. Still had it. And then in 2002, I had a heart attack and that changed things. And the doctor said-- after about a year of this, I was a little nervous and everything. And he said, you need to get a hobby. I said, well, I'll go back to doing hot rods. He says, no, you can't do that because you can't lift anything anymore. So I dug out my Lionel train, and a few thousand dollars later, here I am. Yeah, well. That may be the understatement of the year as-- as our-- our-- our viewers are going to see here in just a little bit. Now you had a connection, though, I guess with the Frisco railroad a little bit. Your dad, is that right. Yeah. My-- my dad was in the dining car department. And he normally got on the train. It ran from Springfield to Memphis down to Birmingham with the sailor boys. And then they would come back. And we only lived about two or three blocks from the old depot downtown. And so we would wait for him to come in and call him. My grandfather was the head painter for the Frisco, and my uncles all worked for the Frisco. Back then, almost everybody worked for the Frisco. DALE MOORE: Yep. ROGER WASSON: Yeah. That was the job to have in this town-- ROGER WASSON: It was. --way-- way back in the day. ROGER WASSON: It was the job to have. So I guess when we talk about the Underground Railroad, we're standing now in your Underground Railroad. And did you know that you were going to call it that when you started this? ROGER WASSON: I had no idea. I started over there in the John Deere room-- DALE MOORE: Yeah? ROGER WASSON: --and had it for about a couple of years. And then I looked out the one little door there and I thought, well, maybe I could do a little bit more. DALE MOORE: Yeah. ROGER WASSON: And because of my heart, my wife would only let me work down here an hour and a half digging a day. DALE MOORE: Yeah. ROGER WASSON: It took me three years to dig it out. DALE MOORE: So your doctor told you to quit any strenuous labor and you hand dug out your basement? ROGER WASSON: Yeah. DALE MOORE: Well-- ROGER WASSON: Yeah. DALE MOORE: --I guess you don't see that doctor anymore, do you? ROGER WASSON: No. No, He retired. DALE MOORE: I'll bet he did. Because-- how-- how many square feet? Just to give kind of a sense of Scale, how many square feet does this underground railroad consume? ROGER WASSON: In this room, it's 46 by 30. DALE MOORE: OK. OK. ROGER WASSON: In this room. And the other room is 17 by 13. DALE MOORE: OK. Now-- and-- and this is all O scale that we're looking at. Why did you decide on O scale? ROGER WASSON: I did O scale because my first railroad-- my first train set was O scale, and that's all I knew about, so-- DALE MOORE: That was kind of the original scale of the-- ROGER WASSON: That was the original scale back then, yeah. That was back like, say, in the early '50s. DALE MOORE: And I-- about middle '50s, I got a Lionel set, and it was a round track-- ROGER WASSON: Yes. DALE MOORE: --an oval track, and that-- I thought I'd arrived. ROGER WASSON: Oh, well I-- DALE MOORE: You know? ROGER WASSON: --did, too. Well, we lived next door to my grandparents and granddad bought me a sheet of plywood, 4 by 8. So I played with that for several years. DALE MOORE: Well, I mean, the O scale is remarkable and there's-- how many scales are there in model railroading? ROGER WASSON: Oh, my goodness. DALE MOORE: There's several. ROGER WASSON: Yeah, there's several. I'd say there's seven or eight. It starts out with G, O, HO, and then it just keeps going down. DALE MOORE: Yeah. ROGER WASSON: And the little Ts are about that big. DALE MOORE: Little-- little bitty thing. ROGER WASSON: Yeah. DALE MOORE: Well, I mean, what-- what we're seeing here-- how-- how did-- how did-- how did you decide-- walk me through this. Where-- where did you start, and? I started by trying to figure out where I could put the pathways, OK. And-- DALE MOORE: By that you mean the rail track? ROGER WASSON: That's-- the pathways are where we're walking. DALE MOORE: Oh, OK. OK. ROGER WASSON: Where we're walking, because it was all dirt out here. And so I figured that much out, measured it and everything. Then a gentleman by the name of Vernon Hart here in town, I'd more or less give him the ideas that like I wanted the turntable up at the front, I'd like to have the depot over here, I'd like to have a couple of trestles and everything. He actually drew up the track plan for me. Vernon Hart was a very big help for me. He's still around and a good friend. And he helped me do a lot of this stuff and everything. But that-- we had to figure out where I could put the aisles. And then from there, then, we knew where we could build the train. DALE MOORE: Right. How many feet, or miles of track are in this? ROGER WASSON: At least a quarter mile, if not a half mile. I've got at least a little over a mile of wire in-- in it. DALE MOORE: Right. ROGER WASSON: You know? So I don't know. But I don't know how many. DALE MOORE: Well, and the realism of-- of the scenery, I mean, you see things here that you associate with Springfield. I mean, the old Frisco Depot has been replicated here. ROGER WASSON: Yes. DALE MOORE: And it's-- with the Harvey House and the whole-- tell-- tell me the story about how you wound up getting that-- the actual replica of the Frisco. ROGER WASSON: There was a gentleman, Mr. Williams. He had the blueprints to it. He had the blueprints to the original depot station. And I went to see an architect that I know, Mr. Ed Waters-- DALE MOORE: Yeah. ROGER WASSON: And Ed told me about this one gentleman that was a senior at Drury. And he could probably do the model for me. And he-- he did the model for me right down to the basics of-- of it. That's probably the only thing that's actually a true-built replica of anything here. DALE MOORE: Yeah. The rest of it is kind of thrown together to try to think that you're in Springfield in-- in a few places. DALE MOORE: Well, I mean, I see all kinds of examples here of-- of things that refer to Springfield. I mean, you've got the-- you've got the MFA grain elevators. You've got-- there's Bass Pro Shops over there. I mean, everywhere you look, you see something that reminds you of Springfield. So you were thinking generally about trying to replicate some of-- of Springfield, obviously. ROGER WASSON: Yeah, and the surrounding area. And the surrounding area. DALE MOORE: And let me ask you this. As I'm looking around the room here, and you can turn a 360 degrees, how did you get the pictures on the wall? Is that-- obviously, that's the Ozarks landscape. ROGER WASSON: Well, I don't know if it's the Ozarks landscape or not-- DALE MOORE: It looks like it. ROGER WASSON: Yeah. That's what I wanted to do. And I wanted it to look like fall. And there is a gentleman out in Utah that does what they call backdrops by design. And he goes out and he takes all kinds of photos. And basically you all would know of it as wallpaper, but it's 13 feet long and three feet tall. So you just-- you plaster it right up against the back of the wall here, and it goes around. Yeah. DALE MOORE: Well, I mean, it feels like I'm standing, you know, between here and Sparta somewhere. It's kind of how it feels. It's-- it's got that absolute feel to it. So you know, I haven't even tried to count, and I think you call it rolling stock-- ROGER WASSON: Yes sir. DALE MOORE: That's what-- that's what-- how many pieces are rolling stock? ROGER WASSON: I got over 150, how about that? DALE MOORE: Over-- I was-- well, that sounds like-- about half to me, from what-- from what you see there. So when you're-- when-- when you're doing this and you're laying this out, I mean, do you-- well, OK, are you done? ROGER WASSON: No. No. You never really get done. But you just basically-- this is close to the plans that I could get that Vernon drew. But there's still things that get in the way, like the post that's here holding the house up. For some reason, the wife wouldn't let me take the post down that holds the house up. DALE MOORE: Well, my, my. ROGER WASSON: So you know, there's certain things that got in the way. DALE MOORE: Yeah. ROGER WASSON: But that was the enjoyable part. The enjoyable part was getting one track laid that I could actually run. And that took quite a while to get it all done. DALE MOORE: Yeah. ROGER WASSON: But-- DALE MOORE: Well, I think you need to have an elevated track somewhere-- ROGER WASSON: Oh, yeah. DALE MOORE: Like the L in Chicago, maybe, and have a-- you know, and you get something like that. I don't-- because I don't know-- I don't know that I've seen streetcars anywhere. And I know Springfield downtown had streetcars, I think, over the years. Well, I would say that this time period is from the early '50s, because that's about-- I was born in 46. DALE MOORE: Yeah. So I've got some steam engines here that are Frisco, and they were the last steam engines that Frisco had. And then most of my diesel engines are all early model, either the red and white, or what they know as orange-- orange and white, or the black and yellow diesels that they first came out in '48 and '49. DALE MOORE: Yeah. ROGER WASSON: So it's back-- I didn't go all the way back. DALE MOORE: Yeah. Yeah. Where in the world do you find-- I mean, the old gauge stuff I guess I can understand and I can see where you could-- you know, you could find that with a vendor. But I mean the-- the light towers, and the-- the small signals that are-- you know, do you find stuff like that? There is a whole industry of what I would call cottage industries, OK, of guys. This, like the little switches and there are little lights and everything, that comes from a gentleman called Raw Switches, and they're in Connecticut. And I ordered all those from him in Connecticut. DALE MOORE: Yeah. ROGER WASSON: And there's just all kinds of little cottage industries. It's got-- I've got a bunch of little cars, what you all would know of is die-cast cars here. DALE MOORE: Yep. ROGER WASSON: And people-- that's another industry of them and all. So yeah, you just go online. And like I say, York, Pennsylvania, they have a-- they take their fairgrounds, and twice a year they have old gauge meet, and what you all would know of as a flea market. DALE MOORE: OK. ROGER WASSON: And that's where you learn about where everything is, so. DALE MOORE: Yeah. ROGER WASSON: I went there probably four or five months after I started this and thought, oh, boy. DALE MOORE: Yeah. ROGER WASSON: This is-- this is what it does. DALE MOORE: Yeah. Is there-- are there any pieces that are extremely rare or difficult to find, or are there pieces that a collector like you, or a hobbyist like you would say, boy, if I can get that one piece, that's the one I want? ROGER WASSON: Yes. And to be honest to you, it's sitting in the other room, and I haven't got room for it here, and it really gets me. It-- it is the Will Rogers train set that they had. And it is beautiful. I do have the old meteor, and it's on here. But I probably looked for that train set for seven, eight years and finally found it. Some guy was-- what happened was it was in an estate sale out in California and I found it, so. So what's your greatest pleasure from this? Is it watching kids come down and watch this? Yes, that's my greatest. I've got three precious children back here, two over here. That's five. And they'll knock on the door and they'll say, Mr. Roger, can we see your trains run? And I enjoy that. I enjoy that. They know-- they come in and they can't-- you know, have your hands behind you and all like that. Well behaved. The funniest thing that ever happened was that the first time they did that, all five of them were there. And so I just knew that mama-- it was in the summer, knew that mama knew where they were at. They didn't know that. So we're back here in the back here, and Whitney next door yells in, do you have my kids? Yep, I got your kids. So from now on, I tell them, did you tell your mama that? I enjoy that. I enjoy that. DALE MOORE: Yeah. ROGER WASSON: And it's just like showing a little baby off. DALE MOORE: Oh, sure. ROGER WASSON: We have a-- there is Old Gauge Forum online that all-- all all-- there's probably thousands of people that are on this forum. And a lot of times, some of the guys that are on the forum are going to Branson. Well, they know Springfield is along-- along the way. DALE MOORE: Right. ROGER WASSON: And I would say probably two, maybe four couples a year will get on the phone, say, hey, can we come by and see your layout? So I get a thrill out of that. DALE MOORE: Yeah. Yeah. Yeah. And you've been featured in some national model railroading magazines. Talk about that. The first one that we were featured in was "O Gauge Railroading." And it-- it was-- it was quite a spread. It was nine or 10 pages. The guys came in here, and as you all know by now, there's hardly any light down here. And they came in and they did a write up. That was probably about six or seven years ago. And then probably about five years ago, the other magazine came down. They came down from Wisconsin and they took pictures of another one. So it's been in two national magazines. DALE MOORE: Yeah. Yeah. Well, I can-- I can't imagine that there are many operations quite like this, and this is just breathtaking when you walk in. I-- ROGER WASSON: Oh, thank you. I round-- I rounded the corner and I stood there, and I thought to myself, how many times on this show of I said, well, this is-- this one tops it. But this one may very well top it. Thank you. Quite a deal. When I was wandering through here as we were setting up and I'm looking at the different pieces, and I see the Frisco and-- and Campbell 66, you know, I go back and I remember Springfield in that era. What do you think the lasting legacy of Frisco and Campbell 66 has had on Springfield and the community? It's-- it's been a big impact. Been a huge impact. I did a little bit of reading. And back in the-- I'm gonna say, I'm gonna guess that John Sellers are probably know the exact date, but I'm going to say around 1902 or 1905, they built the west shops out here. And that was a $5 million thing. $5 million over 100 years ago was a lot of money. DALE MOORE: A lot of money. ROGER WASSON: A lot of money. And as far as I know, when I was growing up, you either worked for the Frisco or you worked for Campbell 66. DALE MOORE: Yeah. ROGER WASSON: I'll put it this way. All-- all the people that I went to church with and all like that, it was just that way. DALE MOORE: Yeah. ROGER WASSON: And it-- Springfield, they really had-- Frisco office was originally in St. Louis just before the turn of the century, and then they moved it down here because Frisco had the lines from St. Louis to Oklahoma City. Then they bought the line that went from Kansas City down to Memphis. So Springfield was in the crossroads. And that's how come we wound up being the headquarters of the Frisco, you know. And they were just common guys. Everybody-- you know, we all-- we always liked to go down and see the trains come and go. DALE MOORE: Yep. Yep. Yep. ROGER WASSON: All like that. DALE MOORE: Yep. ROGER WASSON: So I just never outgrew it. DALE MOORE: Yeah. And I still do. I'm still fascinated to watch a train go by. Just-- it's so-- I don't know what it is about it, but it's one of those things that it-- it stirs memories, and it's just awesome to think of the power that's there, and the fact that it's bringing commerce, it's delivering commerce, and it's doing-- it's making things work. ROGER WASSON: Yeah. Well, I forget now, but there was in excess of 50 cold cars that used to-- coal trains that used to run through the city every day. DALE MOORE: Yeah. ROGER WASSON: And 50, that's a bunch. DALE MOORE: Yeah. You know, you look back at the history of Springfield, and you mentioned John Sellers, our good friend, and it is-- it is stunning to think that Route 66 started here. You'd had Campbell 66 Express, he had all of the industry that would have not been in Springfield were it not for the railroad because you got to get stuff you make out and gone somewhere. ROGER WASSON: Yeah. So it has been quite a legacy. And then to walk in here, there have been very few times in my life, Roger, that I've said, I wish I was three inches tall, but today, I wish I was three inches tall and could wander around. It's that real feeling. ROGER WASSON: Well, thank you. DALE MOORE: So if somebody wants to get into model railroading, I mean, where do you start? ROGER WASSON: Well, sad-- DALE MOORE: And I guess there's different levels of it, really. ROGER WASSON: Yeah. Sad to say, there's not a-- well, excuse me, there's one hobby shop here in town, and it's Hobby Town. And it-- it just sells-- as far as I know, it just sells the train sets. That's all it does, just sell the sets. But there's no other hobby shops around. All the hobby shops, not only in Springfield, but most of the hobby shops have gone out of business because you can get everything online. All you got to do is type in Lionel.com, or MPH.com, whatever, and they can ship it to you and all. And then there's all kinds, like you say, the ballast here, I got from a guy by the name of Dennis Brennan, and he's up here in Kansas City. All the scenery stuff and everything, they come right-- north of us up here in Linn, Missouri is a company called Woodland Scenics. And all the scenery you see that I have with trees, and moss, and various things like that basically all came from those folks at Woodland Scenics. And they're all online, you know. So it's really sad that you can't go to a hobby shop anymore, but-- DALE MOORE: Well, you and I were talking earlier before we went on the air here, and I'm-- as I told you, I'm an old ham radio guy, and one of the few that still knows-- that does Morse code, and you-- yeah. And you were-- and you were talking about your hobby here, and I think we've both come to the conclusion, sadly, that it seems like that-- and this is not a negative thing, but the younger generation is looking to do other things rather than this kind of hobby. And that's a little sad on my part to hear that. And hopefully, you know, somebody sees something like this and that can spur them on to wanting to do something. ROGER WASSON: Well, I hope it does, and they can contact me any time they want. I just needed to do something with my hands. I needed-- I've been retired since 2004, and I needed to do something with my hands, and this kept me very busy. It kept my mind going. DALE MOORE: Sure. ROGER WASSON: And I enjoyed doing it. Now I fully understand-- I got grandkids, and I fully understand that that's what they learned. I learned with a train and how electricity worked and all when I was 10, 11, 12, and they're learning everything by computers and everything. So I think it's kind of hard for them to-- I don't know if there's very many people anymore that does things with their hands. DALE MOORE: Yeah. Yeah. I would agree with that. Yeah. And I'm sure if a person goes online, and in these days, you just, you Google everything. So I'm sure-- You Google everything. And I've had several people that have, like I say, have stopped by, and they've talked back and forth how did you do this, how do you do that? In any case, like you're a ham operator, and I'm sure to do the same thing, but they say, how did you do this? Well, here's how I did it. And they go and they do it to theirs. DALE MOORE: Yeah. That's how I learned this. DALE MOORE: Yeah. ROGER WASSON: You know? DALE MOORE: Yeah. I just ask a lot of stupid questions, you know, and got some answers from some very good authorities. DALE MOORE: Yep. So all in, how long did it take you to get to where you are today with this project? I started in-- I started in 2003, if I'm not mistaken, January of 2003. DALE MOORE: Wow. And I think-- the last time I really added anything to this thing was probably 2018. But it's-- it's a-- it's an enjoyable thing. So, oh, well, I'll try doing this, or I'll try doing that. But I've run out of-- DALE MOORE: It's therapy. ROGER WASSON: I've run out of space. DALE MOORE: It's therapeutic. ROGER WASSON: It's therapeutic. DALE MOORE: It's therapeutic. ROGER WASSON: It is. It is. DALE MOORE: You know, you and I are both at the age where we start realizing that there's-- there's more behind us than there is in front of us. ROGER WASSON: Yes, sir. DALE MOORE: And I got to tell you, the only person that I really am worried about is your real estate agent when they try to sell this house. I'm not-- I'm not quite sure how they're going to explain that. ROGER WASSON: I don't either. Probably-- in all honesty, I'm 76. Probably in the next two or three years, I'll probably have to start taking it down and start selling it piece by piece, or whatever. DALE MOORE: Oh my. You know? DALE MOORE: I can't imagine. I'm not looking forward to that. DALE MOORE: Yeah. yeah. But I don't want to leave that to the kids. DALE MOORE: Sure. Oh, I understand. I don't want the kids-- DALE MOORE: I understand. --to have to worry with it. DALE MOORE: Well, Roger Wasson, I cannot thank you enough for letting us invade your Underground Railroad. It's been a delight. And, well, thank you. ROGER WASSON: Well, thank you. I built this thing, as you all know right now, just wide enough for one guy to get through. So passing two or three at one time is impossible here. So I appreciate you all taking the time to do this. I never dreamed that a TV camera would be down here. DALE MOORE: Well, it's been our-- it's been our pleasure. Thank you a whole lot. It's been my pleasure. Thank you. Thank you a lot. You stay tuned. I'll be right back. [music playing] NARRATOR: Ozarks Public television and Missouri State University are proud to present "OzarksWatch Video Magazine," a locally-produced program committed to increasing the understanding of the richness and complexity of Ozarks culture. Visit our website for more information. I want to thank my guest, Roger Wasson, for that incredible tour of the solid rock railroad and trip back in time to reminisce about the Frisco and what it meant to our Ozarks community. Now remember, just because you run out of room doesn't mean your dreams can't grow. You just have to dig a little deeper. Join me again next time for another edition of "OzarksWatch Video Magazine." [ART GALBRAITH, "SUNDAY NIGHT REEL"]