Date: Fri 20-Dec-1996

Publication: Bee

Author: DOTTIE

Quick Words:

Newtown-Band-Parents-trains

Full Text:

with cuts: All Aboard! Band Parents' Train Show Draws Crowd

B Y D OROTHY E VANS

"Stop, Look and Listen but DON'T TOUCH!" warned posters that were designed to

look just like railroad crossing signs.

Fair warning, indeed, to enthusiastic train buffs who attended last weekend's

"Holiday Toy Train and Model Railroad Exhibition" and fund-raiser in the

Newtown Middle School cafeteria on Saturday and Sunday afternoons.

Those cautionary signs didn't stop people from crowding around to get a better

look at the many operating layouts assembled for the show by members of the

Newtown High band parents group. Visitors of all ages stood on tiptoe or

leaned way down, to get an eye-level view of the Lilliputian towns and

villages that surrounded each display.

They watched entranced as the toy trains in many scales with size O, S and N

gauge track, traced wide loops and figure eights through their homemade

landscapes.

Santa was there, too, along with two trusty elves, and many Newtown High

School Band parents stood by throughout the two-day event to see that

refreshments, holiday music, baked goods and holiday decorations were

available to all.

The train show was planned as a fund-raiser for the band's upcoming trip to

the Citrus Bowl December 27 in Orlando, Fla., but organizer and band parent

Chet Janutolo called it a "teaser."

He said the show had generated such a favorable response, "we think we'll do

it again next year, only much more and much bigger!"

Mr Janutolo, who was joined by several other train hobbyists from the area,

including Bruce Freas, Jack Regan, Mike McCaffrey and Bob Brown, had brought

along four of his own model train layouts.

His wife, Jennifer Janutolo, and son, Ross, worked at his side, maintaining

the displays, answering questions and occasionally putting an errant engine

back on its tracks.

"At least, this gives us a chance to get the train sets out where we can all

enjoy them," Mrs Janutolo said, adding, "We don't have the room at home, so

they're stored in the attic."