High-tech model trains stop at GC Fair
JOEL MARTIN | Hagadone News Network | UPDATED 1 year AGO
Matthew Martin, left, and Steve Riegel stand behind the model railroad display they created for the Grant County Fair.
JOEL MARTIN/COLUMBIA BASIN HERALD
Today’s model railroads are a sophisticated system controlled by computer or phone apps that allow multiple trains to travel at different speeds or in different directions.
Joel Martin has been with the Columbia Basin Herald for more than 25 years in a variety of roles and is the most-tenured employee in the building. Martin is a married father of eight and enjoys spending time with his children and his wife, Christina. He is passionate about the paper’s mission of informing the people of the Columbia Basin because he knows it is important to record the history of the communities the publication serves. | August 17, 2025 8:05 AM
MOSES LAKE — This is not your grandfather’s electric train set.
“In the old days, you had a dial,” said Steve Riegel, who oversaw the model railroad display in the Youth Building at the Grant County Fair last week. “You turned it one way and (the trains) all went forward. Then you stop it, you put it in reverse, it all goes in reverse. In today’s world, we can have (multiple trains) on the same track, any direction, any speed.”
This is the first year the fair has hosted a display from Inland Northwest Free-moN, the model rail enthusiast group based in Spokane, Riegel said. The “N” in the name refers to the size of the trains: N Scale is the smallest standard size of model trains, at 1/160 the size of the real thing. “Free-mo” is short for free modular, a standard that allows modelers to design their own sections of track and fit them together with other creators’ designs. The display at the fair comprised 23 modules, all connected so trains could roll freely.
“The way we have it set up allows for continuous operation,” Riegel said. “So we can go from one end, make a loop, come back to the other, make a loop, and then we can just keep going back and forth.”
Riegel and fellow enthusiast Matthew Martin controlled the rail network through phone apps, using a system called Digital Command Control, or DCC.
“Today's model trains are like today's RC cars,” Riegel said. “Each engine has its own receiver. The track sends the transmission through the rails. It has a transmitter that hooks up to the track, and then that transmitter hooks up to a computer, and then we can just go from computer to railroad. That’s how simple it is.”
“DCC (has) all the individual functions for headlights, ditch lights, sound, fine tuning the motors so you can speed-match them so they run in the same run at the same pull,” Martin said.
Riegel is a former Moses Lake resident, he said. He’d been planning the display for about three years when the fair reached out to him, he said.
“When I was a kid growing up here, I always imagined what it'd be like if we had trains (at the fair),” he said. “I never saw trains in here. I always wanted to see some model trains. Now I'm an adult and I finally can do it.”
Today’s model railroads are a sophisticated system controlled by computer or phone apps that allow multiple trains to travel at different speeds or in different directions.ARTICLES BY JOEL MARTIN
Quincy National Night Out scales down
QUINCY — Quincy’s National Night Out was more compact this year, which worked out well, said QPD Sgt. Joe Westby, who’s in charge of event planning for the Quincy Police Department. “National Night Out is a big event, and the fact that we’re able to shrink it up is like a breath of fresh air,” Westby said. “If you're always doing the same thing, it's kind of nice to switch things up and see how it works.” National Night Out took place Thursday on the block of C Street next to the police station, a shift from previous years when it was held at Lauzier Park. The smaller space meant fewer emergency vehicles for children to explore, but it also meant less walking for attendees. Grant County Fire District 5 brought a fire truck, and the Grant County Sheriff’s Office had a patrol boat. Renew, the Grant County behavioral health agency, had a booth and so did Quincy Partnership for Youth. Veterans Operation Creation sang the national anthem, and the Quincy Animal Shelter brought kittens that piled over each other making friends with passersby. As before, the QPD served grilled hot dogs.
Quincy Police retirements leave big shoes to fill
QUINCY — There are some big shoes to fill at the Quincy Police Department. “We’re losing 48 years of experience between them,” Quincy Police Chief Ryan Green said at the retirement party for Capt. Jorge Trujillo and Det. Damon Powell Thursday. Trujillo, who grew up in Sunnyside, has been with QPD for 19 years, he said, coming on as a patrol officer fresh out of the military. From there he served as a field training officer, a detective and finally captain. “I consider him my left-hand man,” Green said. “He runs the operations side of the house … He knows the agency very well, and he knows the community.” Trujillo has some projects around the house to tackle now that he’s retired, he said.
Big fun on a small scale
Wheat Land Communities’ Fair opens Thursday
RITZVILLE — The Wheat Land Communities’ Fair isn’t as big or as flashy as some of the county fairs around central Washington, but the folks who keep it going like it just the way it is. “It’s somewhere you can go and get an old-time traditional feeling, and you’re comfortable letting your kids roam the grounds and experience all that it has to offer,” said Board Member Lori Williams. “It’s more of a feeling than (one) specific thing,” The fair starts Thursday in Ritzville and runs through Sunday. Starting Friday, the 56th Ritzville Rodeo will take place alongside the fair at the rodeo grounds. This year the entertainment budget was expanded, Williams said, to be able to offer more fun that’s covered by the cost of admission. For the kids, there’s face painting, balloon art, Lego crafts, races, contests and games. Children can also ride on a little train towed around the fairgrounds behind a tractor.