A rustic steam engine rumbles through verdant green hills, pulling a heavy load of freight cars. It chugs past people and cars, buildings and towns, through tunnels and mountains, keeping to its tight schedule. Grain silos and mines roll by as the train slows to a deliberate halt at the small-town station.

“Per your request, further clearance to West Barrington!” booms Darwin Schafer, graduate student in Engineering.

There is a short clicking of buttons and the throwing of switches, and the engine once again lurches forward and picks up speed, proceeding to the next stop on its crowded itinerary.

Schafer is a longtime member of a largely unknown Registered Student Organization called the Illini Railroad Club. The trains he so carefully dispatches are miniature models operating on a huge underground model-train layout that can be found in the basement of the Illinois Street Residence Halls. Accessible only by an inconspicuous, recessed stairway located on the southeast outside corner of ISR’s Townsend Hall, 918 W. Illinois St., the club refers to its model train layout as ISR’s best-kept secret.

“For some people, the rumor goes around that we’re down there,” said Adam Janzen, senior in Engineering and the president of the Illini Railroad Club. “But a lot of people have no idea. We do our best to make sure people have a chance to participate.”

The Illini Railroad Club itself has a storied history. One of the oldest RSOs that still exist today, it was first founded in 1945 by students in the Railroad Engineering program. From the 1960s to mid 1970s, the club operated a model train layout in the basement of Forbes Hall, 101 E. Gregory Drive, where the library currently exists.

In the late 1970s the club was informed that the University wished to expand the library, and it was given its current location in the basement of ISR. Work began in 1977 on the current layout that exists today, and work continues as the network of miniature towns, buildings and trains become more and more detailed.

“Major construction continues all the time since I’ve been in the club,” said Janzen, who has been a member since his freshman year. “This year our major project will probably be to build a new portable layout, and we’ll be applying for funding directly from the University to help cover the cost.”

Such a layout would be used by the club to bring to events such as Quad Day to give prospective members an example of the model trains and tracks used during the club’s weekly operating sessions, which take place at 7:30 p.m. on Sunday nights.

Such construction, however, is not cheap. According to Schafer, who serves as the club’s semi-permanent train dispatcher on most nights, a typical rail car may be in the $5 to $20 range, and the typical locomotive can range from $30 to $150, or sometimes much more expensive. The club members, however, are dedicated to their hobby and believe their money to be well spent.

To sit in on an actual operating session and watch the trains whir around the tracks, it is easy to see the charm that the hobby possesses. The layout itself is elevated off the ground on stilts to allow people to walk under it and move around. It fills the entire room; a hive of railroad tracks branch out from the center like tiny capillaries. Up to six trains can run at once on the complicated network of tracks; enough to keep the operators and dispatcher very busy. They operate the controlled chaos through panels of generic switches, buttons and dials that would not look out of place in an old science fiction movie or military war-room, skillfully shepherding the tiny locomotives to their next stops.

The trains themselves are extremely detailed, right down to miniature graffiti painted on the side. The side of a passing freighter proclaims, “Muck Fichigan” as it rolls by a dusty old Daily Illini article that profiled the group in 1985, before most of the club’s members were born.

Naturally, accidents happen. Trains come uncoupled, stop dead inexplicably and yes, occasionally jump the tracks.

“Crashes are rare, but they can be spectacular,” Janzen said. “Once a train jumped off the bridge and crashed into the junkyard. Not a pretty sight.”

For the most part, the Illini Railroad Club is perfectly content to learn more about Illinois Railway history and operate its model layout, but its members agree that they would like to see more students interested in getting involved with the club.

“My biggest wish for the club is more members,” Schafer said. “We have lots of projects that can be done that require all different types of expertise. Electrical work, scenery work, track work and more. Unfortunately, model trains isn’t a huge draw on a college campus. Hopefully we interested some students this year with our Quad Day exhibit and open house.”

The Illini Railway Club officially has five members, but twice as many showed up to the club’s recent open house. The club does not have any female members.

“The most I can remember since being in the club was about 10 members, and we’d like to surpass that,” Janzen said. “I’d encourage anybody who’s interested in trains to come by and check out a meeting on Sunday nights.”

Attendees of the club’s open house certainly seemed excited about getting involved.

“It surpassed my expectations,” said Adam Reisberg, junior in Engineering who had heard of the club but was attending a meeting for the first time. “I was surprised to see how large and intensive it was. That’s decades of work that’s gone into it, and the coordination and collaboration between the members just to keep it running. That’s amazing, too. I definitely think that I’ll be back.”

Further information on the Illini Railroad Club’s future meetings and plans can be found at the club’s Web site at www.uiuc.edu/ro/IRC.