One of the last model train stores in Oklahoma has Blackwell ties

Editor’s Note: This is an installment in The Journal-Tribune’s occasional “Rail Tales” series, featuring railroad-related stories with ties to the region.

HAYWARD – The floor of Johnny and Tommie Rath’s model train shop rumbles as a real freight train rolls by about a half-block away.

Colorful assortments of model locomotives, rail cars and buildings waiting to find new homes line tables throughout the couple’s store in Hayward, a small community west of Perry in Garfield County.

Since June 1999, the store known as Johnny’s Train Shop has been a favorite destination for model train enthusiasts from across Oklahoma, and the Raths say they haven’t reached the end of the line. Day after day, they walk a few yards from their home to their store, just waiting to put a smile on customers’ faces.

“If we can get up and don’t have no aches and pains, him and I come out here,” Tommie said. “We enjoy this. If we’re not cutting wood, we’re out here.”

A GIFT FROM SANTA

The Raths, who have ties to Kay County, made their foray into model trains in 1998, when Johnny was still a full-time truck-driver.

The couple’s youngest daughter asked Johnny whether Santa Claus would bring her a train for Christmas. Johnny had a question for her: If Santa Claus brought her a train, would she let him play with it? She responded: “No. Ask Santa Claus to bring you one.” Shortly after that, both of their Christmas gifts were purchased. Johnny and his daughter had their own train sets, complete with a diesel engine, a few cars and a stretch of cir cular track.

Then, they had to make space to play with them. “We started in a little back porch,” Tommie said. “We’ve since torn it off. It was a 10-by-10. We put a 4-by-8 piece of plywood in there, and it just kept growing, and we went to my bedroom to 14-by-14. Dad had it, and he outgrew it, and I hired a guy to help me, and me and him done the upstairs. I told him, ‘Don’t you ask for any more room.’”

“That’s the reason I can’t grow no more,” Johnny said with a wry grin. “I growed all I could grow.” As their layout and train collection expanded, so did their passion. Before long, other model railroaders from the area came to ask for pieces of track or parts for their rolling stock. Tommie got an idea: open a train shop. A Perry banker who loaned the couple money to get started suggested they put a 12-by-24-foot building on their property, which they did.

Since then, they’ve added onto the original building, creating a larger shop with more room for inventory, railroad memorabilia and locomotive repair work. The shop also has an old wooden armchair and a plastic lawn chair inside – prime seating for customers to drop by, sit a spell and shoot the breeze with the Raths.

PURE FUN

The Raths get most of their inventory from purchasing model railroaders’ collections, often from an estate. They’ve attended train shows for years to sell their goods, and they’ve set a large portion of their purchases aside for their own enjoyment. While they both like buying and selling model trains, the Raths’ favorite part of being in the business isn’t making money. It’s making friends.

“If they just come in and want to see and look around, and if they don’t buy nothing if they just come in to visit, we don’t care,” Johnny said. “Everybody knows my mouth goes constantly,” Tommie said.

“I just enjoy them coming out, seeing what we have got. … I just like to see people get into it if they like trains.” The couple doesn’t advertise their business much, save for a small business card in a model railroad magazine. Word-of-mouth is their primary marketing strategy. Nevertheless, they’ve drawn in customers from across the nation and the globe, including visitors from Canada, Mexico and South Africa.

“We met a lot of nice, nice people,” Tommie said. “I’ve told Dad, maybe we should have had him get off the road sooner and then enjoyed it a little bit more, buying and selling these trains. But he wasn’t ready to retire.” Of course, Johnny was making good money on the road, which the couple – or at least Tommie – needed, Johnny said. “Like I said, she’s a high-living woman,” Johnny joked.

“You’d better stop that,” Tommie said. The humorous, joyful banter between the two is perhaps one of customers favorite parts of a trip to Hayward.

The couple has had years of practice at it. Tommie graduated from Blackwell High School, and Johnny went to Lovett Junior High School for a time. He spent some of his youth in Ponca City and helped build Interstate 35 through north-central Oklahoma.

The two were introduced on a blind date several months after Johnny finished his service in the U.S. Marine Corps. They were married in 1959.

“That’s a long time being in prison, Buddy,” Johnnie said, laughing. “You’ll pay for that,” Tommie replied in jest. “You’re digging that hole, and it’ll get bigger. He tells everybody that.”

LOOKING DOWN THE LINE

While model railroading remains a popular hobby, few model train shops remain open.

Most sales take place online these days. Johnny’s Trains is one of only a few of model-train-only hobby stores left in the state.

The next-closest store was in Enid and closed in 2020.

At Johnny’s Trains, there’s no website for viewing goods or making online purchases. The only way to view the inventory is to take a jaunt to 204 Broadway in Hayward.

The shop is open by appointment by calling 580-336-2823. Johnny and Tommie offer a wide variety of model trains, mostly in the 1:87, or HO, scale.

They’ve got an assortment of buildings for model train layouts, cars for countless railroads and layout components for sale.

Johnny also does some repair work on cars and engines. While most merchandise is used, they stock some new-in-box freight cars and other models of various scales.

Outside the shop is a large layout that operates when conditions permit.

That layout is of a larger scale called G scale,or garden scale. Johnny still has that first train set that started it all. Like much of his collection,however, it’s not for sale.

Now in their 80s, the couple has agreed that, even if one of them were to die, the other would keep the shop open for as long as possible.

After all, they have more customers to meet, friends to make, and trains to run.

“Most of ‘em is just good old boys, you know,” Johnny said. “And you meet all kinds of ‘em.” “I’ve really enjoyed it all these years,” Tommie said.“We both love to do this.”