Burlington Ontario - Stephen Moore's fascination with trains has taken over his Sharron Street home.
 
The garage, shed, spare bedroom, and basement are dedicated to his hobby of making miniature locomotives.
 
The retired machinist has spent the past six years completing his latest project, a working model of a 1930s Canadian Pacific Royal Hudson locomotive.
 
He could have built it sooner, he says, had his full-time job at Amcor in Brampton not got in the way of dedicating more hours to his favourite pastime.
 
So he retired 18 months ago, at age 64.
 
Since then he has switched gears and devoted his days to finishing the nine-foot long by two-foot high locomotive.
 
"I look at my hobby as my job now," said Moore.
 
And his home is his makeshift factory.
 
There's a machine-shop in the basement, the trains are put together in the garage, or driveway, when the weather is nice, welding is done in the backyard shed, and for inspiration, there's a roomful of model trains he's collected since boyhood, on display in the spare bedroom.
 
Moore built the gas powered Royal Hudson by hand, welding spoke after spoke to the dozen or so wheels and using only metal throughout its construction.
 
There's a seat in the second car for a rider to hop in and take over the controls driving.
 
OKthePK Joint Bar Editor:  Does the author mean the tender?
 
Come summertime, it is slated to run on the rails at the Hamilton Museum of Steam & Technology on Woodward Avenue and at the Toronto Railway Museum.
 
This project is his latest in a long line.
 
He finished his first riding replica in 2002, a 1930s Great Western passenger and freight train.
 
"It's my favourite, so far," Moore adds.
 
Train building is a process that requires as much patience as it does cash.
 
The cost of this one reached $10,000.
 
"It's an expensive hobby," Moore admits.
 
"It sure is," his wife Madeline adds.
 
With this CP train ready to roll, Moore is already immersed in another equally big building venture.
 
This next one will be a replica of a Canadian National train.
 
Moore has been building trains for 21 years, a craft he and his twin brother, Brian, picked up from their dad back in Wales, where they grew up.
 
"Trains run through my veins," says Moore.
 
Such was his fascination that he remembers thinking steam engines were like "living, breathing, dragons."
 
When he moved to Canada the 6060 Canadian National that ran between Toronto and Niagara Falls in the 1970s became a favourite one to ride on.
 
It's long gone from these parts but is enjoying a second life in B.C., Moore says.
 
Without his dad around to help, nowadays he leans on the know-how of his fellow members in the Golden Horseshoe Live Steamers club.
 
His two daughters and son aren't as keen on taking up their Dad's hobby, but his two granddaughters are certainly happy to ride on them.
 
As are the thousands of passengers who have hopped on his trains that ride the five miles of tracks at the Hamilton museum.
 
Of course, Moore is their conductor.
 
Melanie Cummings.