Shive

By Mark Suek

Special to The News and Sentinel

PARKERSBURG — The Mid-Ohio Valley Model Railroad Club will unveil several new attractions and honor one of its deceased members with an open house on Saturday.

The late Harold Shive will be remembered with an open house in his name from 10 a.m. to 4 p.m. at the club facility in the rear basement of NOE Office Equipment at 610 Green St. in downtown Parkersburg.

Meanwhile, the club to which he was so important, will unveil lots of fresh scenery, a brand new layout, a photo station and the return of an old-time scale of trains.

Shive, a valued member of the club for many years and a model train collector and operator, was fond of Thomas The Tank Engine and Friends. The club will remember this children’s favorite by running Thomas trains in several scales at the open house.

Prior to his passing at age 90 in 2019, Shive was a staff sergeant in the United States Air Force, president of the National Amateur Press Association and owner of Harold’s Quick Print and Olde Harold’s Print Shoppe in Pennsboro. Shive served MOVMRC as its librarian and edited and distributed the organization’s newsletter. The New Jersey native was also a key member of the N and S scale groups and was a fixture at all club events, where he often operated model trains.

Since its last open house in February, MOVMRC has undergone a number of physical improvements, including new scenery and control systems on the large HO scale layout, completion of the framing and benchwork on a brand-new O scale layout, upgraded wiring on the G scale layout, several new vignettes on the N scale layout and new skirting around most of the club layouts.

“The open house will be a good representation of what we are building and the direction in which we are heading,” said club President Jonathan Insley, who doubles as O scale superintendent. “We will have a full-size template down on the new O scale layout so our guests can see exactly where the tracks, buildings and accessories will be located.”

Insley, owner of Insley Plumbing in Marietta, and fellow club member Jim Mysakowec took a recent road trip to upstate New York to acquire a gigantic scale model of a power plant. This detailed item will be on display at the open house and is certain to become a featured attraction of the new layout.

In addition to HO, O and G scales, model trains will be running in N scale on two highly-detailed layouts, both of which feature vignettes representing places, and events, of historic significance in the Parkersburg area. What’s more, Standard Gauge tinplate trains will be in operation at MOVMRC for the first time in several years.

Another new feature of the club, which will be unveiled at the Shive Memorial Open House, is a selfie station, with appropriate props, in the train layout room. Guests will be able to use this area, free of charge, for selfies and to create personal mementos of their visit.

Admission to the open house is free and a drawing will be conducted for a Lionel O scale Thomas The Tank train set. Free parking will be available in the NOE Office Equipment lot.

Guests who may be interested in promoting a business or organization, through the club, will be afforded the opportunity to purchase advertising space on billboards at several high-visibility locations on the HO layout.

In addition to model trains and railroad photos and historical artifacts, guests may be able to see real trains in action, as the Belpre Industrial Parkersburg Railroad yard tracks are located just outside the club entrance. The NOE parking lot is an ideal location from which to watch trains and take photos.

Following the Shive Memorial Open House, MOVMRC’s next events are an open house during the annual Parkersburg Homecoming Festival in August and the club’s annual Fall Train Show on October 26 on the WVUP campus.