The Belen rail yard is alive with sounds — the chuffing of engines slowing, the bray of the horns and the clash of box cars. Directly next door to the hustle and bustle of the freight trains is the Harvey House Museum, a building that is used to the sounds of the trains both inside and out.

As the thunder of a freight train heading north fades, a quieter clickety-clack drifts out of the museum's open windows.

Sprawled over 20 feet by 39 feet in the main display space of the former railroad boarding house is the Belen Model Railroad Club's annual exhibit. There is a roundhouse, sidings with boxcars of coal, spare parts, fueling tanks and enough teeny, tiny people to populate a village. The exhibit features modules from most of the 28 members of the club. They connect to form a continuous loop around the room as freighters and the Rail Runner sweep past farm houses, hotels and hayrides.

The club, which began in 1995, was given a permanent room in the museum in 1998 to display and run their trains, said member Gary Oudkirk. Since then, the museum has given over another room to expand the layout.

A hole in the wall between the two adjacent rooms will allow the trains to pass back and forth.

With the new room still under construction, Oudkirk said the club is hoping to have it open to the public in January.

"Someone made and donated a model of the Harvey House, so it's kind of Belen," Oudkirk said. "It's Belen imagined."

The trains in the exhibit, and the ones most of the club members prefer, are the HO scale trains. Model trains come in O, which is the largest, HO or half of O and N scale, the smallest.

"Well, there are some smaller than N, but we need binoculars to see them," Oudkirk says with a laugh.

Much like the happy medium found in a certain fairy tail, HO is the most popular because it seems to be just right, Oudkirk says.

"With the O, you would need a huge room to set up the tracks," he said. "And the N scale can be kind of small for a lot of people."

Oudkirk became interested in model trains in 1968, when his roommate's father gave him a set of N scale trains while living in Reno, Nev.

"I went down to the local hobby shop and got to talking to the guys there," he said. "They talked me into doing HO, since it was more prevalent."

He has been in Belen for five years now, and this month will mark Oudkirk's fifth anniversary with the club. In addition to a love of the models, he says the members do all their own backgrounds.

"It's a lot of detail work, and can take a lot of time," he said. "I like to scratch build, or you can buy kits."

For anyone interested in putting together a model train set of their own, Oudkirk says the best way to begin is to get a four-by-eight piece of plywood.

"Then go to Trains West or Wig-Wag Trains in Albuquerque, and buy a book on getting started on HO scale trains," he said.

There are also books on track layouts. Oudkirk recommends starting with a circle and adding complexities like switching, sidings and buildings later.

Locally, model train items can be purchased at the bicycle shop at the Mid Valley Air Park, he said.

"If you have a 7- or 8-year-old who is just in love with trains start out with the some track planning books," Oudkirk said. "They will help you figure out what to buy and how to set up."

Things have changed since Oudkirk got his first trains.

"They just keep making them better," he said. "Better motors and better electrical. The first electric trains you had to plug into the wall and wire in the tracks."

Now tracks come pre wired and ready to snap together.

And model trains have gone high-tech, with some sets featuring a digital command control. That technology can be a lot more expensive, with a new engine running up to $200 Oudkirk said.

"You can sometimes find deals on Ebay," he said. "It's getting to the point that kids won't be able to get into it."

Now most manufacturers produce "ready to run" train cars and engines rather than making kits that hobbyists put together themselves.

"Everything used to be put together by yourself," he said. "There are really only two companies left that sell kits — Accurail and Red Caboose."

But even those two companies are producing special, limited edition lines Ourkirk said.

"Most of the models are valuable to the right people," he said. "One company has put out a set of box cars that has one for each state. They are getting exceptionally rare, and if you can find them, they are exceptionally expensive."

Some makers will produce a limited run of an engine, Oudkirk says.

"Say they make 500. Well once they sell all of them, it's done. They won't be available for three or four years," he said. "And true rail roaders find that disturbing."

Oudkirk says the best part of being in the club is the camaraderie with the other members.

"I have met so many people here I've become good friends with," he said. "I wouldn't know five people if I hadn't joined."

Rich Smith joined the club this past spring after retiring and moving to Belen from Michigan.

"My wife said I needed a retirement hobby," he said. "We were traveling to Texas and going through Oklahoma we saw the mile-long trains."

With his interest piqued once again, Smith decided to give model trains another try.

"I was interested as a kid. I had a Lionel set," he said. "As a teenager, I wasn't interested as much."

After joining the club, Smith said he found it was more than trains going in a circle.

"You are assigned a train to build, given cargo and a delivery just like a real railroad," he said. "It's also about learning about the New Mexico railroad system — the silver mine in Magdelena, the oil refinery in Artesia and they came right through here."

But the biggest reason to take up the hobby, according to Jim Mustakas is for the fun of it.

"Everybody has a talent — electrical, track layout, scenery. This all comes from imagination," he said. "You will never see the same thing."

Marc Vernon, the club's lone Albuquerque member, feels that kids were more interested in things like model trains when he was younger because there were fewer things to do.

"There was Little League and that was pretty much it," he said. "Now there's a thousand and one things to choose from."

Oudkirk said he would also like to see some younger members in the club.

"There are four members under 40," he said. "The rest of us are old codgers."

If anyone is interested in becoming part of the model railroad club call president George Winters at 379-7243 or secretary Jim McKelvey at 881-9795 for more information.

The exhibit will be at the Harvey House Museum through Saturday, Oct. 10. The museum is open 12:30 to 3:30 p.m. Tuesday through Saturday.

The train show will feature a weekend of vendors Sept. 26 and 27. Special hours for the exhibit are 9 a.m. to 5 p.m. on Saturday, Sept. 26 and 10 a.m. to 3 p.m. on Sunday, Sept. 27.