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Railroad club right at home in Wauconda

The Lake County Model Railroad Club held its annual fall open house Sunday at its Wauconda headquarters.

Formed in 1972, the club gathers in basement space at 107 S. Main St., beneath the Honey Hill Coffee Co. shop.

Miniature trains chug through layouts that feature the names of real places, including Wauconda, Palatine and Madison.

The space is open to the public every Friday night. The group hosts open houses in the spring and fall that typically draw hundreds of railroad fans.

Sunday's open house included a youth scavenger hunt, in which kids were encouraged to find wolves, buffalo, people fishing and other features in the intricate railroad layouts.

The open house was the club's first since members negotiated a lease extension over the summer that lets them stay in their longtime home through May 2025. Before the extension, it appeared the club would have to relocate, a process that would have forced them to pull apart the intricate layouts.

  Jack Follett, 16, of Woodstock works on his train Sunday during the Lake County Model Railroad Club's fall open house in Wauconda. Train enthusiasts and families watched and learned about model trains as they traveled around the 1,800-square-foot room. Gilbert R. Boucher II/gboucher@dailyherald.com
  An Amtrak model train moves around the track Sunday during the Lake County Model Railroad Club's fall open house in Wauconda. Gilbert R. Boucher II/gboucher@dailyherald.com
  Tom Battista of Wauconda brings his son, Charlie, 4, to look at the trains Sunday during the Lake County Model Railroad Club's fall open house in Wauconda. Gilbert R. Boucher II/gboucher@dailyherald.com
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