Thornhill man’s model train hobby is big business 20 years later

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Jason Shron took a major leap of faith when he decided to turn his model train hobby into a business 20 years ago.

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The married father of three teenagers recently recalled how his initial career plan of becoming an art historian paled in comparison to the creation of Rapido Trains in 2004.

“I turned left at the age of 29,” said Thornhill resident Shron, 49, whose wife, award-winning author Sidura Ludwig, is his business partner.

“I had a fine art degree from York University. I was doing a PhD in art history in England, and I wanted to make model trains all day. So I came back from England with no degree, no money, and no job,” he added. “I thought, ‘Well, I’ve got nothing to lose, so I might as well make the model train thing happen.’ And I’ll tell you, it was hard at times. We didn’t turn a decent profit until 2015.”

And with that money, Shron bought an ex-VIA Rail CP car.

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“I said, ‘Well, I turned a profit. Now I want to preserve a real train,’’ he added.

“And there was a moment where my wife said, ‘Shouldn’t we be doing something better with that profit?’ I bought so many real trains that I started the VIA Historical Association, which is a charity devoted to the history of VIA Rail,” said Shron. “It’s mostly virtual. We have equipment that is based at VIA Rail’s maintenance centre in Toronto, but we’re working with them to do a 50th anniversary heritage train (for 2028) including this train car that I bought nine years ago.”

After a slow start, Rapido Trains now employs 30 people around North America, has started a U.K. company with 20 employees and has been working with factories in China for the last two decades.

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“Twenty years to me is just one job after another, after another, so it just goes by fairly quickly,” said Shron, who went viral in 2013 for building a full-size VIA Rail train car in his basement.

“We’re now one of the largest (model train manufacturers) in North America. We’re definitely in the upper half of the Top10 in terms of annual sales.”

British rockers Rod Stewart and Roger Daltrey and Family Ties actor Michael Gross are among Rapido Trains’ customers.

“It’s a very niche hobby,” said Shron. “It appeals to very passionate people, mostly men, often older men, as well, who are heading towards retirement because you need three things to be a model railroader. You need time, space and money.

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“And if you’re a young dad, you have none of those three things,” he added. “And every year, there’s a new wave of guys in their 50s joining us.”

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To recognize Rapido Trains’ 20th anniversary, Shron held a celebration of almost 300 people last Tuesday at the streetcar museum in Halton, Ont.

“They have a preserved Toronto vintage subway, and they haven’t run in 14 years, and we got them running up the line, and we had hundreds of people on the subway, a jam-packed load, and everybody loved it,” said Shron.

“It was a great day. I was amazed, though, at this event, how many young people were there. There were a lot of young, fans, teenage fans, who came. It’s hard to describe (the appeal),” he added. “You just love trains. You love seeing them move. They can make you feel warm and fuzzy inside. Definitely, (it’s) nerding out.”

Shron said people can start the model train hobby with a set-up costing around $400 and unlike many other businesses, the pandemic meant business growth for Rapido Trains.

“COVID saw the model train industry have our biggest fusion of new people in the history of the model train industry because everybody was stuck at home,” said Shron.

“Our inventory went down to one shelf. People were calling us from hobby shops all over North America. ‘I need whatever you have. I need whatever you can send me.’ It was wonderful.”

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