In the history of Scioto County one thing has been a part of it all. If it happened here, chances are a train runs through it.

Trains at Christmas bridge generation gaps. Each generation picks up the tradition of having a fascination with trains and carries the torch on, to eventually pass it on to the next generation.

The tradition comes to life at the annual Train Show at the Friends Center in Portsmouth where some 17 elaborate train sets run through cities with their smokestacks billowing vapor into the air and the haunting sound of a distant locomotive brings some people back to when life was simpler.

Robert Allen is 84 years young, and has the same gleam in his eye that he had when he received his first train set.

“I got my first little train when I was five years old,” Allen said as he sat next to his display wearing the familiar railroad vest and hat. “I’ve still got it.”

Since his first, Allen has progressed to a larger display. “Just over the years I have put it together. My oldest son is 50 and we’ve just been gathering it for 50 years.”

Allen has long been a part of the Train Show.

“Oh yeah, we set up with Mark (Harris) every year,” Allen said.

Allen’s daughter, Nancy Donini, dotes over the set and remembers trains as having always been a part of her life.

“When I was a child Santa couldn’t put our presents under the tree because there was a train under it,” Donini said.

She has been captivated by trains ever since, and obviously enjoys sharing the experience with her dad.

“The children enjoy it,” Allen said as his train passes by. “That’s why my table is low, so the kids can get up here and look at it.”

At about the time that Allen’s train is making another pass, three generations of another well-known Scioto County family walk through the door.

“We have three generations of Waltons here, Bob Walton I, Bob Walton II, and Bob Walton III,” said Bob Walton as he held the hands of two of his grandsons. “They are Trey and William Henry Walton.” Trey is six and William Henry 3.

As William tugs at his grandfather to show him a display, Bob Walton talks about his fascination with the iron horse.

“I like trains myself. I have a train set,” Bob Walton said. “I had one when I was their age. And, of course, they love trains. And this is one of my favorite events of the whole season to come here. This is such a wonderful show. And people put so much work into it. I’m really thankful for the guys who do this. This is a tremendous effort, and this is something very very good for the community.”

Echoing his father’s sentiments about the family tradition is Bob Walton, Jr.

“We go to breakfast at Bob Evans, and then we bring the boys up here to let them look at the trains,” Bob Walton, Jr. said. “They like to put their hands on everything. There’s a lot of exhibits where you can push the button and make it whistle. They enjoy hearing that train sound. You just don’t hear that anymore. We’ve got a set at home that we got just a couple of years ago. And we add to it every year. So eventually it will take up the entire basement I would bet.”

Doug Davis, though not a railroader himself, comes from a railroad family.

“I’m probably the only person in my family who doesn’t work for the railroad,” Doug Davis said. “My father retired from there, my grandfather, my uncles, they all worked there. My father just recently moved back from Columbus, and we wanted to make a day of it.”

Next to him stood the next generation, equally enthralled with the lights, whistles, and sounds of the locomotive.

“I came here because I’m with my papaw,” Josh Davis, an 11 year old West Portsmouth student said. “And he worked on the railroad. And I like looking at trains.”

For Bill and 12-year-old Kyle Dunham, the elaborate N&W train set on display is a case of a son following in his father’s footsteps

“I’m a railroader by trade, and my boy is the one that has the fascination with trains,” Bill Dunham said.

It doesn’t take long to realize the engineer is Kyle Dunham.

“I’ve been into trains about three years,” Kyle said as he sat in the middle of the display that took nearly five hours to assemble. “I like them a lot. I get them at a lot of different places.”

Before the trains, this area was home to the Ohio and Erie Canals — thus — The Canal Society.

“We are here because, before the railroad there was a canal that helped with transportation in the entire state of Ohio,” Jeanie Smith of the Canal Society said. “There was a group that started and they dropped, and then we started, and it has been about five years I think.”

The purpose of the Society is to call attention to the heritage of the Canal, and some of the structures that accompanied the Canal in the mid 1800s.

“We’ve got three new books with three different areas of the Canal, explaining the different locks, and the people that worked on them, and the people instrumental in building the canal and working the Canal,” Smith said. “We are the end of the line. They couldn’t get off the boat and go anywhere unless they got off at Portsmouth.”

Smith and Judy Ross both said they are attempting to get new members to join the Canal Society, and eventually build a museum. Meetings are held the second Tuesday of each month at 7 p.m. at the Ramada Inn in downtown Portsmouth.

While the railroad seems to have more of a past than a present, it is evident when you watch the children’s fascination with the displays that it is something they have no intention of letting get away.

The Train Show continues today from noon until 4 p.m.