A ride down the gum line

How one Hoosier Village resident turned his passion for trains into a community attraction

By Sophie Pappas

Dr. David C. Vandersall received his first model train set as a gift from his parents when he was a first grader in Green Springs, Ohio. After that, the family set it under the Christmas tree every year.

“I was always fascinated with trains,” Vandersall said.

Now, as a resident of the Hoosier Village retirement community, Vandersall is sharing his love of trains with the public.

Studying trains and teeth

After graduating from dental school, serving in the U.S. Air Force, moving around the country to teach periodontics at various colleges and universities, and operating his own periodontics practice on North Meridian Street in Indianapolis, Vandersall is still playing with trains.

“A lot of children go through a phase of loving trains and as they get older they start loving cars or something else in their teenage years, and the train just stays in the attic. But I always kept my trains, they always stuck with me,” he said.

By the time Vandersall and his wife Barb had three sons, the family’s trains were set up in the basement.

“[The boys] were fascinated by them and we always had them at Christmastime,” he said.

Over the years his collection has grown as he shops for items at auctions and conventions. He is also a member of the Central Indiana Chapter of the Midwest Division of the Train Collectors Association.

In 2007, and one year before he closed his practice, Dr. Vandersall moved with his wife, Barb, to Hoosier Village. He brought with him a significant collection of model trains and accessories that soon found a home in the Residence Hall.

Dr. Vandersall’s collection is so large it doesn’t fit in one room. However, when Hoosier Village built Hawthorn Hall, the new three-story residential apartment building, a special train room off the front lobby was included in the plan. Though Hawthorn Hall opened last fall, the train room is only recently up and running. Setting up the display was no small task.

“It’s an operation,” Vandersall said.

And while he prefers to call his space the Hoosier Village Train Room, others in the community refer to it as visiting the gum line, which is a nod to Vandersall’s years spent studying and operating on patients gums and oral bones.

“The gum line nickname is really just for my email,” Vandersall said with a smile. “But people think it’s catchy.”

To finish the model train layout this year, a designer was hired, a train table built and lots of friends and family members stepped in to help. Hoosier Village residents Don MacPherson donated train artwork for the walls, and Earl Cotton crafted the model tugboat in the lake. Vandersall’s son, Mark, helped him set up the trains, and his wife positioned animals grazing in fields, skiers on the mountain, ice skaters, and more. Signs on the room’s windows thank more than 20 people for their assistance.

One item he says he’ll never part with is a 1930s-era diesel engine and cars. The sleek silver streamliner has always been his favorite.

“It’s a lifelong love,” Vandersall said.

Visit the trains