Turning his world upside down

JANN HENDRY/Acorn Newspapers MODEL TRAIN TAKES A CIRCULAR ROUTE IN AN UNUSUAL LOCATION—Santa Claus might face a challenge deciding where to place his gifts for Thousand Oaks resident Dale Manquen. His Christmas tree is on the ceiling and a train, equipped with a series of magnets, goes around it. Step into Dale Manquen’s living room and you realize something is different. After a moment of self-orientation, you realize a toy train set encircles an inverted Christmas tree; both are hanging from the ceiling.

The Thousand Oaks resident, a longtime toy train aficionado who likes to race, sell and fill every moment of his spare time with toy trains, has developed a way to operate them as they hang upside down. He calls it Magitraction.

Manquen is a semi-retired electrical engineer who’s designed audio recording equipment for professional recording and film studios. While working on getting his toy locomotives to go faster, he discovered a way to magnetize them to the track. He then experimented with operating two trains at the same time on a circular, rotating track and a double-sided one.

“The idea is to amaze people, to wow them, and it doesn’t have to be train (enthusiasts),” he said.

Thomas Meleck met Manquen several years ago when they were members of a toy train club. Meleck, a production designer for film and TV shows, designed the logo Manquen uses to advertise Magitraction.

“It’s kind of sophisticated,” said Meleck. “I think it captures people’s fancy. . . . (It’s) a very clever idea.”

Manquen was a vendor at a toy train convention last year when a customer suggested mounting a track upside down. Within a week, Manquen developed it, using simple hooks to bolt the tracks to the ceiling. He took the unique train tracks to the Toy Train Operating Society convention in Las Vegas in August.

“The word I heard the most (about the trains) was ‘cool’ . . . or ‘that’s amazing,’” said Manquen, who now wants to create a market for what he calls Novelty Layouts.

Prices vary according to the complexity of the layout, but simple inverted train sets run about $750, half the cost of a highend locomotive, he said.

“In a way, it’s kinetic art,” said Manquen. “It’s hard to put a price on it.”

For more information on Novelty Layouts, call Manquen at (805) 529-2496 or visit his website at www.trainfacts.com.