The Geek Tycoon

The Daily Inter Lake

A model train's world is tiny.

Delicate. Intricate. Fragile.

Molded by human imagination - and fingers.

Thick, humongous and clumsy fingers.

Fingers likely to inadvertently brush against teensy moving parts and painstakingly mounted micro-decorations - wrecking stuff, smudging it with dirt and grime.

Model-train layouts are their own artistic world.

There's mapping out the tracks. There's designing and building landscapes. There's the attention to miniaturized detail to a scale much smaller than a toy soldier. There's the electrical wiring. There's the selecting of engines and railcars.

There's the hunting for supplies, advice and camaraderie among hobby shops and friends.

Ambience enters the picture. So does engineering. Philosophical questions arise, such as historical periods, the extent of historical accuracy, the ratio of goofy fun to serious craftsmanship.

Artists need their tools. And some artists need more specialized tools than others.

This need signals the introduction of Kevin Keegan, 43, of Whitefish - lifelong model-train fan and inventor of the Geek Stick.

Trains - life-sized and miniaturized - have fascinated Keegan since he was a boy.

Railroaders occasionally let Keegan ride along in switchyards. Meanwhile, his dad and uncle built models, passing that love on to him.

Keegan belonged to a high-school railroad club, and he subscribed to a model-train magazine when he was in the U.S. Navy.

I'm fascinated by the history of the railroads, and how they helped build the country. They are a part of my life, a passion of mine. … I enjoy the creative aspect," Keegan said.

"That's what sparked me when we first met," said his wife, Penny.

A long time ago, he was a ski lift operator on Big Mountain. She was a skier.

They flirted as she waited in line for lifts.

Then Keegan took his big chance, that moment when every guy has to summon up him courage, risk rejection and ask the gal with a hammerlock on his heart:

Wouldja like ta come over 'n see my model trains?

Penny said "yes" - and got hooked at her first sight into Kevin's world.

For years since, they've collaborated on model-train layouts. Kevin is involved with everything. Penny is into the backgrounds.

"It's fun to do together. … It's fun to take paint, and weather the rocks and weather the buildings. … It's fun to achieve that look," she said

Fast forward to 2006.

Now think about uncoupling tiny railcars whose couplers are a fraction of the size of your pinkie's fingertip.

That's a recipe for clumsiness.

Keegan - a self-employed costume furniture carpenter - fiddled with finding a smooth way to do that delicate work.

He tried toothpicks and pencils. They were still clumsy and hard to grip.

Last September, a thought came in a flash - put a ball from the end of a map pin on a narrow, ultra-thin screwdriverlike blade made out of flattened brass.

"The ball on the end gave me really precise control, " Keegan said.

He hit up his local hobby shop and his train buddies for their opinions. They thought that the thingamajig - which Keegan dubbed a "geek stick" - worked great.

Keegan patented the Geek Stick, manufactured the sticks at home and marketed them in hobby magazines.

He has sold a few hundred - retail at $10 to individuals, or wholesale to hobby shops - in the United States, Canada, Sweden, Germany and Australia.

Keegan said: "It's my contribution to the hobby."