Family Trains Together, Stays Together

By Vicky Broadus — vbroadus@herald-leader.com

This family took working on the railroad to the extreme and bought their own hobby shop to support their autistic son's interest in trains, model and real.

Longtime customers David and Carla Stephanski decided to buy Lexington model-train business Berkshire Trains when its future looked in peril. They had come to rely on the shop because their middle son has autism; trains have gripped his attention from an early age like nothing else.

The sign said ‘Death in the family,’ with a phone number at the bottom,” says David Stephanski. “After we left, I told my wife, ‘I’ve got a funny feeling,’ so we drove back and called the number.”

It was the owner, Burt Brashear, who had died. His daughter, an only child, wasn’t going to be able to keep the store. But the Stephanskis didn’t want to lose the shop. For their son Chris, trains were what life was all about, and Berkshire Trains was a place that felt the same way. The couple bought the business in 2006, seeing it partly as an investment in his future. Family hobby shop “The sign said ‘Death in the family,’ with a phone number at the bottom,” says David Stephanski. “After we left, I told my wife, ‘I’ve got a funny feeling,’ so we drove back and called the number.”

It was the owner, Burt Brashear, who had died. His daughter, an only child, wasn’t going to be able to keep the store. But the Stephanskis didn’t want to lose the shop. For their son Chris, trains were what life was all about, and Berkshire Trains was a place that felt the same way. The couple bought the business in 2006, seeing it partly as an investment in his future.

After spending several years on Southland Drive, Berkshire Trains recently moved to a brightly painted 100-year-old building on West Third Street. Carla Stephanski and their oldest son, Alex, work there during the week; David, who has an information technology job with the state, works on weekends; and Chris, now 16 and a student at Woodford County High School, is there every weekend and during vacations, watching train videos, helping out in the workshop and talking railroad history with customers.

This story first appeared in the Herald-Leader in Lexington, KY last month.

Read more here: http://www.kentucky.com/2012/04/23/2161246/family-working-on-the-railroad.html#storylink=cpy#storylink=cpy

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