By Russell Powell Mark Silverberg is the owner and operator of One Track Mind in Mabelvale.

LITTLE ROCK — Who: Mark Silverberg

What: Owner and operator

Where: One Track Mind train shop

How long: He bought the store - then called Baseline Station - in September of 1997. Then he moved it to its Mabelvale location next to the train tracks in 2003, ("On April Fool's Day of all days," he said). The name was inspired by a line in the Aerosmith song, "Hole in My Soul."

What he does all day:

The duties of running a shop: Taking care of customers and answering phone calls. In his spare time, he works on a mock-up of the city of Chicago with trains serving as the subway system and running under platforms that will eventually hold miniature city buildings and a suburb. He's also working on a Polar Express model train that he hopes to have ready by Christmas.

He admits the two projects are ambitious.

"This is a hobby where you're really not supposed to finish," he said, adding that it could take 30 years for him to complete the mock-up.

"You're supposed to enjoy it and work on it."

Would you recommend your job:

If you like being around people, he said. "You've got to be an independent sort working for yourself," he said. "You never know if you're going to have a good day or a bad day. But, for me, it's fun."

By Russell Powell The record section of the model train store.

The 1,000-square-foot store is more retail room than Silverberg really needs, so he's brought a few items from home - like old records, puzzles and books - to offer for sale. "I could get a booth at an antique mall and pay $75 a month," he said. "But I had this space here for it."

By Shannon Sturgis The model trains for sale at One Track Mind.

Silverberg built his first model train when he was 7, and became more serious about the hobby when he was 13. "I used to build more models than I do now," he said. For displaying trains for sale, he said his customers prefer to look at the trains displayed vertically along the wall, rather than lying flat on shelves.

"Ron is a guy that used to come by the shop and hang out a lot," Silverberg said. He asks if we've ever seen High Fidelity. "He's like the guy in the store that kind of berates the customers. He's a bit of an antagonist," he said, adding that he liked to pick on the customers until they got a little mad. "He passed away on New Year's Eve, and everyone was sad to see him go." His daughter brought the picture to the shop.

By Shannon Sturgis The store has expanded to include model cars and trucks.

Silverberg's distributors want him to become a full-blown hobby shop. Though he's unwilling to go that route, he has expanded his stock to include model cars, trucks and airplanes. Though he admits the "building leaves much to be desired," he uses the money saved on overhead costs to put into the inventory.