The Reale Railroad

Our 
Story

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The Reale Railroad was founded in the spring of 2021, yet it was a series of Christmas sparks that really set the idea in motion.

Manny Reale can vividly picture that first moment, over forty years ago, when he sat with his father on their living room floor, surrounded by shimmering lights, towers of Christmas gifts, and rumors of a pending visit from Santa. Train tracks circled the family’s tree and then angled off on a path toward the sofa.

For hours, Manny and his father ran their toy train along those tracks. They laughed and created stories. Manny assembled a gang of G.I. Joes to mount an epic ambush as the train came hustling around a bend.

Those moments are special to Manny. They were rare moments of joy that he got to experience with his father. But they also showed him the delight of creativity, of filling a space with whimsy and story, function and artistry. That Christmas Eve night, his father gave him the magical gift of invention. When you look at something, he learned, you don’t just look at that something—you see what that something can be.

For many years, Manny left trains behind, but he believes that gift helped him succeed early in his career and that it now propels him in his work with the Reale Railroad and Reale Railroad Shop.

And then came another holiday season, Christmas 2020, the first Christmas of the COVID lockdown. Manny and his wife have a tradition of decorating their Christmas tree according to a theme, and that year, they opted for Manny’s childhood favorite, a railroad.

Soon, tracks filled the living room, and the sound of a little locomotive could be heard throughout their home. Manny felt the return of that old delight, but he knew the space was too small.

Plans swelled in his head, and he began to investigate materials to build tracks outdoors. That Christmas, he looked out his window and saw a yard—a lawn, a hill, and some brush. He saw a yard, but he also saw what that yard could be: a railroad.

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The Reale Railroad is a testament to Manny’s unique capacity to dream big and then put big dreams into practice. Together with a team of experienced railroad enthusiasts, Manny applies that same innovative spirit and hard work at the Reale Railroad Shop, a nonprofit he founded to modernize the hobby and help address the issues that tend to vex his fellow hobbyists.

Each year, Manny and his team have sought to develop a new answer to railroading challenges. This desire has led to the production of cases that protect hand-held Revolution, AirWire, and RailPro remotes and to the design of smoke units that can better mimic real-life steam locomotives. They have also worked to produce a new line of containers that can be custom-made to buyers’ specs or shipped blank, either with or without a paint-and-decal kit. For Manny, these containers represent another step toward the kind of creative self-expression that he believes is so rewarding and meaningful in railroading.

All profits from the Reale Railroad Shop are reinvested into the development and production of future innovations at the shop or into the development and upkeep of the Reale Railroad.

See more here at our Komo news story that was done 6/10/23: Seattle model railroader shares joys of hobby with neighborhood