The Times - Serving Waitsburg, Dayton and the Touchet Valley

DAYTON - Trains, planes and automobiles. And ships and rockets too. You can find them all - at least miniature versions - at Don's Blue Mountain Hobbies, a new shop on Dayton's Main Street.

Don Johnson has been a hobby retailer for six years. He and his wife, Carolyn, recently moved from Snohomish, Wash. to Dayton, where he has opened his shop at 309 E. Main Street, the former home of Alexander's Chocolates. Carolyn Johnson is a mortgage operations specialist at Umpqua Bank.

"I've been a model train collector since I was nine," Johnson said. "I still like to buy and sell the old ones."

Johnson says that the model train hobby in the U.S. owes its current popularity to a collector who is also a famous musician. "Neil Young saved model railroading," he said. "It's still popular because of him."

Johnson is a native of Wisconsin, near Stevens Point. He grew up on a dairy farm, which is still run by his uncle. He moved to Seattle in the mid 1990s to take a job at Boeing. Later he became a masonry contractor. He started his hobby business part-time in his garage about six years ago.

Despite his passion for model trains, Johnson's real specialty in his Dayton store is model rockets. He carries several brands of solid propellant rockets, including Estes, the most popular. It was because of rockets that he discovered Dayton.

"I got to know Tim Quigg, and I've been coming over here for the rocket shoots the past few years," he said. "My wife and I really liked the area."

Quigg is the leader of the Blue Mountain Rocketeers club. The group of kids and their parents assembles model rockets and launches them in an alfalfa field northeast of Dayton several times each year. Johnson says he offers special deals to kids who are just getting started in the hobby.

Johnson's shop also carries a wide range model trains and accessories. He also carries plastic models, including cars, airplanes and ships. He carries a few radio-controlled cars and airplanes as well.

Johnson says he does about half his business in his store and the other half is online and at rocket shoots and hobby shows. He has had a shop on Amazon.com for several years, though he shut it down while he moved. He is just getting ready to reopen it. He travels regularly to rocket shoots in Pasco and Spokane, where he sets up a vending booth to sell supplies. He also travels to a few train shows each year, mostly in western Washington and Spokane.

"I have friends who will keep the store open while I'm away at shows," he assured us.

Don's Blue Mountain Hobbies is open Wednesday through Saturday from 10 a.m. to 7 p.m. and Sundays from 11 a.m. to 4 p.m. The Shop is closed Mondays and Tuesdays. Johnson can be reached at 509-382-9800.