Minster for President!...of Metropolitan Division of Train Collectors, that is

By Allison Leisz
Staff Writer

Tabitha Capri Minster, a William Paterson sophomore, plans to run for president in 2004.

Sound crazy? Not when you realize that she doesn’t want to run the country, but rather the Metropolitan Division of Train Collectors (METCA).

Minster, 19, recently became a METCA “member in full standing,” which occurs when a junior member turns 18. She plans on seeking the organization’s presidency in its 2004 elections. She has been a member of the METCA Kids Club, which she helped to organize. Scavenger hunts and coloring contests are some of the events that Minster helped arrange, allowing Kids Club members to have fun at adult train shows.

“It was always considered a family secret,” said Minster in speaking about her passion for collecting tin plate toy trains.

Her parents were cautious about telling people outside of the family, unsure if someone might try to take the family’s trains while they were away at a show. Minster estimated that the average monetary investment for an avid collector is $2,000 to $5,000.

Most of Minster’s friends find it interesting when she tells them about her hobby, and wonder how she got into it.

Minster inherited the hobby of train collecting from her family, and believes it increases the bond she has with her relatives. She said that the hobby also allows her to feel close to her grandfather who passed away when she was 3. According to Minster, the family’s love of train collecting began when her uncle was 5 years old and received a toy train that he wanted for Christmas from her maternal grandfather, John Bonett.

Minster and her family travel to various train shows throughout the year, and her family runs shows at least three to four times a year.
When asked what train she aspires to purchase in the future, Minster responded by saying that she desires to inherit her grandmother, Hilda Bonett’s American Girl Toy Train Set, one day. The pink and blue train set has been passed down from Minster’s grandmother to her mother, and Minster hopes that someday it will be willed to her.

The Minster family owns hundreds of Lionel tin plate toy trains, most of the family prefers to collect older trains

Aside from train collecting and attending William Paterson University, Minster is an assistant manager at the Clearview Beacon Hill 5 movie theater in Summit.

To find out more about train collecting go to: http://www.metca.org for information on METCA or http://www.tca.org for information about the Train Collectors Association.

March 27, 2003 Issue