The tiny coastal town of Wilfredton seems frozen in time. The year is 1984, or thereabouts, and Wilfredton's 1,000 citizens mingle among quaint heritage buildings in the downtown core, up the mountains, and beyond the rock quarry, mines and logging camps on the rugged coastline.

There are 54 people on the moving ski lift right now. Busy workers toil at their desks inside the six-storey glass office tower. At the golf course, someone is about to tee off on the final hole.

It all seems real. And it is -- only in 1/87th scale.

This miniature world in a Greater Victoria basement is perhaps the largest -- and certainly the most complex -- model railroad on Vancouver Island.

It represents 19 years of painstaking work by three old military friends, who, until now, have kept their creation low-key for fear of vandals.

Only recently did they allow the Times Colonist to visit and photograph their town, which is aptly named using a combination of the men's first names.

Virtually everything in the 640-square-foot room -- except the trains -- has been hand-made during thousands of hours of labour. Street-hockey balls were transformed into natural-gas holding tanks. Chopsticks became log cabins and trees. Yard clippings were milled into stumps that dot the landscape near miniature sawmills.

A nearby work room is littered with dozens of moulds used to create custom walls and windows for the buildings that line more than half a kilometre of train track.

Fred Neveaux, a 71-year-old retired military engineer with an artistic flair, painted vast murals of mountains and skyscapes, custom-wired the electrical system and installed a sophisticated computer processor that simulates the authentic weight and power of each miniature locomotive.

The thousands of trees and shrubs were meticulously crafted by Tony Stipkala, an 82-year-old retired military cook, who gave life to the rugged mountains by drawing upon the logging experiences of his youth.

The golf course and sawmills, along with thousands of working lights, came from Bill Jackson, a 77-year-old former military dental therapist. He built the moving windmill using clock parts, and powered the ski lift with an old dentist's drill.

The three men, who have known each other for decades, meet each Tuesday morning to build their world in a basement. Then, they go golfing.

Work is already underway to expand the sprawling town into a second room -- via a tunnel through the wall -- where the men envision a fiddle yard to store some of the 1,200 railroad cars.

It's enough to make serious model railroaders green with envy but, ironically, the three men admit to only a passing interest in actually running the trains.

Instead, they view the almost 20 years of work as a way to explore their creative potential, keep their minds sharp and enjoy retirement together.

"The goal is to get together in camaraderie and work on this," said Neveaux. "Where will it go? ... Heaven only knows."

There's no discussion of what will happen to their extraordinary creation should they, one day, be unable to continue the work. Maybe it will go to a museum. Or be absorbed by other collectors. Or simply abandoned.

But for now, life in Wilfredton continues to evolve, much as it has for the past two decades.

"It will never be done," explained Stipkala.

Added Jackson: "There's always room to change something."

The trio hopes to keep reimagining

their miniature world for as long as they can.

"When you retire and don't have a job, you can go sit in front of the TV and die, or you can keep your mind active," said Neveaux.

"When you create something like this, it rekindles the imagination."

rfshaw@tc.canwest.com