Model Trains are Cool!

So, as usual, the old man is working. The girls and I were bored, waiting on our chili in the crock pot, and NOT wanting to get punched Christmas shopping we decided to go for a ride.
I-40 here we come!
We came across this tiny mall (probably not TOO many folks in there!) and inside was this fantastic Model Train Display/Museum inside one of the shops. Not just one display but several. Most interacted with each other and wound around and connected over this space of about 4500 SF.

Here are some pics we took...we were scared that picture taking was not permitted and rather than ask (?), I just snuck a couple in!




There are buttons on the outside of the display for the kiddos (BIG & small alike ) to push and different things happen within the model "town".
For example, a car may come out of a garage at a service center or a crane may start loading a box car...just really really cool! The layouts were extraordinary! The attention to detail and the craftsmanship was spectacular! There were even some club members operating/maintaining their equipment in overalls and engineer hats.

There is a 65' wall dedicated to the armed service personnel and their families. (Too BIG, I didn't dare take a photo of THAT! It may have seemed disrespectful!)
The girls and I were in the place for an hour before we realized it and felt like we could have stayed longer. I feel like I never looked at the same thing twice!
I was surprised to find out that the "hobby" or interest in model trains may have started in Pennsylvania (my home state).
Pittsburgh Post Gazette

I imagined if a small child woke up to one of THESE model railroad sets under their tree!
No admission is charged however, a donation is appreciated...and well deserved IMO...

If you ever find yourself in middle Tennessee on I-40, I recommend a detour off of the exit to this little mall.
It has a high rating on TripAdvisor!
Trip Advisor

AND, they have their own little website:
CMRC

Merry Christmas!

a reply to: TNMockingbird

There is no way I would have been able to tear my sons away from that place! We would have been trapped for days.

One theme he has researched is the custom of putting trains under the Christmas tree, and Mr. Morrison says it could have started right here in Pennsylvania. In the mid-1700s, a group of Protestant Christians called the Moravians settled in the Lehigh Valley in Bethlehem, where they set up elaborate Nativity scenes in their homes called "putzen" -- the German word for decoration around the holidays.

The displays were enlarged year after year to include biblical scenes not captured as often, such as the exchange between King Herod and the three wise men after Jesus was born, Mr. Morrison said. In the mid-1800s, he said, people created villages at the base of the tree with items such as model farmhouses fashioned after their own dwellings set atop burlap or moss.
Cast-iron toys emerged toward the late 1800s in the form of homes, carriages and fire stations. When cast-iron trains came on the scene around 1880, Mr. Morrison said, they, too, earned a presence under the tree. Before Lionel manufactured the first beloved electric toy train at the turn of the century, Pennsylvanians already were adorning their displays with cast-iron and wind-up ones.

Well, I never knew that so thank you very much for teaching me something new.
Merry Christmas to you too!

The amazing miniature wunderland in Germany, i have been there twice, spending close to a whole day.

Gomez Addams digs model trains. Him in Pugsley, running them trains. Derailment up ahead.

a reply to: TNMockingbird
Those were cool! I'd spend most of the day there. I build buildings for games my friends and I play but nothing on that scale.

There is a group local to my area that has devised a uniform 3' x 8' plywood section (one foot cut off a standard 4 x 8) that has the track entrances and exits at precise places on the edges of the boards. There is one standard for straight-a-ways and one for corners. This allows any number of sections to be used in a "flash mob" rail set up that can be assembled anywhere there is space. They tend to show up at malls or library meeting rooms for a week at a time to run their systems. These are mostly retired Navy guys who have been stationed all over the world, so their boards tend to reflect models of, say, a hotel in the Philippines on one board with a building in Naples, Italy on the next. Since it is a "mix 'n match" system you can never tell what configuration they will come up with next.

And then there is this russian one. Different from the german one because the russian one tries to depict every part of important russian culture.
And it is quite funny to watch. Even brilliant in places.

originally posted by: schuyler
There is a group local to my area that has devised a uniform 3' x 8' plywood section (one foot cut off a standard 4 x 8) that has the track entrances and exits at precise places on the edges of the boards. There is one standard for straight-a-ways and one for corners. This allows any number of sections to be used in a "flash mob" rail set up that can be assembled anywhere there is space. They tend to show up at malls or library meeting rooms for a week at a time to run their systems. These are mostly retired Navy guys who have been stationed all over the world, so their boards tend to reflect models of, say, a hotel in the Philippines on one board with a building in Naples, Italy on the next. Since it is a "mix 'n match" system you can never tell what configuration they will come up with next.

Videos anywhere?

a reply to: HolgerTheDane2
Now, that's a lot of detail. That took a huge amount of work from the looks of it.

a reply to: Mianeye

I cant thank you enough! Must include as a stopover next trip to Europe!

originally posted by: TheConstruKctionofLight
a reply to: Mianeye

I cant thank you enough! Must include as a stopover next trip to Europe!

Be sure to pay the little extra it costs to have a guided tour behind the scenes.
It's definitely worth it. And we even saw small extra scenarios not visible by other visitors.
The guide we had was absolute full of useful information.

Also - if you get the tickets online you will be able to bypass the queu at the entrance.

a reply to: schuyler

I really think the two of us should hang out one of these days, even though you're a filthy islander.

Do you remember a restaurant in or around Seattle where they delivered your food via model train? I want to say it was called the Iron Horse? I just did a quick Google.



Freaking awesome.