A day of trains ... Part I

Monday, Grandpa Jones asked if I would come along on an all-day train excursion ... and bring my camera. There is a model railroad train convention coming to Grand Rapids in the summer of 2012 and Grandpa Jones and many of his friends are on various committees to prepare for that occasion. All kinds of brochures and informational pamphlets need to be made, along with promotional materials, etc.
We drove down to the Kalamazoo area to look at five model train layouts. It was so much fun. This first layout is one that Grandpa Jones was especially interested in seeing because as a boy, he often admired American Flyer trains.
This fellow's layout is before the age of electronics ... everything is mechanically built and operated. He has very cool sound effects. Everything works! The steam engines, the lights, huge cranes ... really fun to see!


I know several small grandchildren who would have LOVED to be with us Monday!


I had a lot of trouble loading these pictures today ... so they are out of order, etc. The following few pictures are from a fellow who has a rather pristine layout that he has freelanced. The entire thing can be run by computer. It even has the coolest bus system that runs all throughout the layout, stopping and starting and ... even parking!
This was NO dirty dungeon basement kind of setting ... everything was practically perfect ... but almost TOO perfect ...
Beautifully modeled buildings and streets ... I wonder how many hours went into doing all of this!



After spending a whole day at five different layouts, what impressed me most was the amount of work that has gone into each one. The landscaping and art work is gorgeous! Each building has intricate detail with signage ~ if you look in the windows of some of the buildings, they are completely modeled inside and out! There are real working track signals, lighting, and amazing sound! And many of these layouts are prototypes of actual historical railroads during a distinct period of time! There are farm lands and rivers and animals and people ... and it's really an accomplishment to put it all together. Some of these folk have worked on their layouts for twenty years or more ... some of them as family projects! I have a few more pictures to show you and have had my share of trouble loading photographs today ... so if you'll go to the next post, that's where they are.