Choo Choo
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Posted on 03/04/2007 7:53:07 AM PST by Ready4Freddy
Dad likes the trains themselves better than making scenery, so he likes the big O scale train. They're so big though, you'd need most of a large room to make much of a town. Making an outdoor layout would be really cool, with the smallest scale trees and shrubs and flowers one could find, would be really neat. I wonder if he's thought of that. :~)
I saw it and was mesmerized (I was actually there for the *other* miniature display - the Faery Castle of Colleen Moore's).
Our Galleria in Houston had a very nice working train display every Christmas season for several years - it might still, but I haven't been there in 4 Christmases.
Luckily, it was next to a train store, but alas, I had everything they sold, except the beloved O's and G's. The big ones. Wanted them so badly.
They had a lot of cool Rte66 stuff I got, tho, for my other trains. And some of my N- and micro-stuff (fit in a briefcase) I couldn't find other places. Oh, and I got my wooden train whistle there, which everyone just *had* to use when they came over to see and play with my trains in my train room. Such fun. ::sigh::
Oh, train gardens are quite a big deal - so there are many, many mini-species of trees and bushes bred just for them.
Some are done like bonsai, but most are bred that way. They're truly amazing to see. I think I like the rose bushes best.
I used to have a wish list, but had to burn it, lol.
gotta get me that book.thqnks
"It was done as far back as 1941. "
Much of that was toy-like animation done for the sake of livening up a boring around the loop display. Lionel trains were toy trains, not model trains. That is still basically true. HO trains are model trains, not toy trains. Today the special effects are very realistic and based on actual prototypes, not someone's imagination of what would make for a cute animated toy. In addition, today's special effects are available to everyone who has the money for them. They don't have to be custom fabricated by a museum shop.
I'm going to have to get Sid to write--err, finish--it.
Very few toys are games come out now that don't have a tie in to a movie or TV show, except for some board games, etc. Harry Potter was a great link to trains. I'm surprised there haven't been some NASCAR links to slot racing. Actually, there may have been, and I just didn't know it.
A little more detail on the Museum of Science and Industry railroad.
It was done in a slightly nonstandard scale and gauge, all scratch-built. The scale and gauge were very close to O and I think various rebuilds used actual O scale.
The track was 2-rail and operated at constant voltage; that is, only one speed, no gradual starts or stops.
The control system was sophisticated enough for certain trains to to yard switching; back up, couple, repeat if coupling failed.
The fidelity to the (Santa Fe) prototype was sufficient for the intended viewing distance.
I think that viewing that railroad as a boy and wondering exactly how it worked got me started on my long, long descent to computer geekdom.
Choo Choo
Bump
Sounds like some great rides. I would like to ride some trains out west and also Canada. For now we just go on http://www.pioneervalleylivesteamers.org/
Pioneer Valley Live Steamers. Lots of fun for the kids and it's free.
There is a group of train nuts in Michigan (5 miles from the old Lionel HQ)that actually owns an old engine and a few passenger cars. They do Sunday afternoon tours down a few miles of track that they aquired the right-of-way to. BTW, my father in law owns an original 1917 Lionel. I think it was their first model. I keep telling him to get it appraised.
Was that I&I, or something like that, in Bellaire? I bought a lot of model train stuff there. I think it might still be there - but maybe not. I go by there from time to time and hadn't thought to notice.
Hey Rte66. I & I sounds vaguely familiar, but I was talking about the slot-car track that was near the corner of Bissonett & Cedar. The building was triangular shaped, became TeleRadio in later years.
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