A rainy Saturday afternoon presents little in the way of outdoor activities. Seeking relief from yet another day trapped inside with the DVD player repeating an oft viewed cartoon movie, Jackson and Daddy went to a train show. The local Boy Scout troop was sponsoring the show, put on by various area model train clubs. Proclaimed to be the "largest model train display in the world" this show promised to be a distraction from the dreary day outside.
The displays filled seven rooms, with many extremely detailed layouts. Daddy's favorite display was this one featuring realistic mountain rocks framing the tunnel openings. Jack kept leaning over and sticking his head into the opening of the tunnels to "see what's in there". Luckily the tunnels remained empty while he did this!
There were many harbor and river scenes that showed off boats and docks, and um,...water. The water on these displays is a special kind of clear epoxy that can be tinted and worked while drying to give a realistic impression of waves and ripples.
This is a scale model of a steam locomotive. The gentleman who operated this setup spent the day repeating his speech to groups that wandered in and out of the room. Daddy knows this because Jackson insisted we stay in the room and watch the steam locomotive demonstration many times. The train would run for about seven minutes on each boiler full of water, and required about ten minutes to prep for a run. Daddy was ready for lunch after the third viewing and convinced Jack to move on.
The steam locomotive really was neat, and this model runs about $550 to purchase. The running costs are quite low, with a tiny bit of heavy weight oil for cylinder lubrication and a little shot of butane for the fire tube being the only expenses. The owner also has several other model engines, one of which costs about $5200. Kinda puts Daddy's Jeep hobby into perspective - at least you can ride in a Jeep!
The modelers are very good at capturing every little detail of the region they are recreating. This craftsman modified a plain Matchbox Crown Victoria into a Virginia State Trooper's car. I'm almost certain that this is the guy that ticketed me on Thanksgiving morning. Too bad he wasn't only three inches tall then!
Jackson spent quite some time in this room - the Lego Train room. The Eagle Scout in the middle of the train setup had a very impressive track layout, with hills and curves and crossings everywhere. The Lego trains are pretty cool and the detail is no less impressive than that of the 'real' model trains.
This last photo is from earlier tonight. Daddy gets called outside by Mommy and is presented with the question "What is this? A crawdad?" Sure enough, there on our front walk is an eight inch long crayfish. Fiesty fella too! I know it's been rainy and wet here for quite some time, but this monster should be way down by the creek, not near our front door! Daddy is used to the much smaller crayfish of his youth. This thing was big enough that I was looking around to see if a neighbor had misplaced his lobster dinner.
There were many harbor and river scenes that showed off boats and docks, and um,...water. The water on these displays is a special kind of clear epoxy that can be tinted and worked while drying to give a realistic impression of waves and ripples.This is a scale model of a steam locomotive. The gentleman who operated this setup spent the day repeating his speech to groups that wandered in and out of the room. Daddy knows this because Jackson insisted we stay in the room and watch the steam locomotive demonstration many times. The train would run for about seven minutes on each boiler full of water, and required about ten minutes to prep for a run. Daddy was ready for lunch after the third viewing and convinced Jack to move on. 
The steam locomotive really was neat, and this model runs about $550 to purchase. The running costs are quite low, with a tiny bit of heavy weight oil for cylinder lubrication and a little shot of butane for the fire tube being the only expenses. The owner also has several other model engines, one of which costs about $5200. Kinda puts Daddy's Jeep hobby into perspective - at least you can ride in a Jeep!
The modelers are very good at capturing every little detail of the region they are recreating. This craftsman modified a plain Matchbox Crown Victoria into a Virginia State Trooper's car. I'm almost certain that this is the guy that ticketed me on Thanksgiving morning. Too bad he wasn't only three inches tall then!Jackson spent quite some time in this room - the Lego Train room. The Eagle Scout in the middle of the train setup had a very impressive track layout, with hills and curves and crossings everywhere. The Lego trains are pretty cool and the detail is no less impressive than that of the 'real' model trains.This last photo is from earlier tonight. Daddy gets called outside by Mommy and is presented with the question "What is this? A crawdad?" Sure enough, there on our front walk is an eight inch long crayfish. Fiesty fella too! I know it's been rainy and wet here for quite some time, but this monster should be way down by the creek, not near our front door! Daddy is used to the much smaller crayfish of his youth. This thing was big enough that I was looking around to see if a neighbor had misplaced his lobster dinner.