Catch that train!

Miniature trains are probably one of the coolest things to watch, especially when they are constructed on such a large scale that you can imagine yourself in that particular scene.   It's neat to see trains that have a circus theme, almost lifelike, as the train makes its way through the countryside on the way to the next town for a big top show.   My favorite are the ones that are historical and show things from real life, like the military trains that took our doughboys across the country during WW1 and the ones that brought much needed supplies to the western part of the US during the dust bowl.   The people that make this their hobby are just as unique as the trains themselves.   Old and young alike almost salivate when the subject is the train they are working on and the stories about how they were inspired to make them are just as memorable.

I took my daughter today to the train show here in Monroe and we were both amazed at the size of some of the sets.   I could not believe the detail that went into a lot of the smaller-scale trains that were built from actual train routes and used topography from the actual landscapes they went through.   Illinois, Ohio, Pennsylvania, and Wisconsin routes were all represented along with historical data about the trains that served them.   While my train hobby won't mature past the oval track I put around the Christmas tree each year, it's nice to see the fruits of the labor of the countless engineers that make this their labor of love.