What is it about trains? Grown men's love affair with a passenger
transport of the past. Maybe it is nostalgia, about back when things went
slower, when you could sit and watch the view of the beautiful countryside pass
by the window. But wait, the guys that have these train sets never traveled like
that, it was before their time.
Maybe it is about history, preserving a very important slice
of our past, that has movement and sound and scale, and of course it is not just
the trains, but the buildings and people and stores and tunnels and
trestles and even smoke! Or maybe it is just boys and their toys?
We recently discovered that one of our neighbors has an
elaborate model railroad setup in the area over his garage. Melissa was telling
us about it, Buddy said he would love to see it too, so she made some calls and
we went to see it on Sunday - an early birthday present for the OLD man (60
soon).
Neighbor and model train engineer Jim McIntosh has been collecting
trains for a long time obviously. He and Buddy talked about their first train
set, a Lionel, way back in the 50s or 60s(?).
Recently a film crew spent 3 days there filming and taking
photographs for a train magazine spread and DVD.
Did you know these words and phrases have their origin in
the railroad: backtrack, just the ticket, railroaded, derailed, sidetracked,
one-track mind, blowing smoke, blowing your stack, streamlined, tunnel vision… thanks to Central Pacific Railroad Museum .
I took a few pictures, but they really don't do it justice,
seen HERE, and online someone has posted a video HERE.
