Choo Choo

Near the center of my hometown of Olmsted Falls, Ohio, is the old train station.  It was built in 1877 and has been placed on the National Register of Historic Places.

Although the Amtrak trains between New York and Chicago still pass by, little Olmsted Falls no longer has passenger train service.  For many years the property has belonged to a local model train club.

Each year the club holds an open house, and the public gets to see their collection of model train displays.  Last weekend I went to the open house.

The little station is crammed with displays, with scores of trains of different gauges.  The locomotives run through recreations of cities, towns and countryside.  I find these highly detailed settings as fascinating as the trains themselves.

It was a fun visit, and it made me think about the old Lionel train set I got from my grandfather for Christmas when I was a kid.  It's still up in the attic.