Model Railroading Anyone?

As it turned out, this ended up being a rhetorical question.  An old friend and his better half were coming to visit us and I knew that he had 2 major interests, model railroading and hot automobiles!  I had a plan that would satisfy his hot auto ‘needs’ but I was at loss as regarded the model railroad challenge.

I needn’t have worried though… Laurie posted a request on our area “Nextdoor” (local Facebook) site asking if anyone could point us to a nearby model railroad set up that was open for public viewing.  Wow!  There was a flood of input from many folks… Via the feedback received we identified 2 relatively nearby displays and 2 others within a 3 hour drive from our home.

Margaret and Bruce were our house guests.  They drove over to East Tennessee from the St. Louis Missouri area.  Bruce and I had worked together back in the late 1970’s at Venture Stores, a discount store ‘retail adventure’ by the now defunct May Department Stores.  Venture’s 70 stores were much like Target Stores in size and product line and at its height the company had operations in St. Louis, Kansas City, Chicago and beyond.

Margaret is a retired professional gardener/landscaper.  We were very pleased when she gave us this beautiful hand-made wreath that we mounted on the inside of our front door.

   

After Bruce and Margaret’s first night at our home, with my fingers crossed as I was unsure what we were going to see, we headed off to the closest operational model railroad display that we’d learned about.  It was a Sunday afternoon.

The model railroad exhibit closest to our home that is open to the public is located in a wing of the Children’s Museum of Oak Ridge Tennessee.  Appropriately, a well maintained bright red Norfolk Southern cupola style caboose is on display close to the entrance to the entrance for the Knoxville Area Model Railroaders, Inc. display.

To the delight of children (and Bruce) visiting the KAMR model train display, an outdoor G-scale garden railroad is in operation adjacent to the caboose and the club’s entrance.  This display was originally built in 2005 when the DIY Network and KAMR built it during filming of a TV series on model railroading.

In the second photo above, please note the green railroad car/equipment right in front of the boy with the engineer’s cap on.  Some creative club member has devised a self-propelled rail car that has a blower built in to it!  They use it to keep leaves and other light debris off these outdoor tracks.  Also, for those youngsters who are ‘into’ Thomas the Tank Engine’ and his buddies, he’s in service on the upper level of track.

This is one view of a room inside the club’s space.  I believe that this is the Large-Scale Division of KAMR that is constructing a ‘small’ indoor layout.  The large scale group operates O-, O27-, S- and G-scale equipment.

I’m not going to go into an explanation of the different sizes/scales used by model railroaders as it would be too lengthy and I probably wouldn’t do a good job of explaining it.  If you are interested in learning about these model scales, and if you’re into engineering you should just go to https://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/List_of_rail_transport_modelling_scale_standards.

A major part of the fun in model railroading is in the whimsy and imagination the modelers use in developing the setting and scenery that their ‘railroads’ chug or cruise past.  In this case, we have a flying saucer and creatures from outer space ‘taking our steak’…lifting and transporting cattle with a rancher trying his best to prevent the theft of his stock!

Another popular theme by many modelers is recreating scenes that reflect the area where they’re located.  In this case, it’s the Tennessee Valley Authority’s Watts Bar Nuclear Plant along the Tennessee River.

 

So…why does the Knoxville Area Model Railroaders are occupy a wing of Oakridge’s Children’s Museum?  In exchange for helping to renovate an unused wing of the museum and constructing and maintaining an HO scale model railroad exhibit for the museum, KAMR was provided with several rooms for club layouts and exhibits.

The work involved and the patience needed to put together a model railroad layout is a bit mind-boggling to me!  Just think about how much work it took to imagine, design and build the layout shown above… Even buildings that come in kits have to be carefully assembled.  Grass has to be created, trees planted and all the pieces have to assembled and placed to create a complete scene…

That big depot in the second photo close-up is an exact N-gauge scale scratch-built model of the actual former Louisville and Nashville Railway Depot in Etowah Tennessee.  To see a photo of the actual depot, just go to https://www.cityofetowahtn.com/2186/LN-Depot.  

This is another imaginative scene that really caught my eye.  Note the barn with the “Rock City” ad on it.  Love the river, barges, tug boat, complex railroad bridges and pleasure boats…

FYI…for model railroaders.  In addition to the Large Scale Division of KAMR, there are 2 other divisions.  The HO Scale Division operates a 24’ by 36’ modular layout.  In addition, the N/Z Scale Division operates 2 layouts.  The N-scale exhibit is 20’ by 30’ and the Z-scale exhibit (the smallest of all) only measure’s 3’ by 5’.  You can sure pack a lot into a small Z-scale exhibit!

This is another nod to our area in East Tennessee.  The Comedy Barn is one of Pigeon Forge Tennessee’s major tourist attractions.  It and a number of other related entertainment venues were recently purchased by Dolly Parton’s holding company.  To learn about what’s happening at The Comedy Barn these days, you can go to https://comedybarn.com/.

Model railroaders have a lot of patience and these bridges, especially the tall wooden bridge near the cliff, are proof positive of the modeler’s dedication!  I just wonder how long it took to build that complex bridge…and that rocky cliff behind it too.

Real life isn’t always positive so someone at KAMR built a prison with high walls, a secured area for parking and then provided guards to keep everything under control.  Love those high walls and the guard towers!

KAMR holds operating and work sessions twice a month as well as a business meeting once a month.  Membership is open to anyone with a serious interest in participating in this hobby in a shared environment and who will accept the by-laws and regulations of the club. 

This photo provides an overview of one of the large operating model railroad layouts at KAMR.  There are trains and complex scenes anywhere you look!  Laurie, Bruce and Margaret chatted with several club members at length.  Kudos to KAMR for having such a friendly open group of members who love answering questions from the casual visitor and for offering suggestions and providing ideas to other modelers!  We all had a great time!

I also noted that there appeared to be a number of enthusiastic ‘junior’ members and other interested children exploring the model railroad layouts.  Participation by youngsters will help keep model railroading alive and popular into the future. 

Please note that while the Knoxville Area Model Railroaders do maintain an HO layout for the Children’s Museum of Oak Ridge, their other layouts and displays are only open to the public on the third Sunday of each month from 1 PM until 4 PM.  We definitely ‘lucked out’ with Bruce and Margaret visiting us on an open house Sunday!

The Children’s Museum of Oak Ridge is located at 461 West Outer Drive.  Phone: 865-482-1074.  Website: www.childrensmuseumofoakridge.org.  The Knoxville Area Model Railroaders club is on Facebook at www.facebook.com/KAMRtrains and they also have a website at www.knoxmodelrailroaders.com. 

Just click on any of the photos to enlarge them…

Thanks for stopping by for a visit!

Take Care, Big Daddy Dave