The kid in me loved the model trains

Actually, today we had planned on taking a trip to the beach. That plan was quickly abandoned this morning after looking at today’s weather forecast with a wind advisory for our area. Not wanting to sit around the RV all day we thought we give the Railway Museum in Foley another try.

The museum was open today and just as we arrived two other visiting couples came in with us. Now we were a little crowd to the delight of the attendant who told us of the history of the train that sat outside on display and the railroad station that had been moved twice after the railroad was shut down 1971, once out of town to become a warehouse and then back into town to the original position to become the museum. Many artifacts of the era were on display also, but not so well preserved as they could have been, to my opinion. Interesting displays never the less.

The model railroads and train displays are housed in an adjoining building at the back. It has a theater type seating to view the grandiose miniature country exhibition with bridges, tunnels, towns, and even a refinery and all those moving trains. Several volunteers, all retired gentlemen, mostly veterans spend their day in this miniature wonderland keeping an eye on the controls and perhaps just playing with the sets, I think. Now, wouldn’t you like to do that too?

Benno engaged one fellow in a conversation where they talked about ships and trains. That guy said smilingly that he spent over 30 years with the Navy submarine force of which 14 years were under water. Just picture yourself being 14 years submerged in the oceans. Now he volunteers at the museum and later on he gave us a little performance playing on the historic pedal organ of the museum where he sang along to the tunes he played. He was quite good and had a nice voice.

The pictures we took do not portray how great this miniature railway world display really is. Someone spent a lot of time on details to make everything look so life-like.  The longer I looked at the minuscule objects the more I was amazed at the creativity of the designs. All I can say is, if you are in the area, go and have a look at the model railroads and have some fun. It’s way too sophisticated to be just a delight for kids.

The rest of the day we enjoyed back at our campsite where it was very breezy but sunny and all the humidity from the last couple of days had disappeared.  Hopefully the wind will settle down so we can enjoy more outdoor activities. 

Thanks for visiting and please stop by again.