Ride the Rails with Tri-State Model Railroaders

We headed back to the Mineral Bluff Depot for the Ride the Rails event with the Tri -State Model Railroaders. Fall is a perfect time to join this friendly group as they take a couple of railroad speeders on a five mile round trip on the former L&N trackage to Murphy Junction. The highlight of the trip is crossing the Toccoa River on an old iron bridge.

Southeastern Narrow Gauge and Shortline Museum

We took a detour to visit the Southeastern Narrow Gauge and Shortline Museum in Newton, North Carolina. It is housed partially in a former restored Southern Railway Passenger Depot. There isn't much there, but the people are friendly and it's a good place to take a break and stretch your legs. 

A Visit to Nostalgia Station

We found a gem of a toy train museum in Versailles, Kentucky. Nostalgia Station Toy & Train Museum occupies a former Louisville and Nashville passenger station, which was originally built in 1911. On display are toy train items from the 1890's to the 1990's. There are two operating vintage dealer type layouts. Other items in the museum include Lionel, American Flyer, Ives, Marx, Bing, Carlisle & Finch, Dorfan, and Hafner trains and accessories. You can also find items available for purchase. What a neat way to spend an hour or so.

Apple Valley Model Railroad Club

While in Hendersonville, North Carolina, we made a quick stop to visit the Apple Valley Model Railroad Club. They operate a sizeable HO-gauge layout in a former Southern Railway train station, that was built in 1902. Blue Ridge Southern now uses the tracks nearby. The club members are friendly and willing to chat about trains. It's definitely worth a visit.

Central Railway Museum Model Train Expo

The Central Railway Museum always puts on a good show. We piled in the car and made the road trip down to Easley, South Carolina to see what we could pick up for our home train layouts. The Model Train Expo is held at the wonderful Rock Springs Church Impact Center where there is plenty of room to spread out and enjoy the show. They even provide a free shuttle bus from the parking lot to bring you straight to the front door! There is plenty to see with area clubs showcasing their modular layouts. The vendor offerings are also very decent with a few bargains to be found as well. This is one of my favorite train shows and I try to attend it every year.

Killing Time at the Choo Choo Barn

On our recent road trip to Strasburg, Pennsylvania, we had some time to kill. So, we stopped at the Choo Choo Barn. The "Barn" is a delightful little display of O-gauge model railroads. The animations are well done and there is plenty of detail in all the scenes. However after traveling to many different layouts around the country, it seems a bit on the small size. Several of the animations weren't functioning the day we visited which further tempered our enjoyment of the attraction. We still enjoyed our short visit.

A Stop at Corner Field Railroad Museum

We took a short drive from Cleveland, Ohio to Middlefield to check out the Corner Field Railroad Museum. It is basically in the middle of nowhere but it was worth the trip. Over 4,500 feet of track make this toy train layout quite impressive. While the train layout is only about half completed, there are still more than enough details to keep you occupied for some time. It is well worth the small admission fee to be able to admire all the hard work that went into building this delightful O-gauge train layout.

Visiting EnterTRAINment Junction in Ohio

If you offer a decent train layout at your establishment you will definitely peek our interest. The folks at EnterTRAINment Junction do more than that with their massive G-scale layout that occupies over 25,000 square feet in their building. We made a six hour road trip to West Chester, Ohio just outside Cincinnati to enjoy this fun filled establishment! The first section we visited was the "Train Journey."

ScaleTrains.com Hiwassee River Rail Adventure

ScaleTrains.com held a wonderful open house at their warehouse and a private train ride on the Tennessee Valley Railroad called the Hiwassee River Rail Adventure. It started with a tour of their warehouse and the ability to purchase items at very low prices. Then, it was a delicious catered barbecue lunch.

Photos from the Biltmore Gardens Railway

What a fantastic garden railroad the Biltmore Estate has created. The Biltmore Gardens Railway is made up of over 800 feet of G-Gauge track. The model trains run at different levels. Bridges and buildings are all made of natural items such as bark and twigs. It is absolutely stunning!

Photos from the Atlanta Model Train Show

We piled into the Jeep for a road trip to the Atlanta Model Train Show at the Cobb Galleria Centre. It's a nice show but a little on the small side. Oh, and parking sucks! We spent less than an hour looking around but did manage to pick up a few tools and supplies. With this show being so far away and just being okay, we will probably skip it in the future.

Photos from the WNC Model Train Show

Once again, we attended the WNC Model Train Show held at the WNC Agricultural Center.  This is always a great show and usually has something for everyone. There is both train stuff to see and to purchase.

Photos from Charlemagne's Kingdom

A trip to Helen, Georgia would not be complete without a tour of Charlemagne's Kingdom. This sizeable model railroad layout depicts a German alpine area. There are 400 feet of track and a 22-foot mountain included in the layout and it is very well done. However, it could use a little sprucing up in a few areas and there were only a couple of trains running when we visited. Since we were staying next door at the Heidi Motel, we could visit the layout as many times as we wanted for free during our motel reservation. We definitely enjoyed our visit.

Road Trip - NC Transportation Museum Train Show

We took the time to explore the grounds of the NC Transportation Museum in Spencer, NC during the annual National Train Day Train Show. Several vintage locomotives were running the day that we were there including Southern Railway FP-3 #6133, Atlantic Coast Line E3 #501, and B&MH H-12-44 #1860.

Road Trip to Mineral Bluff Depot

We are on the road again. This trip finds us traveling to Mineral Bluff, Georgia to the old Marietta and North Georgia Railway (M&NGR) Depot at 150 Railroad Avenue. The depot was built in 1887. The tracks have been owned by various railroads, including Atlantic, Knoxville, and Northern Railroad Construction Company in 1896, the Louisville and Nashville Railroad (L&N) in 1902, CSX Transportation (CSX) in 1986, and Georgia Northeastern Railroad in 1987 (GNRR).  The Mineral Bluff  Depot last saw freight action in the 1950's. After a renovation in 2007, it is now home to the Tri-State Model Railroaders.

Photos from the World's Greatest Hobby on Tour in Charlotte, NC

The Bubba's Garage crew loves them some model trains. We all piled into the car and took a road trip to the World's Greatest Hobby on Tour in Charlotte, North Carolina. Being the stickler for being at a show right when it opens paid off for this show at the Park Expo and Conference Center. It got very crowded real fast.

Checking out Legacy Station

We found ourselves in Lilburn, Georgia, just outside of Atlanta, so we decided to stop in at Legacy Station. The store is located in the back of the Kroger Shopping Center. They have a fine selection of model trains as well as scenic material. Of course with us being O-Gaugers, we picked up a couple of Lionel goodies while we were there.

Hunting Bargains at the Lionel Warehouse Sale

Once a year Lionel opens up its warehouse for an overstock sale. We drove down to the Concord, North Carolina offices to see if we could score some bargains. The warehouse was packed with people! To there credit, Lionel did a fantastic job at moving shoppers through the cashier lines quickly.

Biltmore Summer Flowers and Garden Trains

Off to the Biltmore Estate we go to enjoy the Summer flowers and the garden train. There is always something in bloom at our favorite spot in Asheville, North Carolina and today as a bonus we were going to explore the Vanderbilt Travels Railway.

Apple Valley Model Railroad Club Open House

It has been 25 years since the Apple Valley Model Railroad Club set up shop in the Historic 1902 Southern Railway Railroad Depot in Hendersonville, NC. We took the opportunity to visit with them during their recent open house. They run a very nice HO layout inside as well as a large scale garden layout outside at the train station.