I love model railroading. I like the big ones too, but the technical and artistic challenge of creating a miniature railroad has always captured my imagination, sharpened my design skills, and taught me much technology and craft.
Western Pennsylvania Model Railroad Museum
While visiting the Pittsburgh area over the holidays, my nephew Colin and I visited the Western Pennsylvania Model Railroad Museum in Gibsonia, PA during their annual holiday train show.
They have a great layout modeling more or less the now-abandoned Western Maryland RR line from Pittsburgh to Cumberland, MD, over the Sand Patch grade.
The model railroad features a number of excellent bridge models and some great scenic vistas. It's well worth a visit.
The Mantua Mikado
I cajoled my Dad into taking me down to Lloyd's Hobby Shop in downtown Baltimore and purchasing a Mantua locomotive kit. We selected a 2-8-2 Mikado freight engine. I never got the thing running as riveting the running gear was beyond my seven year old abilities, but it came with a wonderful gift: a six month free subscription to Model Railroader magazine. This was at the beginning of the Linn Westcott era, where he led the hobby into transistorized electronics with the series of TAT throttles and Twin-T detectors and new structural designs based on his L-girder construction.
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