All aboooooard
The Bay State Model Railroad Museum in Roslindale Square opens to the public twice a year - once before Christmas and once in the spring. Yesterday, we headed upstairs for our first visit. It's really amazing how much work has gone into building these model worlds (not just trains, but cities, train yards and remote mountain fastnesses for them to go through - in three different scales).
Woo, woo! Click for a train ride:
Sir Topham Hat wonders if anybody has seen Thomas:
Oh, there he is!
Some of the trains pass through some rough neighborhoods, where graffiti is etched on the walls and poor old people still have to work - and strangers are warned away from the bad points:
I don't know, guys, I can't help feeling like there's some unstoppable force heading right toward us:
Arrrrgh, run! It's a giant and he's squashing people at the station!
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RE: All abooooard
What happens the other 363 days a year?
It's a club
Despite the name. So the rest of the time, it's basically a place for guys (there are only two women members) to play on the largest model-train sets in Massachusetts. If they accept you as a member, you don't even get to play with the trains at first - you have to prove yourself by spending the first few months on cleanup and odd-job patrol.
Nostalgia Train
Cool beans.
I was a train nut as a kid. Not only did I make yearly pilgrimages to Carver's Edaville Railroad, but there was this other place down there, some "toy train museum" that closed up probably 15+ years ago (anybody remember the name?). All sorts of model trains and landscaped scenarios like the ones shown in this post. I wonder if the Bay State absorbed any of the Carver museum's resources?
It's funny how priorities change. Back in those days, my plan was to grow up and have an attick full model trains. And sadly, because of the MBTA and Amtrak, this is the first positive discussion I have had regarding trains in years!
MIT has a model RR club, too
The Tech Model Railroad Club at MIT also has open houses a couple times each year. Unfortunately you just missed the last one, which was November 18. They say they'll have another some time in the spring.
Oh!
My son would *love* this! I'll have to remember it for Spring.