As usual I forgot my camera, so this picture is borrowed from the Great Northern Railway Historical Society.

Sunday my little destroyers and I met friends at the Columbia Gorge Model Railroad Club, where they open their doors for a few weekends to let the public see the big room filled with miniature Portland, Oregon countryside, and HO-guage trains running everywhere. I had actually been the week before too, with Kieron Dwyer and David Hahn as we all pretended that it was about doing something nice for our kids. The club members all had headsets as they controlled several lines of engines and cargo. David overheard one younger member reprimanded for not going Yard Speed when he derailed his train. Just like you’d hope, they have lots of neat little hidden gags everywhere, like a Sasquatch, some flying saucers, a guy being crushed under a car, the U.S.S. Enterprise, and more. And once an hour the lights go down to create a nighttime environment for a few minutes, and then the sun rises again from behind Mt. Hood. It’s impressive to see familiar sites like the Broadway and Steel Bridges and Union Station replicated so well. I also had a good talk with one of the members about animator Ward Kimball, whose love of making trains rubbed off on Walt Disney and essentially paved the way to what would become Disneyland.

Naturally when we got home I had to break out the Brio tracks.