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TRANSACTIONS NEWSLETTER ONLINE

August 1998
Transportation Museums and Attractions

Model Train

Toy Trains for Kids of All Ages Museum

There's something magical -- almost hypnotizing -- about watching miniature trains zip around a tiny track, disappear in tunnels, cross bridges, change tracks, pass tidy little villages with their lights glowing and stop at lilliputian stations. You don't have to know the difference between an HO scale and N or Z scale to have some fun and say, "I want to do that."

Time is frozen in the 1950s in this HO-scale Tehachapi Pass exhibit at the San Diego Model Railroad Museum, the largest such facility in the country. (©1991 Don Mitchell/San Diego Model Railroad Museum)


The largest display of model railroads in the state is the San Diego Model Railroad Museum. In fact, with 24,000 square feet of exhibits, it claims to be the largest model railroad in America. The largest display of model railroads in the Bay Area can be found at the Golden State Model Railroad Museum, located in Point Richmond. It houses nearly 10,000 square feet of displays of varying scales. Operated by the East Bay Model Engineers Society, the museum has five major layouts with meticulously detailed town and city scenes. In the largest setting, an engine pulling some 30-odd freight cars disappears completely from sight, delighting visiting kids as they run down the aisle to try and guess from which tunnel the engine will re-emerge.

Visitors to the Walnut Creek Model Railroad Society, with its 1,800 square foot layout, can view an 8-foot-by-30-foot centralized traffic control board awash in blinking lights. This "Big Board" shows the position and direction of travel of the trains on the mainline, which traverses a composite of the mountainous areas of the western United States.

For a chance to view a model railroad layout as well as ride a miniature train, visit the Golden Gate Live Steamers in Tilden Park in Berkeley. This club is located adjacent to the Redwood Valley Railway, also a miniature steam-powered train that takes you on a 12-minute journey through the redwoods of Tilden Park. Although considered "miniature," the Golden Gate Railroad and the Redwood Valley Railway - 1/8 and 5/12, respectively, the size of an actual steam train -- are powerful enough to carry children and adults around the track for a ride. By comparison, the HO "table-top" trains built by many model railroaders are 1/87 the size of an actual train, while N and Z scales are even smaller.

Take a ride on a full-size commuter train -- the Peninsula's Caltrain -- to the Menlo Park station to visit the model railroads maintained by the West Bay Model Railroad Association. A raised seating area provides visitors with a good view of the three scales of model trains on display.

Some model railroad clubs are lucky enough to be part of an old train depot, such as the Niles Depot Museum in Fremont and the South Coast Railroad Museum in Goleta in Santa Barbara County. The Niles Depot, built by the Southern Pacific Railroad in 1904 to replace an earlier one that had occupied the site since 1869, served as a passenger station until the early 1950s and as a freight station until the '60s. The station was moved to its current site in 1982; restoration is ongoing by the Niles Depot Historical Foundation. The Tri-City Society of Model Engineers operates HO and N scale model railroad layouts on two floors of the depot. Unlike the more formal setting of other clubs, this site offers an opportunity to get up close to the displays.

– Catalina Alvarado

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