Another layout addition

Another interesting package arrived in the mail today, containing an MTH Tinplate Traditions set of #92 Floodlight Towers, which are copies of ones originally made by Lionel in the 1930's.  These are suitable for either the Standard Gauge layout or the pre-war 0 gauge layout, and are 21" high.

I've been looking for a set of these for a long time, and now they're all ready to be installed on one of the layouts! Every new item is exciting, and I really hope that will always be the case.  Nearly all these Lionel-type accessories do something, and most have a light of some sort.  I want to be able to dim the overall lighting in the Trainbarn for a short period while visitors are there so that all the little lights on the layouts and in the trains become more prominent.  I think kids especially will really enjoy that!  Ok, I will too!!

Although of course I really enjoy the actual trains, what I think I enjoy most about this hobby is building the 'layouts' that the trains will run on.  A layout can be as simple as an 8 x 4 sheet of plywood painted green with the track screwed down onto it, or as complex as one of the many amazing scenic layouts built by railway modellers, with plaster mountains from floor to ceiling.  If you want to see a truly awesome 'layout' have a look at the Miniatur Wunderland website, about a model railway display in Germany.  My layouts in the Trainbarn will not be particularly realistic- they are toys, not models- but with a little bit of imagination the scenes will show all the various aspects of a real town, railroad yard, or countryside.

It was a German toy company- Märklin- that developed the idea of building toy train layouts, as against a simple circle of track with a train running around it which was the norm at that time. They were the first to sell extra track items, station buildings, signals etc.  These items now are highly collectable, of course!  The Lionel company took accessories a step further and not only fitted them with electric lights (Märklin had used candles), but made them do all sorts of other action-type things, as well.

When you come and visit the Trainbarn at Whistlestop, no doubt you will want to see lots of colourful trains running around the layouts, but I hope you also notice and enjoy the many accessories- some large, some small- that for me, at least, make each layout so enjoyable and interesting.