(train whistle) (theme music) Announcer: Support for Tracks Ahead is provided in part by Kalmbach Publishing Company and its on-line video magazine, Model Railroader Video Plus.

And by Walthers.

(theme music) Hi, I'm Spencer Christian.

On this episode of Tracks Ahead, we'll see how steam heritage is being preserved in Pennsylvania--- stop by a relaxing Wisconsin country garden center that shows off many interesting rail features--- and marvel at a 4000 square foot o-gauge layout down south that attracts tens of thousands of visitors- and rightfully so!

But first, a visit to a Cincinnati area rail-themed park featuring the world's largest indoor train display- it's really quite amazing!

Let's get started.

Narrator: In southwest Ohio, the town of West Chester is home to about 60-thousand people and a unique entertainment center with plenty to catch your eye.

Don Oeters: truthfully, it's the only one in the world that is more than just trains.

Steve Carr: We think it's one-of-a-kind unique, which is as unique as you can get.

Charlotte Hughes: Well, the fact that these are all hand built, scratch built.

Narrator: And with 25-thousand square feet of model g-scale trains, it's one of the largest indoor train displays in the world.

This is EnterTRAINment Junction - and Don Oeters is its proud owner and operator.

But back in 2002, Don found himself with a little more free time.

Don: I knew I was going to retire early.

I belong to the Greater Cincinnati Garden Railway Society.

Our club wanted to do an indoor layout.

And so I took the concept and actually tried to make it into a business.

And this is what came of it.

Narrator: But the entertaining undertaking needed hundreds of hands to do thousands of hours of work.

And after a building estimate, it became clear that they needed more help that they thought.

Don: We had an estimate of 16 to 22 million dollars to have this built for us.

And it would be physically impossible to have something like that and to actually try to even have a business.

Narrator: More than 80 trains run on this massive layout.

And almost all of it was modeled, built and brought to life by volunteers.

When Raymond Hughes joined the project he was just a member of a garden railroad society who wanted to help.

Since then, he has stepped into the role of volunteer coordinator to handle all the volunteer operations.

Raymond Hughes: When the project was undertaken, it was understood that we couldn't build the project without volunteers.

And our group, the Greater Cincinnati Garden Railroad Society, discussed it and decided that this was a fantastic idea.

And so that's how it all got started.

Narrator: Don had the building, the volunteers and a great plan.

But he needed one more thing: the perfect name.

Don: I was trying to figure out what name to name our facility.

And entertainment was the business I was trying to get into but then I also wanted to have the word train in it.

So the Entertrainment came out.

I added the word Junction to it so that it would be more obvious what it would be.

So EnterTRAINment Junction became our name.

Narrator: And entertaining is exactly what Don set out to do.

There's a train museum, a fun house and plenty of other surprises for visitors of all ages to enjoy.

Don: what we wanted to do is really add something more to it so that anybody, any generation, would find something to be entertained with.

Ray: We have 2 train layouts outside that the kids can ride on.

We have one that's in front of the building and we have a 7.5 inch ride on train that goes from the side of the building, all the way to the back, 1-thousand feet of track.

Narrator: They even have layout that was loaned to them by rock-and-roll icon Neil Young.

Don: He actually had this built probably about 25 years ago.

And one of his concert tours, he actually traveled around in America with it and set up a tent.

And so it was in storage and he heard about us.

And he donated his traveling Lionel layout to us.

Narrator: But people are coming from across the country and around the world to see the main attraction.

Visitors get to experience the great eras of American train history as they walk through the Train Journey.

Don: The actual train journey consists of our layout.

And as you really walk in, you walk in to the early period, which is the 1860s to the 1900s.

Then you would go into the middle period of railroading, which is the 1940s and 50's.

Then you go into the modern period, which is the 1970s up to the current times.

Each area that we have, we've actually tried to show a time area, not a particular place.

So a lot of our buildings, bridges, trestles, everything we have did exist or does exist but we've put them together as a collective unit.

Narrator: And almost all of it was built from scratch, by hand.

Charlotte Hughes is a volunteer who has been working with the layout since the beginning.

She says making this details in the layout starts long before the volunteers start building.

Charlotte Hughes: We research the various buildings that we put on the layout.

and we look up historical photographs.

Actually dimension the buildings from the photographs, do as much detail on the building as we can from the photographs.

There's a lot of intricate detail especially inside some of the buildings.

And if you gaze into many of the buildings you'll see in one area, a dance studio and individuals are embraced and dancing in the Arthur Murray studio.

Clothing and clothing stores, grocery stores with all the little details go inside either for photographs.

There are actually little clay models.

Narrator: Steve Carr is another volunteer who works on the layout and his job is to keep the trains moving.

When he started working with the folks at EnterTRAINment Junction, he was a part of the track laying effort.

But he soon began helping with the effort to wire power through the display and became one of its primary electricians.

So when the group needed someone to computerize the train operations, Steve stepped in again.

Steve Carr: We have approximately 50 small computers that are managing all the operations of the trains.

That includes multiple trains on the same tracks, sometimes in opposite directions, sometimes following each other around; The control systems were designed to run without an operator because it would take a lot of operators.

You can see a lot in a spot but you can't see very far away.

So we wanted them to operate autonomously.

And they do.

Narrator: They've also installed a few surprises that are set up to go off at the touch of a button.

Steve: There are buttons on the layout that sometimes cause trains to operate.

Sometimes, they allow sounds, and some cases there are animations, like the balloon.

Nearly all the children that come in here love to push buttons.

They don't necessarily wait to see what happens when they push the button but they love to push buttons.

Narrator: And they're using the same technology in their newest addition: a moving replica of the Cincinnati Coney Island amusement park.

Don: In 2013, we were actually finishing the second floor display.

And we had a space that we were looking at either a carnival, a zoo or an amusement park.

And we knew the amusement park was going to cost the most.

However, we also knew that it would have the most wow factor.

So because of the wow factor, it's just added a lot of excitement to our facility.

Narr: In less than a decade, the folks at EnterTRAINment Junction have manage come together to build something they can be proud of.

But they've all done it with the support of the community, which drives them to keep coming up with new ways to improve.

Ray: the community was glad to see us coming.

And many, many of the volunteers weren't even interested in trains.

But they'd seen the project in the paper and we'd advertised for volunteers.

And they said, 'I'd like to be a part of that.'

Don: You have to realize that there's over 130 people that put well over 100-thousand hours into handcrafting every bridge, every building, every little detail out there.

Narrator: Passion, care and an eye for detail are present in every nook and cranny at EnterTRAINment Junction.

Because the folks here are committed to taking visitors of all ages and from every corner of the world on a train journey they aren't soon to forget.

Don: Some people will spend 7 hours a day here.

Some people may only spend an hour and a half to three hours.

But you know, it's as long as people have a good time, I don't care what they do.

And that's the whole idea.

(music) Spencer: Entertrainment Junction is a site we've visited before- based upon how they've grown and the exciting new displays offered now, I'm sure we'll be back!

Coming up, we'll discover a perfectly preserved example of Pennsylvania steam.

But next, a Wisconsin railroader who opens his train-themed garden center to not only visitors, but to also a local train club.

(Kids: This is really cool!)

Narrator: Any family outing is that much more memorable when something different... something unexpected or out of the ordinary presents itself.

(garden train sounds) Narrator And how exciting when it's a train, meandering its way through flowering fall mums and the blaze reddish orange of a burning bush.

Debbie McKinney: Well, it's surprise, because a lot of families that come here don't realize that the garden railroad is here.

So as they are walking around through the garden center looking for the plants or trees or whatever they are here to purchase, they stumble across the garden railroad and it's surprise, wide-opened eyes, and the kids, they just race towards it.

When they hear the trains they absolutely glow with the joy of looking at the trains.

Narrator: Lamm's Nursery in Jackson, Wisconsin features what you'd expect at a family landscape and garden center.

But what is quite different about this property are the many tie-ins to the owners love and fascination with railroads.

Debbie: The garden railroad was a joint venture between Lamm's Garden Center and the Cedar Creek Central Railroad Club.

The garden center is responsible for the big moves, moving the rocks, moving the dirt, putting in the waterfall.

And the train club has been responsible for installing all the track, laying the track.

As train club members, we're all required as part of our membership to volunteer at least 2 times running the garden railroad on weekends and during the week when the school groups are here.

So we volunteer our time keeping the trains running.

(train chugging) Narrator: The garden railroad makes its way through the landscape, but it's far from being the only rail feature at Lamm's.

Although very small and rather simple compared to the vast garden rail feature just outside, an N scale layout in the garden center itself represents something very special.

Don Wick: The N scale layout kind of mimics the actual acreage out here.

John Lamm invited us to build a railroad in his building; he actually made space for it.

We started construction in here around April or May of 1995.

Our club had an idea of what we really wanted to do, combining the efforts of all the members with their talents and eventually developing into it state of the art electronics that you see today.

Narrator: Cedar Creek is a southeast Wisconsin Railroad club that has found a home at Lamm's- designing, building and operating several layouts on this site since the mid 1990's.

(Natural Sound of the HO layout) Narrator: Most model railroad builders have big dreams for their little trains.

At the Cedar Creek Central Railroad Club, they've re-created the rail traffic of the entire continental United States - and Canada - in one room.

Don: We estimate close to 1500 feet of track, not counting the yard trackage.

The levels of the layout represent portions of the United States going from the east coast to the west coast- Chicago would be the hub.

The freight traffic would move into our area and be classified into certain industries on our layout.

The west coast would incorporate Denver and Canada.

More than mimic, we try to stay with the actual railroad operations.

We have a dispatcher panel, and that's how traffic is regulated.

We have like zero accidents or train meets, which is important.

Narrator: The railroad club's effort fit right in with Lamm's Nursery Center John Lamm's lifelong interest in trains, as well as his vision for his business.

John has been working to develop his property into a tourist attraction, with a wide range of activities, events and historic artifacts.

John Lamm: This bridge was built in 1883.

It was built as a railroad bridge in Des Plaines, Illinois.

And then amazingly moved to Wisconsin in 1920.

When the State of Wisconsin wanted to replace it in about 1996, somehow I got the word just in time.

Well, we said 'We'll take it!

", and we saved it by 2 days.

(music) This bridge is used almost daily.

Through the month of October there are school groups here every day.

All of them love to go over the bridge, cross through the creek, around the lake and then through the pumpkin patch.

(garden train sounds) They see a garden railroad, they see an HO railroad inside, they see a little N gauge of the farms.

And now we stand on 160 acres, that has the room, that has the trails to take this big engine out and give rides to the public.... That would be the day, that's part of the dream.

Debbie: It's just fun.

I think that's what it's all about.

There's a lot of debate between whether a model railroad should be realistic or should it be whimsical and I think we have a nice combination here to please everybody.

(music and garden train sounds) (music) Narrator: The history and heritage of railroading is one of the most treasured aspects of Americana.

And thanks to the tireless efforts of a special group of Pennsylvania volunteers, the Williams Grove Steam Historical Association is a living legacy of early to mid twentieth century steam technology.

Bill Medlin: Their purpose is to preserve and operate, demonstrate old farm machinery and steam powered equipment.

Narrator: For rail fans, the prize of the collection is a piece that once belonged to the Pennsylvania Railroad.

Bill Medlin: The B4a switch engine was built by the Pennsylvania Railroad at Altoona in 1901.

They built 96 of them.

This engine was sold to the Central Iron and Steel Company in Harrisburg, Pennsylvania in 1917, right at the start of World War One.

And it ran there until the mill closed in 1959.

It was discovered there by some of our people and they bought it for scrap and brought it here.

It came in during this show in 1961.

We've been running it just about every year since.

Bill Medlin: When we were working on this engine in 1980, now the steel mill number for it was number five.

In 1980 when we were working on this engine, running gear and things, we machined the wheels, put some new bearings on the rods and in the process of doing all that work, we found the original number stamped in all the pieces 643.

We had a man name of Clyde Cook from Duncannon, he's deceased now, but he did a little research for us and verified that that was the original number that it was assigned when it was built at Altoona.

Bill Medlin: That engine is unique because it is the last PRR steam locomotive that is running.

And they had thousands of them.

Narrator: Of course, people have to have a place to ride.

And to carry passengers, the railroad has several historic cabooses.

Bill Medlin: It was built in 1916.

It's a wooden caboose in class N6b.

That came here from our Enola yard in 1963.

And we keep patching it up, and fixing it and painting it.

It's wood, wood rots, you have to keep doing that., but we keep it running, we keep it on our passenger train..

This caboose beside me here is a class N5.

It was built 13 months later, also by the Pennsylvania Railroad.

It is one of the first steel caboose that any railroad built.

Up until that time all the railroads were using wooden cabooses.. Narrator: A special feature here is the Run a Locomotive program.

Bill Medlin: We have a steam locomotive engineer training program here.

Each class last half an hour.

We put you up on the seat of the locomotive.

We explain the controls, demonstrate them as much as possible, and then the student spends the rest of their time operating the locomotive.

It is amazing when you sit there and you feel the power of that machine.

You feel it through the soles of your feet, the seat of your pants on that seat, even with your had on the throttle, you realize you are sitting on really big machine.

There's a lot of power there.

Narrator: The association also has other pieces of steam history, specifically steam tractors.

Dean Deibert: They came into existence in 18, right around the end of the civil war.

Most of them started up around then Dean Deibert: They replaced the horeses.

Everything was done by horsepower at at time.

The purpose was to thrash grain out in the west, because at that time there was no easy way to thrash the grain and it was done mostly by manual labor.

And they invented the steam engine and brought it in and it was a success to run a thrashing machine.

And when they come into effect, then they could use bigger equipment, they could use bigger plows.and they broke a lot of sod out in the west.

Narrator: So from steam tractors to steam trains, there is something for everyone to enjoy.

Tom von Trott: Oh everybody has a fantastic time.

We have people who come back year after year.

We have some customers who have been coming back since we've been doing it, and we've been doing it now for 15 years or so.

Narrator: And what does the future hold for the association?

Tom von Trott: I hope that we continue on for many more years and we keep expanding and doing new things and keep giving the public a great place to come and see history alive.. Narrator: In a world where so much of our reality is becoming virtual, it's certainly refreshing to experience America's railroading history so vividly- up close and personal- knowing that one day, it just might disappear.

(music) Dave Baule: Hi, I'm Dave Baule- 'if you build it, they will come' is a oft-repeated Hollywood line.

Well, the owner of a Georgia O-gauge railroad had no idea that his massive layout would have the same appeal to rail fans.

He built it, and boy did they come.

Thousands of annual visitors from all over the world.

We, too, visited- and the size, scope and intricacy of this layout are reasons enough that this story deserves another look as this week's Classic Trax feature.

(music) Narrator: Deep in the heart of the Chattahoochee National Forest and North Georgia's Blue Ridge Mountains more than 24,000 people from all over the world came to visit a backyard in quiet Blairsville.

This amazing attraction is the largest privately owned O-gauge rail-line in the country - Misty Mountain Model Railroad.

The 4,000 square foot layout measures 72 by 55 feet and rests on 7 tons of lumber.

More than six thousand pounds of plaster were used in the construction of the mountains and scenery.

Visitors enter the impressive layout by passing under a huge 6-foot wide, automatic lift bridge.

Once inside, they are captivated by the terrain of Northern Georgia... Charles: We wanted to represent North Georgia.

We love North Georgia.

Our family is from Georgia for 5 generations and we love it up here and we wanted to represent the area.

We worked almost 2 years designing it before we started to build.

We went all over the country to look at other layouts.

Mostly they were on tables, but we wanted ours to have a lot of depth to it, like you'd be looking down into valleys and then you'd be looking up into the mountains just like the scene from our front porch.

We wanted it to seem like you were in the layout so we made valleys and rivers instead of isles for you to walk in.

Narrator: Boasting 8 different levels, Charles' layout ranges from Brasstown Bald, the highest elevation in Georgia, to a 17-foot trestle that recreates Tallulah Gorge, the deepest canyon gorge East of the Mississippi River.

Charles: You're taking a tour of North Georgia.

You're walking through the mountains and we have a lot of the different cities represented with historical buildings on them that are no longer there.

Ken: I build them using photographs of the actual buildings that I want to build.

It takes me anywhere, I'd say, between 2 and 3 months.

I've done the old courthouse in Gainesville which was hit by a tornado back in 1936.

And, I did the Piedmont Hotel which was owned at one time by General James Longstreet and I did a replica of the Biltmore estate.

That was probably my most challenging building.

A lot of the windows had to be hand carved.

The gargoyles on it, they were kind of hard to find, you know for the 4 inch scale, and then the Goddess of Grain statues on there - couldn't find any of them, so instead of the Goddess of Grain, I used Venus and Aphrodite, so, but who's going to tell.

Narrator: Ken built one building in homage to Charles' Uncle Fred.

Charles: My Uncle Fred worked for the Milwaukee railroad and I was just fascinated with his stories and the trains he was on.

And, they gave me my first train and that started it all.

Ken: That station took me actually, probably about 6 months.

Right when I had that done, my 3 year old punched out all the windows in the front of it.

I had to redo that, so took a little longer.

Narrator: With 12 hand-made bridges, 4 trestles and 15 tunnels, the layout allows 14 trains to run at one time.

Eleven transformers power the trains over one mile of track.

Hidden trap doors beneath the layout service the massive array of electrical wires that power the trains and illuminate hundreds of buildings, streetlights and signs.

Charles: Now we have around 167 complete train sets and we have all the manufacturers; I think we have something from everybody.

Narrator: The enormity of the layout allows 80 to 90 visitors to pass through at one time...

In the course of a week, several hundred people visit the Misty Mountain Railroad with all proceeds going to area charities.

Charles: It's very rewarding to have something like this when you get older.

And my son and grandson's are involved with it and would like to have them carry on with it and give pleasure to everybody.

(music) Spencer: While we have told the stories of literally hundreds of layout owners over the years, the enormity and variety in Charles's railroad makes this one perhaps the most impressive we've seen- Blairsville is but a few hours from Atlanta- and railfans should seriously consider a visit to the misty mountain model railroad.

Well, that's all for this episode.

Please join us next time for more, Tracks Ahead.

(theme music) Announcer: Tracks Ahead.

Brought to you by: Kalmbach Publishing Company and its on-line video magazine, Model Railroader Video Plus.

Walthers.

Manufacturer and supplier of model railroading products, serving the hobby since 1932.

(theme music)