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

And by Walthers.

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

On this episode of Tracks Ahead, we take a luxury run on the golden eagle as it treks through the breathtaking Russian landscape--- also an Indianapolis H-O gauge worth checking out--- plus an interactive layout that brings Coney Island to life.

But first, a visit to the Tweetsie railroad's historic coal powered narrow gauge line.

Let's get started.

(music) Narrator: Welcome to Blowing Rock, North Carolina.

Back in 1866, the East Tennessee and Western North Carolina Railroad started operating in the Appalachian Mountains.

The little narrow gauge line was the access point for many mountain communities until the advent of highways, motor traffic, and the costs of operation forced its closure in 1950.

It's here that we find the Tweetsie Railroad, a wild west theme park adventure.

Chris Robbins: Tweetsie is one of the oldest theme parks in America.

It's been here since 1957.

It started off as an excursion railroad with just a train ride and picnic area.

And it kind of added a souvenir shop, some rides, some restaurants, a zoo.

Now it's a full fledged theme park.

Narrator: The centerpiece of the line is the #12 locomotive.

Chris: Number 12 locomotive which is out here today is the only surviving locomotive from the East Tennessee and Western North Carolina Railroad.

Gene Autry bought it in 1953 from railroad enthusiasts in Harrisonburg, Virginia.

The bought it and operated it there for a couple of years.

My uncle talked to Gene Autry, convinced him to sell his option for $1 and brought it here to Blowing Rock in 1956.

And it opened on July 4th, 1957.

Narrator: The little engine required extensive work before it could be put into service.

Robert Ernst: It was taken to the Hickory Shops by Frank Coffey who was the master mechanic for the Southern Railroad at the Hickory Shops.

And he did about a complete rehaul, which he did down at that location.

And then it was trucked here to this site when Tweestie Railroad was started.

Narrator: Soon, another steam engine was added.

Robert: The Yukon Queen is locomotive 190.

And it was built in 1943 by Baldwin Locomotive Works.

It was used by the US Army Corp of engineers up in Alaska.

It was purchased after the park was opened.

Narrator: It takes a lot of maintenance to keep steam locomotives operational.

To do that, the Tweetsie Railroad has a complete steam locomotive shop.

Robert: We rebuild, not only take care of our locomotives, but we do work for other people all around the country including Walt Disney World, Busch Gardens, US Forest Service.

Years ago we did some work for Dollywood, and Spencer Shops.

All around the country.

Narrator: While Robert likes the mechanical side, there is something else that delights him on a daily basis.

Robert: The best thing about working at the Tweetsie Railroad is the interaction with the children and the guests.

The love the trains, they love the cowboys and Indians.

They have a great time.

It's wonderful to be able to put smiles on the children's faces.

Narrator: Listed on the National Register of Historic Places, the Tweetsie Railroad is an experience sure to delight all who comes its way.

Chris: The major draw here is the mountains of North Carolina.

The Blue Ridge Mountains are lovely.

Tweetsie itself has become a major tourism draw too.

We get about a quarter of a million visitors a year.

And that's in about a 140 day operating season.

We're open from mid-April through early November.

We have 12 other rides in the park.

From kiddie rides up to some minor thrill rides as well.

Of course the train ride is a ride as well.

We have a chair lift that goes up to Miners Mountain, which has additional rides.

Narrator: The Tweetsie Railroad is quite the draw for tourism in central North Carolina.

Tracy Brown: For nearly 60 years as an amusement park it's been a huge attraction.

And millions of families have come here over those 6 decades to visit the amusement park and ride the train.

It brings a lot of jobs to our area.

Every year they're employing hundreds of people.

And then filling up hotels throughout the summer and fall.

So economically it's got just a major impact on our area.

Narrator: Riders will always find something special happening on their adventure.

Chris: The train ride itself is about 3 miles long.

It takes about 25 minutes.

It's a wild west train ride.

So I can guarantee it's going to be held up by bandits, and attacked by marauding Indians.

Narrator: But sometimes it's just enough to watch the scenery pass, and experience an old time train ride, complete with coal smoke.

(natural sounds) Cathy: We're a very family oriented park here.

And a lot of time you'll see four generations.

Which is really nice to see.

And they come here and they enjoy time with their family and the rides.

And it's very low-key and it's just a great experience.

So we want them to come away, having had created memories with their families and friends.

And that's what we try to encourage here at Tweetsie.

Chris: Parents will tell us time and time again that their kids came here and they can't talk about anything else except coming back to Tweetsie Railroad and seeing the locomotive again.

Narrator: Still in operation over a century after its birth, the narrow gauge line and it's signature whistle still echo through the Appalachian Mountains.

Spencer: Coming up, we visit Coney Island via a Cincinnati area rail theme park.

This layout is not only interactive, but seriously realistic.

But first, along the way, a stop in Indianapolis to check out Jim Munn's H-O scale layout.

(Music) Narrator: Indianapolis, Indiana is home to this fully operational HO scale layout named "The Chicago & Northwestern Christie Division".

James Munns: Fully operational, one person can do it through the digitrak system, you see, Mike and I do a two man.

We've had up to seven people here on a seared up section, session.

One will run, run a yard.

We run three, two to three two man crews.

The ore train can go out, or someone can go from the ore train to the passenger train and put a little thing in it.

We don't get very, we're not very technical, I don't have a computer system to operate it.

This is simple.

Mike Duncan: I think of it's a great lay out.

It's probably one of the better ones in the country.

It's very detailed and.

You have to realize Jim did this all by himself.

He didn't have help.

A lot of the great layouts have multiple people working on them and stuff.

But Jim actually did this all himself.

(Music) Narrator: Proprietor Jim Munn's named the layout after his first granddaughter with the yards, stations and towns named after other grandchildren, nieces and nephews.

Munns has worked on this layout for over 16 years and chose, September 1955, Chicago & Northwestern in the Midwest as his time period backdrop.

Jim: The Chicago Northwestern got rid of steam in '56.

So this is a transition area.

Throughout the country everybody was going from steam into diesel.

So we can mix this transition era, you can mix everything together.

I like the heavy weight passenger car they left in the fifties.

So it's that time of year where we can do anything.

(Music) Jim: There isn't anything on the layout that's newer than 1955.

I check every builder date on freight cars, check every automobile.

It has to be 1955 or older.

That's the one part that I'm very sticky on.

We run mixture of mainly freight, passenger and the ore train.

The ore mine and the ore, the ore yard they feed each other.

The different towns have few unique businesses to the kinda, the Wisconsin area to things I like, just to feel realistic, but not be what they call prototypical.

Narrator: Munns works in HO scale because of its size.

Jim: In HO you can get a lot of things going in a smaller space than you can with O gauge even though oh you can do a lot more detail.

N scale is great for, for space but then it's hard to especially as we older to do the detail that I want to achieve.

Narrator: He started out with the scenery and then the buildings.

Jim: They're all kits or a few scratch builds.

Everything's changed from the kit, kit batched.

And I've changed over, over the years.

This building didn't look right, so I'd put in a different one I liked better in there.

And it was just a matter of what I felt worked good I that area.

Now I love wood kits that are actual wood because you can give it the texture and realism.

This whole area, a lot of its is Plaster buildings from downtown deco because it just looks, the feel is more of, of brick versus the plastic kits.

Narrator: Layouts are never really finished...there are always little details to be done and in Munns case he's going to add another yard and a connection to the Milwaukee Road... (music) Narrator: In the 1950s and 60's, soda shops, hot rods and drive-in theaters were all over America.

But in Cincinnati Ohio, there was no place quite like Coney Island.

Don Oeters: The park actually got its start back in the 1870s as a picnic grove, and eventually became an amusement park.

1925 was the big year that it actually added a lot of rides.

And back in the 60s, it was our big park in Cincinnati .

Narrator: And here at EnterTRAINment Junction, a stunning recreation is bringing the beloved amusement park back to life.

Don Oeters is the owner and operator of EnterTRAINment Junction.

And a while back, he and a few fellow train lovers got together to build one of the And they have more than 80 trains running through different eras of American history.

But in 2012, the folks at EnterTRAINment Junction decided to recreate this local classic.

Don: Our Coney Island display is a replica, an exact replica of the Coney Island Amusement Park .

So we actually took one of its highlight years, '65, everything, buildings, rides, all are 1965 Don: we actually have the roller coaster, which the signature ride was the shooting star.

We also have the 'Wild Mouse,' a haunted house.

We have a tumble bug.

We have the rocket rides.

We actually have the train around Lake Como, the turnpike cars that the kids would ride.

It's probably one of the most original replicas of any amusement park that is to scale and all-working that I know of in the world.

Narrator: Almost everything was built from scratch by volunteers.

And several of the moving parts were it was programmed by volunteer Steve Carr.

He's in charge of making sure the trains on the main layout are running.

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; Narrator: So when they decided to build the Coney Island replica, they used the same technology to animate the different rides.

Don: we have everything computerized currently, but now we were going to try to update it with voltage.

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, especially of having the Shooting Star Roller Coaster, it's a 40-foot long roller coaster that works with gravity.

And you know, it's just added a lot of excitement to our facility.

Narrator: Raymond Hughes is the volunteer coordinator and former volunteer himself.

He was also part of the planning process to make sure the project could be done with their volunteer effort.

Raymond Hughes: we decided that maybe it would be neat to do something local to our community.

We discussed it and we decided that we can do-probably get away with that, can probably do that.

We've had a lot of volunteer work on it.

Some of the rides are specifically done with volunteers and some of them we actually paid to have them build because they were so complicated.

And we had such a short amount of time to work on it.

Narrator: Charlotte Hughes was one of the volunteers who worked on the Coney Island display.

But she was also very involved in the construction of their layout - and she says there's a lot to the process.

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

Most every model on the layout is built from scratch and we look up historical photographs.

Actually dimension the buildings from the photographs, use selective compressions so that they're not full scale because this can be overwhelmingly large on a G-scale environment.

Narrator: But since the folks at EnterTRAINment Junction have a certain eye for detail, visitors get a chance to see each feature come to life whether it moves or not.

Don: I've talked to thousands and thousands of people all the time and some of the memories and the nostalgia that it brings back, I mean people actually remember dancing at Moonlight Gardens.

I got into it to, actually, to have something to do in retirement and it's certainly given me a lot to do.

I would have done it all over again knowing what I know now.

Talking to the people and getting their feedback and their joy, some of the stories are just, you know, unbelievable.

And you know, I've loved every minute of it.

(music) Dave Baule: Hi, I'm Dave Baule- One of the biggest challenges in bringing Tracks Ahead to life was always to not only find the most interesting rail journeys in the world, but somehow get ourselves on that train!

This next Classic Trax story is maybe the pinnacle of those efforts- The trans-Siberian railroad is the longest rail line in the world, crossing an amazing 8 time zones on it's was from the Pacific Ocean to Eastern Europe.

There's not doubt that a trip on the Golden Eagle is the rail trip of a lifetime.

Narrator: The Trans-Siberian Railroad.

Running for over 6,000 miles and covering 8 time zones, this line of steel connects the glittering capitol of Moscow, with the far eastern port city of Vladivostok.

Started in 1891 by Czar Nicholas the 2nd, the line was intended to unite Europe and Asia and unlock the riches of Siberia.

Taking 25 years to complete, by 1916, with a bridge across the Amur River, tracks stretched from the Baltic to the Pacific.

Completely electrified only since 2002, the line serves a vital link for the Russian nation, and opens the vastness of the land up to everyone.

If you're interested in travel, you have no doubt dreamed of one day riding this fabled line.

Tim Littler: It's on everybody's bucket list, I think, just about every school boys bucket list to travel on it one day, even if you don't, it's on the list.

Narrator: There is no better way for Westerners to experience this vast country than by traveling the line on the Golden Eagle Trans-Siberian Express.

Tim: In 2007 we launched the Golden Eagle which is Russia's premier train - 21 carriages, totally en suite, high quality dining, a luxury cruise train.

Narrator: The starting point of our journey is Vladivostok.

Formerly the home of the Russian Pacific fleet, the city was closed to foreigners until 1991.

Now anyone can walk through the Arsenal, which has been protecting the city since the 19th century.

Our visit will take us to the World War Two fleet submarine exhibit and naval memorial.

Plus we'll visit the Arseniev Museum, to see some examples of the area wildlife, including the famed Siberian tiger.

As our train pulls into the station, the crew and passengers alike get ready for this two week journey.

Tatiana: A lot of people come to visit our country but they only come to visit Moscow and St. Petersburg, probably a couple of other places in the European part of the country.

And the real Russia is not that.

The real Russia is vast and huge.

And to understand how big and how beautiful and how different the variety can be.

And this is the best way to do that.

Narrator: Tatiana will be our guide for the next two weeks.

Tatiana: Khabarovsk usually was the showcase for the Soviet Far East.

And it was an historical and merchant place.

A center of commerce starting from the 19th century.

So streets there were made very nice and wide.

There is a lot of beautiful architecture in that city and its experiencing the boost of development and construction at the moment.

And we will see the beautiful Amur River, the widest river that the Trans-Siberian crosses.

And we will cross the Amur there in Khabarovsk by the longest bridge on the whole Trans Siberian.

a bridge that is about 2 ½ kilometers long.

We are only going to spend half a day in Ulan Bataar City, and we are going to visit the national park that is located about 50 kilometers from the city, the national park called Terejl that will provide you with the most amazing beautiful scenery of the countryside of Mongolia.

That's the real Mongolia.

Not the city but the very beautiful landscapes and families of herders living in their gers and their traditional lifestyles.

Narrator: Before we head west, we'll stop in a village close to Ulan Ude, the capital of Buryatia.

Elena: Now we are in Tarbagatai Village.

That is the center of the Old Believers culture.

The population of the village is about 5,000 people and mostly old believers live here.

Here we can see one church that was built on the money of the locals, as well as the museum with items of everyday life of the Old Believers.

Apart from it, we can see traditional houses with the people who are ready to welcome us here and show how they live and how they used to live.

(Music) Narrator: The largest fresh water lake in the world, Lake Baikal is probably the gem of our trip.

Traveling on a section of the old Circumbaikal Railway, everyone gets a look at the stunning scenery, which is beautiful in any weather.

A dip in the lake is supposed to add years to your life.

Cabbot: It was something I've wanted to do for a long time and I finally did it.

All the way in, all the way in.

(Natural Sounds) Tatiana: Our next stop is Irkutsk, the city that used to be the capital of Siberia for a very long time.

Relatively small but quite old 350 years.

It has a lot of culture and a lot of education and a lot of architecture and a lot of history in it and it provides all different kinds of experiences.

We will be walking through the city, we'll have a visit to the house of Prince Volkonsky, one of the exiled Decemberists, with a very nice concert there.

Narrator: For the train staff, the time on board is just like any hotel.

Napkins are folded, food is prepared, meals are served, and beds are made.

For the passengers the days can be spent relaxing, catching up on photos and email, or just watching the passing trains or the small villages and miles and miles of forest that fly by the window.

(Guitar music) Tatiana: Our next stop will be Yekaterinburg, the city located on the border of Europe and Asia.

hat's when we cross from Siberia into European Russia.

And now a days, the city is associated with the names of the Romanovs.

That was the last place where they lives, and it is where they were executed.

We are going to make a stop by the big cathedral, the Cathedral on the Blood, constructed in their memory and the memory of everybody who died during the civil war.

Narrator: Kazan is an ancient city, which recently celebrated its thousandth year.

A mix of Orthodox and Tatar cultures, it sits astride the Volga River.

For Russians, the city has a special meaning.

It is home to the famous Russian singer Feodor Chaliapin.

Som of his repertoire is presented at a special concert.

Tatiana: We terminate our journey in the capitol of Russia, Moscow.

It is the most cosmopolitan, the most fast developing, the most hectic, but the most interesting and thriving city in the whole country.

A city that has a lot of history, a lot of culture and a lot of most interesting beautiful places to see.

Narrator: What do our fellow travelers have to say?

Ross: We've enjoyed it.

I think it's very good, the foods been nice, the countryside's been lovely to see and I think the tour's been well conducted.

Martha: We have a world map at home on the back hall wall, and it has pins where we've been.

And I kept saying, "Look at this whole big part of the world.

No pins!

We need to go there!"

Rami: I like it very much.

I must say that I've been to Siberia before, but this has been an absolutely fabulous trip.

Beverly: Do it.

It's the only thing I can say because it's just been so good.

Just forget about the cost, anything like that.

I think it's been a wonderful experience.

Narrator: The Golden Eagle Trans-Siberian Express did indeed show us the vastness of Russia, a new and fascinating part of the world.

And it did so in style.

Spencer: While one thinks of snow and maybe Dr. Zhivago when the Trans-Siberian railroad comes to mind, Dave and crew came away from this trip with a whole new appreciation for Russian style, culture and rail travel....

Understandably so.

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.

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