Railroads On Parade, Part 1

The dogs and I were on our way home from a weekend up at the farm. We'd traveled down through the Adirondacks and then connected with the Northway. I was speeding southward when, at Exit 26, I decided to get off at Pottersville and buy myself some gas for the car and some food for my lunch. But before I arrived at the aforementioned purveyor of gasoline and sandwiches, I noticed that "Railroads On Parade" was open, the first time I'd ever seen it so. It was cool enough to leave the dogs in the car and I had plenty of time, so I bought a ticket and went on in:

Railroads On Parade was a model railroad exhibition with scenes from New York's past. Tiny trains zipped by going in all directions:

The scenery and buildings and were all highly detailed and perfectly miniaturized. Notice the tiny people in the scene below:

There were scenes from New York City, the Catskills, the Hudson Valley, the Adirondacks. I'm sure there were many more also that I just can't remember:

This, I think, was a railroad through the Adirondacks:

The guide told me that "Generak" was their imaginary city which represented all of New York's historic old cities. This scene was built to look like 1955:

And just then all the lights went off in the room and lights came on in the houses and towns. The guide told me that they have 3 minute day/night cycles:

I saw a drive-in theater playing an old black and white movie:

And a bustling "Generak" during its industrial days:

There were bridges and canals and mountains and valleys. Through it all, the trains kept running:

"The Station" in the Adirondacks was also set in 1955 and my most vivid memory was the nighttime scene with a lighted and festive looking carnival (just to the left of the sign):

I zoomed in for a closer look at the celebration. Perhaps it was a county fair. I was thoroughly enjoying my tour of the tiny displays and found myself missing so much detail that I'd pass by a second or third time, amazed as if I was seeing it all for the first time. You can find out more at their website, and/or you can tune in tomorrow when I'll post Part 2 of my field trip to "Railroads On Parade:"