EnterTRAINment Junction: The Early Years (1860s-1900s)

This report continues our time at EnterTRAINment Junction, and starts to really get into the detail of the train displays. Our first part detailed the elaborate lobby and other various areas of the building. Now we start to get into the good parts. You start off the self-guided tour in the early years, chronicling the 1860s to 1900s. Rather than get into too much detail, I will try and let the pictures speak for themselves and highlight where necessary.

1) EnterTRAINment Junction: A Fantastic Train Experience for the Family
2) EnterTRAINment Junction: The Early Years (1860s-1900s)
3) EnterTRAINment Junction’s Children’s Imagination Junction Play Area
4) EnterTRAINment Junction: The Middle Period of Railroading (1940s-1950s)
5) EnterTRAINment Junction: The Modern Period (1970s-Present)

The first thing that caught me off guard at first was the scale of the layouts. Growing up, I was used to “O” scale since my father collected Lionel trains. Instead, these layouts were “G” scale, which is substantially larger. For reference, each train car is approximately the size of a loaf of bread. As my father pointed out, the larger the scale, the less maintenance the trains would require, even though they run everyday. In addition, everything was computer controlled, allowing each train to “rest” during the day and not run non-stop. As we made our way through the displays, I began to really appreciate the scale of the layouts in the larger size.

During our time in the Early Years, we got stuck in the night time sequence, where all the lights dim to simulate night fall. I think my dad said it was 5 minutes of light/15 minutes of day.

You really had to look close to really discover lots of hidden scenes. Each building had their own details inside that were fascinating to peer inside and see.

I know you can not exactly tell from the pictures, but realize there is real water flowing through the rivers and lakes. It was an incredible detail to give a sense of realism, and was an added level of complexity to construct. Not only did the water need to flow and not leak out into the surroundings and onto the floor, but also the models needed to be able to withstand water from deteriorating their components.

I should also mention that guests can grab a scavenger hunt sheet at the ticket booth to search for items throughout the display. During our visit, some of the Easter bunnies and eggs were still present and Bug loved searching for them with my father.

While I did not get a picture of it, there was also a cool display right outside of the children’s play area that was a cut away inside the mountain, which detailed and modeled how the workers would have reinforced the tunnels for safety. It was a really cool detail.

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