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)

After a little over an hour at EnterTRAINment Junction, the best part of the train layouts was ahead. To say it was spectacular was an understatement. Seeing the building, people, and detail, of course made my mind turn to how much time it must have taken model builders to construct everything.

The buildings were towering above and had the same feeling of being inside a real city. The buildings were intricately detailed inside just like their predecessors in the others areas of the layout. Notice the building(s) under construction and how they mimic real looking construction sites.

There is nothing like an old fashioned hamburger/hot dog stand in the city. For those “green” people, the city was complete with a pod style building with vegetative roofs and solar panels. The Girl Scouts much rather prefer their hot dogs over the open flame than from a stand.

While a little blurry, I thought it was fascinating to see the detail of the man collecting aluminum cans out of the garbage at the subway station entrance. As you looked above at the towering skyscrapers, you could peer through an “underground” window into the subway. It was really cool to see the trains come and go just like a real subway.

Again take a closeup look at the very detailed construction site. You may even notice the safety cables on each floor used as fall prevention. The large crane in the background actually moved and worked with the construction site.

How about that cool Avis rental car building?

Instead of having a structural beam be an eyesore within the layout, model builders built the Space Needle around the column. Incredible!

With everything so incredibly detailed, I wonder how they prevent a buildup of dust on everything?

Do you see any birds flying above the bridge?

EnterTRAINment Junction uses over:

– 19,000 gallons of scenic grass and dirt
– 6,000 hand made trees
– 5,000 track solder joints
– 20,000 electrical solder joints
– 1,800 gallons and over 50,000 gallons flowing down waterfalls each day
– 15 miles of wiring
– 1,000 scratch built buildings, structures, bridges and trestles

Overall, EnterTRAINment Junction was an incredible trip for our family. The boys thoroughly enjoyed going through the layouts and watching the trains. I also have to say the boys LOVE spending time with their grandparents, so have them and trains in the same place was a win!

If you are ever in the Cincinnati area, stop by EnterTRAINment Junction to pass a couple of hours, as I think your family will really enjoy the experience.

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By now we were about an hour into our time at EnterTRAINment Junction, and the really cool parts of the layout were still ahead. In case you need to catch up, below are the previous posts discussing EnterTRAINment Junction.

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 next section modeled the 1940s and 1950s. In this section we start to really see the changes in the landscape of America. The Country had taken a big swing towards commercialization and as an industrialized nation. Green spaces were quickly being replaced by hardscapes as is evident by the thriving model.

Notice the beautifully detailed fire station, with incredibly detailed interior. Can you pick me up some vegetables at the market? The scale of the alleyway between the buildings is really under-appreciated in pictures. I would guess the alley is about 20-30 feet in length and gave a really great perspective.

Notice the detail inside the Black Star Coal Corp. building. Did you notice the detail of the tire swing?

Call the cops? Someone is breaking out the jail. Who was playing at the Fox Marquee?

Notice the grand piano getting hoisted up the building. Can you spot the window washer?

If you look on EnterTRAINment Junction’s website, you can see an early version of the drive-in theater and see how it has progressed. It is hard to believe it is even the same picture.

There was an elevated platform that was great for a bird’s eye view of the layouts. Do you see the bungee jumper or the people jumping into the river?

The view overlooking the train yard really gave me an appreciation for the scale of the trains and the mountains. In the upper right corner you can see a whole new section of the layout being constructed on the upper level.

At one point I remember showing my dad how the model builders had simulated rust dripping onto the piers below the steel bridges. Pay attention to everything when visiting EnterTRAINment Junction!

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By now our family had made its way through the EnterTRAINment Junction elaborately themed lobby area, and then the Early Years of Railroading where we were impressed by ornate bridges, running water, and mountain life scenes from the 1860s – 1900s. At the end of the Early Years we arrived at Imagination Junction, which is a children’s play area that kids could stretch their legs and get out some energy after a long four (4) drive from Cleveland.

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)

I actually like how the play area was after the first train display as it allowed little minds not to get overrun with too much stimulation. The play area was complete with two smaller scale layouts with push button controls for little hands. There was a separate outside area with a larger train kids could ride, weather dependent. A separate Thomas table play area was set up in two different areas. A smaller quarter operated ride stood in the center. Lastly, which there was a large two-story playhouse, which my kids are still to young and nervous to go on.

I think our boys favorite part of the play area was inside the large train because they could scoop coal lumps and place them into the firebox of the engine. It is always nice to see our older son share with his younger brother when in public. Somehow the instinct is not duplicated when at home.

After our short stint within the play area, it was time to make our way into the Middle Period of Railroading, the 1940s to 1950s. Stay tuned tomorrow for the displays to start to get really cool.