Train Museum

 While we were visiting the college, we saw there was a train museum close by.  Since my son works at a train museum, we figured it would be worth the visit to see just how different the two museums were.

 This one is mostly steam engines and normal cars.  The museum he works at, The Western Railway Museum has mostly electric trains and trolley cars.  He's learning to drive them.

 This museum has a HUGE H-O layout in the basement of the museum.  It's designed and maintained by the Denver H-O train club.  Lots of man hours go into keeping it working.  Nobody was running it when we were there, but there was still a lot to look at.

 They had lots of buildings and people and little animals all around for the trains to run past.  The funniest thing was a kangaroo up in the mountains right next to the buffalo and antelope.  I think he was lost!

 The train set up was inside a real train.  How cool is that? I think when they have people there you can put in a quarter and run the trains yourself.  Of course, if you run them too fast, they jump the track and then someone has to put the train back on, just like at my dad's house.  For the little ones, that's half the fun.

 They had buildings with schools and candy stores and even a burning building with firemen working to put out the fire.

 The Goodyear blimp was flying overhead.

 There was an amusement park in the middle of town and a zoo that reminded me of the one my dad made for me when I was a kid with animals in cages.  I bet the people who made this had a great time building it and I wonder if they change things around or once it's done, just leave it as is.

 They had this life size model that my older son showed my younger son how to drive.  There were handles and levers inside and my son knew just how everything worked.  How many 17 year olds know how to drive a train these days?  It might come in handy if he ever wants to get a job working here one day.

 He was my tour guide, showing me all around and telling me all about the trains and cars and comparing the two museums.  He got some good ideas for improving the museum he works at back home.

 It's nice when the younger generation can appreciate old things and wants to keep history alive.  It was a beautiful day outside.

They had some beautifully restored cars.  Too bad they weren't running the trains on Sunday.  It would have been fun to ride some of these old trains and compare them to the electric trains.