A tiny model train runs through the knobs and hollows surrounding a mock up of a Kentucky town. The people in this photo are small, about a quarter of an inch tall.

I took my equipment down the road to the Kentucky Railway Museum to take macro photos of the model trains speeding by against a backdrop of perfectly motionless figures set in a diorama of coal country. This is a small piece of a much larger permanent display.

The L&N model scale train goes humming down the track as centimeter tall engineer waves it on. All is safe.

It's January 4, the eleventh day of Christmas as I type this, so why not one more photo of my tree before the Epiphany? I took this photo in the daytime.

I hate taking the Christmas tree down at the end of the holidays, but then there's always Easter to look forward to . . .

This set of model train pictures comes from inside the display window at what was formerly the Palace Theater (and is now the Palace Barber) at the Town Square in Murfreesboro, TN.

This set of model train pictures comes from inside the display window at what was formerly the Palace Theater (and is now the Palace Barber) at the Town Square in Murfreesboro, TN.

photos by Kara Hayes Smith

This set of model train pictures comes from inside the display window at what was formerly the Palace Theater (and is now the Palace Barber) at the Town Square in Murfreesboro, TN.

Included here is the Rail Town Hardware Store and the Police Station

This set of model train pictures comes from inside the display window at what was formerly the Palace Theater (and is now the Palace Barber) at the Town Square in Murfreesboro, TN.

Included here is a Hard Rock Cafe and Irene's Steel Diner

The model train curator shows some of the display to a kid that was visiting the museum.

This set of model train pictures comes from inside the display window at what was formerly the Palace Theater (and is now the Palace Barber) at the Town Square in Murfreesboro, TN.

A small Lionel model train store opened up in Rockefeller Center, but only for the holidays. It was the first time the Lionel company opened its own store, and a permanent store might be in the works later on.

This trian display is in the O scale, or one-forty-eighth acutal size, and it drew a lot of folks. For the record, I had a Tyco HO scale train set when I was a kid.

Nothing says Christmas quite like model railroading. :-)

The wonderfully preserved Tennessee Central Depot in Cookeville, TN has been converted into a museum. As soon as you walk in, there's a model train display replicating what Cookeville looked like back when the depot was in use.

The Garden State Railway Club in North Haledon, New Jersey, held an open house on December 10, 2017, which I learned about on my local TV news program. I and many others got to see these cool model train displays.

This is a railyard with a passenger train passing it.

The World's largest scaled down wonderland; railroad model train with a track that goes through mountains and bridges. With all these extraordinary things to see, it's an ideal spot to engage kids.

Don't miss to visit the wonderful Northlandz miniature wonderland this weekend.

➡️ Visit Now 👉 northlandz.com❣

#Northlandz #ModelTrains #modelrailroader #modeltrainset #miniaturetrainrides #modeltrainnj #largestmodelrailroad #scalemodel #trainforKids #ModelTrainDisplay #miniaturethemepark #fun #newjerseymuseums #trainmuseum #attractionplace #funplaceinNewJersey #MondayThoughts #newjersey

The realism of these model train displays is exquisite isn't it. :) I guess it helps to have a sense of humor. It is in front of the tool store.

This set of model train pictures comes from inside the display window at what was formerly the Palace Theater (and is now the Palace Barber) at the Town Square in Murfreesboro, TN.

My favorite display from the Kruger Street Toy and Train Museum at the UMAC Fall Festival held on Jefferson Avenue in Moundsville, WV.

You can find the Kruger Street Toy and Train Museum here on the web

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This set of model train pictures comes from inside the display window at what was formerly the Palace Theater (and is now the Palace Barber) at the Town Square in Murfreesboro, TN.

The realism of these model train displays are unparalleled! I'm not sure what the plastic guy did for the wife at the door is holding a bowling pin, but wearing yellow pants with a pink shirt is just unexcusable.

This set of model train pictures comes from inside the display window at what was formerly the Palace Theater (and is now the Palace Barber) at the Town Square in Murfreesboro, TN.

This time I took a picture of our Christmas tree without a flash. The lights take on a new aura here.

You didn't think I was NOT going to take a picture of a VW Beetle model, did you? When I see anything Volkswagen, and I have my camera, dammit, I'm going to photograph it!

Oh yeah, nice Pontiac Grand Prix diecast model.

The townscape here is exquisitely detailed. Note not just the townspeople but the miniature bicycle displayed in the miniature bicycle shop.

And here's a Volkswagen Golf diecast model! As it's a Mark 1, and as this is supposed to be an American town, that would make it a Rabbit. :-)

Here's the tree again, with the flash, a little farther back. Note the model train set at the right.

I was in Laurinburg, NC for a work related event. After the event, since my wife had to work, I continued on to Hamlet to visit the depot and museums. Seaboard 3015 engine model in the basement of the depot building museum.

Te Garden State Railway Club showed a little whimsy by placing Thomas the Tank Engine alongside a Union Pacific train.

This set of model train pictures comes from inside the display window at what was formerly the Palace Theater (and is now the Palace Barber) at the Town Square in Murfreesboro, TN.

A coal train passes another factory, with a Pennsylvania Railroad-owned tractor-trailer in the immediate background

And the train, it won't stop going, no way to slow down!

As this train rushes by the fictional New Jersey town, one noted the Horseless Carriage tractor trailer on the road. The Horseless Carriage company is real business; it's a Paterson-based firm that ships cars across the country.

Its Web site describes the company as "a fully insured enclosed auto transport company specializing in nationwide car shipping and door to door auto transport."

I was in Laurinburg, NC for a work related event. After the event, since my wife had to work, I continued on to Hamlet to visit the depot and museums. Model train display in the basement of the depot building museum.

This picture captures a Conrail freight train, a commuter train, and, in the back, what I believe is an Amtrak Superliner.

The station is labelled "Middletown." Middletown, New Jersey? Is this an accurate depiction? I don't know, I've never been there. :-D But Amtrak certainly doesn't go there.

Usually I put the Christmas model train around the tree, but it was too difficult this year, so I just put it in the middle of the living room floor. I moved a Santa Claus from the mantle and posed it here specifically for this picture.

I took another picture of a train rounding the brewery in the display. It's umm, very blurry.

I took videos of some of the action with my camera, which are being featured on my YouTube channel.

That's all of my still pictures of the Garden State Railway Club display, I hoe they have another open house soon; I understand they will be adding to the layout. :-)

I was in Laurinburg, NC for a work related event. After the event, since my wife had to work, I continued on to Hamlet to visit the depot and museums. Blur of a model train in motion in the basement of the depot building museum in Hamlet.

I was in Laurinburg, NC for a work related event. After the event, since my wife had to work, I continued on to Hamlet to visit the depot and museums. The Hamlet Depot building in model form. The model train display is in the basement of the Amtrak Depot building museum.

The tableau of the Garden State Railway Club's model train display is as realistic - and as gritty as possible. here's an urban industrial railyard with freight trains sitting still while another passes through.

Factories (with cotton smoke!), houses, and a farm make up this fictionalized small town in the Garden State Railway Club's train display. Pretty cool how they strung wires on the utility poles; I tried to do that on a model train I had, and I couldn't get it right.

Factories are a common sight in the Garden State Railway Club's display. Here is a brewery.

Here's a closer look at one of the miniature towns on this model railroad display. It's very typical of working-class towns in New Jersey.

I still can't get over how they stringed the wires on the utility poles.

A Wabash locomotive passes the Erie Lackawanna boxcar while pulling a passenger car.

Here's a dramatic scene of a trestle overpass bridge with a passenger train in the background. I tried to photograph these scenes to make them look like pictures of real places. :-)

Here's one of the members of the Garden State Railway Club controlling the action from behind a model railyard.

Note the appearance of the old World Trade Center towers in the painted background. The Garden State Railway Club has never bothered to replace it with the new single-tower World Trade Center.

I was in Laurinburg, NC for a work related event. After the event, since my wife had to work, I continued on to Hamlet to visit the depot and museums. Miniature town on the model railroad display at the Hamlet depot museum building.

This is a re-creation of an old railway yard in Norristown, Pennsylvania, just northwest of Philadelphia.

This is a model of the old Central New Jersey Railroad terminal in Jersey City, New Jersey, now a museum. The old CNJ railyards, re-created here, were reclaimed and turned into Liberty State Park, named for its proximity to the Statue of Liberty.

Virginia Museum of Transportation - Roanoke, VA

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Numerous freight trains pass through this section of the model train display.

Two freight trains and one passenger train pass through this scenic mountain tableau.

I was in Laurinburg, NC for a work related event. After the event, since my wife had to work, I continued on to Hamlet to visit the depot and museums. Model train display in the basement of the Hamlet depot museum building.

I was in Laurinburg, NC for a work related event. After the event, since my wife had to work, I continued on to Hamlet to visit the depot and museums. Railroad turntable in the model train display at the depot building museum. The model turntable was continuously spinning during my visit.