Little Slices of America

(Look carefully at the swimming pool of this lovely country estate. The police have arrived to investigate.)

In Balboa Park, San Diego, there are about a dozen museums. I mentioned in a previous post that my favorite was the Mingei. Rick's was the Model Railroad Museum. They have at least five huge, complete assemblages of different gaged (sized) model trains, including a massive Lego city with a train running around it. While Rick was expressing enthusiasm about the trains, I have to admit I was getting a little bored, until I noticed the remarkably detailed scenes of 20th century America through which the tracks and the trains of one particular set ran. Here are a few of my favorite scenes. They let you visit a time when trains were central to small town America, and give you a bird's eye view of it all.  These are slices of American life I have really seen, (well maybe not the shark in the swimming pool) but for future generations they will be history.

I hope you can zoom in to see the details.

A junkyard complete with dog

Repairing a church steeple

A tiny African American church wedding

Small farming community with grain elevators, farm stand, truck garden and a bus stop.

I wish I had noticed the name of the creator(s) of this whole layout.  He, she or they were tremendously skilled, creative and had a great sense of humor too.  I'm so grateful that while these places are disappearing from the American countryside, they will be preserved here.