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Monday, January 2, 2012

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.



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