World Class HiRail Layouts, Part One

In the mid-1990s, toy train companies began making highly detailed and realistic engines for hi-rail O gauge railroading, spurring manufacturers of layouts to create similarly accurate landscape pieces—including cityscapes, countrysides, and everything in between. This program spotlights three of the largest and most elaborate set-ups found in the U.S—the New Jersey Hi-Railers' layout, which has a footprint of 185 x 45 feet running 38 trains; the 3,000-square-foot masterpiece by the Train Masters of Babylon, NY, featuring a 10-foot-long trestle bridge; and the Nassau Lionel Operating Engineers' design, which boasts 28 scale miles of hi-rail track. Each rivals the next in terms of realism, detail, and sheer coolness, attracting legions of fans and hobbyists, who come to watch the intricate systems in operation. Created by close-knit communities (clubs have membership rules, and participants vote on proposed changes and additions), the work on these layouts is ideally never completely finished, which is fine by the builders: for them, the experience of recreating the detailed elements of train travel in small scale is all about the journey. Recommended. Aud: P. (C. Block)