Rosenberg RailFest Reprise

From there I wandered into the museum proper, and it’s changed a little, but not that much… lots of artifacts and pictures, a model of a control suite from an engine of some flavor,

an exhibit with artifacts from the Pullman Porters guild (and a discussion of the history of those gentlemen and why they were important), and another exhibit of stuff from the old hobo jungle. Around the corner are a ticket salesman’s window, an old baggage wagon, a switchboard, and a case of stationmaster’s gear.

I completed the circuit and found a bunch of books from the in-house library being offered for sale, but the last thing I need is another hobby, or another huge stack of heavy books, so I passed.

About that point I noticed that the guys in the model club, the Houston G-Gaugers, were running their trains through the garden, so I had to go check that out. They’ve got three or four loops set up, with switches to run the trains between them. They’re still working on the layout; according to a poster the idea is that when the model layout is finished it’ll be a scale copy of the town of Rosenberg during the glory days. Should be very impressive.

That concrete grid there in the middle with the scattered buildings is the construction site for Rosenberg proper… this is no small task they’ve set themselves.

The setup is kind of neat in another respect, too – they’ve set up lockboxes running the length of the main building to house the trains, so they don’t have to disassemble and reassemble the trains every time. The tracks in the lockboxes are wired into the main controls, and there’s a drawbridge they can drop to move trains in and out of storage. It’s about as cool as it sounds and seems to be a big hit with the younger enthusiasts, too.

So I chased the trains and the trains chased me and a fine time was had, but then the clock ran out and the rain came back and it was time to leave.

But there are good shots of the models to be had yet, with better weather and better light, and I want to keep track of the development of the town if I can… plus Model Trains.

I’m a guy. I’ll be back.

Gonna go find something else now, though.