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Vermont Rails Train Show, St. Albans, VT, 03/14/2015

Vermont Rails Train Show, St. Albans, VT, 03/14/2015 published on 2 Comments on Vermont Rails Train Show, St. Albans, VT, 03/14/2015

Last weekend Janna and I headed to the new location of the Vermont Rails Train Show: the Collins Perley Athletic Center in St. Albans, VT. Held on the skating rink of the facility, the train show benefits from its new location, which boasts some natural light, a smoother surface to walk on, wider aisles between tables and, very importantly, a shorter distance between accessible parking and the front door. [Now if only the front door had accessible buttons to open it.]

To my disappointment, I did not meet Barb Pitfido, the goddess of Lego layouts. We did, however, see the greatest development ever in the history of toy trains: a scratch-built working locomotive and rolling stock in 1:6 scale! Yes! Trains in the right size for my dolls!

The lovely model, of Canadian origin, came down from Maine for the show. Owner Jeremy Gay runs his ES44DC and rolling stock on the Washington County Railroad. Located in Cherryfield, Maine, WCRR is a privately owned model railroad with a track gauge of 7.5″. Essentially, the trains are roughly 1:6 scale.

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Here’s the main text on the poster: About the Locomotive Model: ES44DC Built in: Quebec City Canada Date: 2009 built by Reynald Proulx Took him 9 months to build in his basement from scratch. Power: 24 volts [12 volt batteries in the fuel tank] based from a wheel chair system Weight: 730 pounds Scale: 1:6 Gauge: 7.25″ or 7.50″
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Front view of the engine.
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And the other side of the engine…
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A kid sits in the driver’s seat on the first car.
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Three pieces of rolling stock behind the engine.
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A shot of some of the detailing. All labels are in scale and perfectly legible, but my focus didn’t want to shoot that close up. :p
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Of course, for doll nerds like me to get a true idea of the scale here, we need a doll in the picture! I’d estimate this figure at ~11″ high. Note even smaller scale version of the same train resting on the catwalk to the far left.
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Climbing up the stairs.
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Be sure to hold onto the railing.
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Hanging out at the rear of the engine amongst all the beautiful details.
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Little 1:6 scale staircase!
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Hmmm, what’s wrong with this picture???
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How are you going to drive the train when the joystick is bigger than you are?!

In talking to Jeremy, I discovered two pieces of information: 1) He and his train are returning for next year’s show. 2) He doesn’t mind if I bring figures next year and hang them all over the train. Watch for more cool pictures in 12 months!

2 Comments

That’s a Mego Mr Kotter (from “Welcome Back Kotter”) figure, so he’s 8″ tall…definitely undersized for that locomotive–r’member, my Dad worked for B&O/CSX, plus we lived close to a train track, so I grew up around ’em, too =)

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