through a lucky accident, I put the wrong address in my gps and arrived at the Methodist Church on Farnsworth instead of the Episcopal Church on Prince Street. That gave me a visit with a LARGE scale train layout, very cheerful and full of holiday charm. The houses lit up and the train or the houses (I'm not sure which) played music box-like Christmas carols. There were quite a few people there, the women in the church kitchen setting up various foods which I would have loved to taste, but I was on a mission and didn't have time to linger.
As soon as I got straightened out on where the 'n' gauge train layou was, I got back in the car to drove to the Ep[iscopal church, Christ's Church, on Prince Street. At both church's perhaps a little more signage might have been helpful. I was wandering around both churches with other lost people trying to find the door to the displays amidst the many locked church doors.
It was worth the search, however, because the 'n' gauge display was IMPRESSIVE. The villages looked so real and the track layout was extensive, it filled half the church hall. Several sets of tracks were laid out and the engineers were busy setting their trains onto the tracks. I stayed long enough to see a few sets in motion which I must admit, gave my heart a little thrill! I spoke to one polite young man who told me he had been working on his trains since he was three years old! I convided that was getting my first 'n' gauge set for my birthday in a day or two. He wished me good luck.
The group presenting at Christ's Church were the New Jersey Southern, Inc. P.O.Box 41, Collingswood, NJ 08108
njsntrak@gmail.com
Whose members are: "dedicated to furthering the hobby of N-Scale model railroading through educational activities, community involvement and public displays. " They use "N-TRAK international standards of moduclar N scale model railroading."
Needless to say, my idea set-up won't be approved by most model railroad fans, as the houses I plan to use are German wooden village pieces I bought in Heilbronn, Germany in 1970 while I was married to a serviceman stationed there. Actually, I'm not sure if I bought them in the town where I lived or at the Nuremburg Christmas Fair, but anyhow, they are the houses, animals, soldiers and fences I plan to put on my train lay-out. They are, at least, tiny, and probably nearly the perfect scale.
I'm picking up my platform today at 3:00. This is Tuesday, November 12th and tomorrow is my birthday, so I hope to have the morning tomorrow to start the layout and the whole month to add to it. I'd like to paint the alps on a backboard. It will be a simple lay-out, of course.
I haven't given up on my list of things to do and places to go and will resume in a couple of blogs from now.
Meanwhile, I started with small towns, so let me just put a list starting with1. Burlington City, which is delightful to walk around and has an extensive antiques emporium, 2.Bordentown, (charming old book store), 3.Mullical Hill, my favorite Murphy's book Barn and an antique Mill also very extensive, 4.Collingswood for many parks lovely to walk in - Knight's Park and the Knight Collings House, Newton Creek and Cooper River, plus you can drive straight down Haddon ave, cross ounder 130 and go to the Camden County Historical Society behind the hospital. 5.Woodstown has a candle-light tour night and a couple small and charming restaurants and a Quaker Meeting house. 6.Chatsworth has Buzby's store which is still in operation thought up for sale, so hurry over for Christmas Shopping. 7.Greenwich is worth the long drive (an hour from me) and has a beautiful street of 18th century houses, a great historical society, a museum, and friendly people. 8.Woodbury has the museum and the historical Society Library right behind it. They also have a free brochure for a self-guided walking tour which I have done with friends. 9.Remember Millville and the Wildflower's vegetarian restaurant, the Arts District, the many hiking trails and river walk, 10.Haddonfield has a great coffee shop - Jersy Java, the historic Indian King Tavern, and a delightful main street to stroll and a quaint store that features products from the United Kingdom, always a good spot for Christmas shopping! That's all for now folks!
Happy Rails and Trails!
Jo Ann
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