Trains big and small

My dad forwarded me an email this morning about an enormous model train layout being put together in Hamburg, Germany. The photos in the email were gorgeous; the website is more commercial but shows some nifty stuff. I suggested it would be a great location for a family trip in a few years when they will theoretically have finished it. It's their turn to take me, since a couple of years ago I took them to Northlandz in Flemington, New Jersey, which used to be the largest model train layout. Northlandz is a little bit heartbreaking, because the people who own it are getting too old to keep up with it, and it's deteriorating faster than it can get fixed.

I know that an interest in model trains is uncommon in my generation, and rare in a female of any generation. It was one of the things I learned to like when I was little, so I had a reason to spend more time with my daddy. My hairdresser had much the same experience. She's taken her dad to Northlandz too.

I love trains of all sizes. Even the commuter rail and Amtrak trains make me smile. I really love the old trains, though. I've ridden narrow-gauge railroads in Colorado and Alaska. The New Hope & Ivyland Railroad has dinner and brunch excursions leaving from New Hope. I'd love to do that, but it's a bit expensive to talk other people into when it's not their passion. I'd also love to visit Steamtown in Scranton.

As much as I love the steam engines, you would think it would be easy for me to find an interest in steampunk. I really don't know why I can't seem to connect with it.