Model A Car Show in 1/87th Scale

Sometimes when you build a Model Railroad you end up building to a specific time period. In the case of the local model railroad club the time period was the Steam to Diesel transition period of the late 1940's to the mid 1950's (or so).

This means that all the items on the layout are intended to represent that time period or before. This is especially true of items most people are familiar with such as automobiles.

As is often the case, time marches on and the time period of a layout changes with the addition of new members, new model trains and new methods of transporting goods. At some point it just looks 'Wrong" to have modern diesel engines pulling container trains driving past roads that are populated with cars from the 1920's thru the 1950's.

It is easy enough to add newer model vehicles to the layout to correct the time period, but what do you do with the older cars that are way out of date for daily drivers for our 1/87th scale citizens? Why you put them in the hands of collectors and they sponsor car shows all over the layout...

The Model A club is an active group and meet in the parking lot of the Augusta railroad station

Not everyone is at the car shows - some are celebrating a wedding!

Star Wars Tech in 1/87th Scale

One of the nice things about model railroading is you are creating a small fantasy world in which imagination can run amok.

The Augusta Model Railroad Club models south central Kansas in the present time period.

We imagined what it would be like if Exploration Place Science Museum sponsored an exhibit in which the Technology of Star Wars Machines was explained and demonstrated.

One such example would be the 'Chicken Walker' two legged fighting machine used by the Empire. This is more formerly called the AT-ST which stands for All Terrain Scout Transport.

These exist primarily in digital form only, at least for the movies, but it seems Star Wars fans have constructed full size non working examples. Do a YouTube search if you want to see examples.

For our small scale fantasy world however they exist in real life and are able to be brought in to Wichita on railroad flat cars and assembled. Afterwards they will walk down the streets to go on Display at Exploration Place. The management of all of this is handled by the fictitious 'Kraft Movie Prop' company.

Exploration Place has done a great job of marketing the event with a large media presence including considerable billboard advertising.

Augusta Model RR Club Museum display

Augusta Kansas was the location where two rail lines crossed decades ago. The restoration of the train station gave an opportunity for the Augusta Model Railroad Club to construct a model of the rail roads to show the history of the area.

Much research went into the history and appearance of the two railroads in that time period. Club members constructed a display of the crossing and made it historically correct. This was then donated to the City of Augusta for their railroad station museum.

The display case was created from wood salvaged from the restoration of the train station. This added a bit of historical significance.