Pardon Me Boy, Is That The Chattanooga Choo Choo?
On my trip back East I was lucky enough to visit the Chattanooga Choo Choo Hotel and Conference Center. While there I got to visit the Chattanooga Southern Railway which happens to be the South’s largest model railroad display. This display was first build in 1973 as a joint venture between the Chattanooga Area Model Railroad Club and the Chattanooga Choo Choo Hotel and Conference Center.
The model railraod is buildt in HO scale , which is 1:87 scale; or in other words, if you took 87 model boxcars and hooked them together, the total length would be the same length as a real boxcar.
The model railraod is 174 feet long and 33 feet at its widest point. It has over 3000 feet of track with up to eight trains running constantly on separate loops. It has over 500 buildings, 300 automobiles and trucks, and at least 2000 figures modeled. To make the layout come alive, there are thousands of lights and dozens of animated features. To keep the trains running, the club has to maintain over 150 locomotives and over 1000 freight and passenger cars. This layout is billed as one of the largest and most complete model railroad displays in the world.
It is one heck of a layout, and I was able to get some nice pictures. I will try to put of few up here and also get a few up on Flickr. If you travel to the area I highly recommend stopping by to take a look, you won’t be disappointed.
