ROBINS AIR FORCE BASE, Ga. — People from the Middle Georgia Model Railroad Club put in hours of hard work to get ready for the Planes and Trains exhibit in the Century of Flight Hangar at the Museum of Aviation.
“We started at 8:00, hoping by about 2 or 3, we can be running trains,” Arthur Curtis, member of the MGMRC said.
The long hours and meticulous work creates extravagant displays that will stretch along four miles worth of track.
James Blackburn has been participating in the Planes and Trains event for about four years now.
His circus-themed setup features about 1,500 figurines, every single one glued by hand.
Every figure has a different story.
“I got a pickpocket here, the police are watching him,” Blackburn described, pointing to one of his figures.
“Here’s an orange grove, the giraffe got lost in there and is eating the oranges,” Blackburn said pointing to one of his many giraffes on his display.
But they’re not the only one with stories. Their conductors’ tracks take you back to their childhood.
“When I was a child, we had a train around the tree,” Paul Hutcheson Corporate Secretary of the Middle Georgia Model Railroad Club said.
“I grew up between Ashland and Richmond and the trains would switch in that area,” Curtis.
Now, it’s full steam ahead as the crew prepares for a huge crowd.
“We’re hoping to get 7,000 people — we had 7,000 last year and we are hoping to do better this year,” Hutcheson said.
The exhibit kicks off Saturday, November 23rd at 9 a.m.
Planes and Trains will be open to the public every day except Thanksgiving through December 1st from 9 a.m. to 5 p.m.
The event is free to the public.
