As you may (or may not) know, the Choo Choo Barn is closed each year from January-March. Many people have asked what goes on behind the scenes during this time, as we clean and refurbish the 1,700 square foot display. So, on these pages, we'll show you what we're doing!

You can click on any of the small photographs to see "full size" images of what we're doing (just use your browser's "back" button to return to this page when you've looked).

You can also see what we've done in other years, if you're really curious! Pick your month and year below, or continue down the page to see what's currently going on.

- - Select a date - -      - - - - - - - - - - - - - -  January 2000 February 2000 March 2000 January 2001 March 2001 January 2003 February 2003 March 2003 January 2004 January 2006 February 2006 March 2006 January 2007 February 2007 - Part 1 February 2007 - Part 2 Final Page 2007

Tom decided to do a little more work on the man mowing animation. Here's what the unit looks like after he cut the slot in the plywood and removed the center section. Tom used a roto-tool with a wood cutting bit and made the cut free-hand. There wasn't enough room on the board to make the guides like he did on the Dutch Wonderland animation. The roto-tool makes a rougher cut so Tom will have to spend a little more time on cleaning up the edges of the plywood.
LEFT: The metal bar with the sprockets and bolts is the chain tensioner. Rather than having one sprocket do all the work, Tom decided to try making four sprockets share the load. This way, each sprocket will take up a little of the chain slack instead of one sprocket taking up a lot. The "finger" shaped board is the piece that was cut out of the top. RIGHT: This is another shot of the man mowing animation parts from a little different angle. More on this movement later!
Tom's been really putting a lot of time into this 12" X 18" little vignette. It's going to be used in marketing the Choo Choo Barn display. These are the figures and details that Tom dug out of his box of goodies to make the scene come alive. Some of the pieces won't be used and most will have to be repainted.
That's 1/4" graph paper behind that little airplane! Tom needed to make a couple airplanes for the man flying an airplane animation for on the marketing piece. WOW! Looks like some tedious work. Tom said the plane is made of bass wood and he used a Dremel tool with a sanding drum to do most of the work. The finishing touches were done using an emory board (yes, the kind used on finger nails). The lettering is dry-transfer and the stars and flag are decals. It was first given two coats of sanding sealer and three coats of fast drying enamel. The finished product also sports a propeller (actually a circle of clear acetate made with a paper punch). NC7911 are the last four didgits of the Choo Choo Barn phone number.
This plane was made the same way as the yellow one...just a different style of plane. You can's see it in the photo, but the wing is actually curved! I'll try to get a picture of it before it leaves here. The lettering is dry-transfer and the painting was done the same way as the yelloe plane. You can see the plane is ONLY 1 3/8" long!
Well, here it is! All done and ready for shipping. It's going to California, so Tom's going to have to pack it super good for the trip. We all hope it makes it in one piece. Tom said that all the figures and details are actually pinned and glued. He said he drilled a small home up the leg of each figure and super glued a brass rod in the hole. Then he drilled an adjacent hole in the base and glued the figure on. He said he could trust just gluing the figure on the landscaping, especially since it's making such a long journey.
Check between the trees - that's a couple in a romantic embrace! Tom used a lot of different figures on this display, just like he does on the Choo Choo Barn display. Here you'll find figures by Arttista, Model Poer, MTH and Scenic Express. The man with the airplane is a figure that Tom made a number of years ago, made of mold of and can make them out of a lead alloy.
Here we have the underside of the little display. The playground animation uses one motor while the airplane animation uses a seperate motor. The little transformer is used to light two Model Power street lights. Tom dates and signs everything he makes, no matter what or who it's for.

Eric decided to replace some track and a switch that's started to show a lot of wear. Every place there's a joint in the track, especially if it's a cut used for train control, the rails tend to take a real beating. After several hundred thousand or even million times a train runs over these spots, the railhead actually starts to wear down and get a dip in the track. Of course, whenever there's a bad spot, it only gets worse the more times the train rolls over it. It seems hard to fathom that a model train that only weighs a couple pounds can beat stainless steel track like it does. Regular hobbyists don't ever have to worry with this problem because they don't run their trains like we do. Anyway, this is the section of track that is in front of the Zoo and the fish pond when you first come in to the display.
Eric took the roof off the freight station to make the project easier. When Tom built the station, he made it so the roof would come off so he could change the light bulbs in the second floor bathroom a little easier. Now you get to see the bathroom from above. I'm sure you've probably missed this little "secret" room since it's actually hidden away from most people's view. You have to get down and look in the window that is under the roof. The only people that usually see this are the kids that are normally looking at the display at that level, looking through the plexiglass. Check it out the next time you're in!
LEFT: These are Eric's hands using a Dremel tool to cut away the plaster road that goes right up to the edge of the railhead. If he didn't do this, the road would pretty much be destroyed when he takes the track up. That's Earl holding the vacuum to suck the plaster dust up. Just think how much fine plaster dust would be all over the place if they didn't do this. That's not a flaw in the picture! That white "cloud" that's arcing from the cut-off wheel to the vacuum nozzle is actually plaster dust. RIGHT: Here's a close up of the shot on the left. It's really cool looking in person!!
Every year, the creek beds and the fish tanks are cleaned out and checked for cracks and possible leaks. Here's the first fish tank that's beside the Zoo. It was rebuilt a couple years ago (last year maybe? Time tends to fly by!) and the inside of the tank was painted to simulate a beautiful blue pond. We're looking into new methods of getting rid of algae and keeping the water clear. We stopped using our well a couple years ago and went to public water and we've had problems with our water on the layout ever since. We're looking into filtration systems and UV filtering. Hope something works!
Eric wanted to check out our other switches. Here's one that's normally hidden from view, under landscaping. That's one of only a very few places where we can access the "insides" from above. Everything else is only accessible from underneath the display.
Tom's planning on animating the water tank that's usually sitting here in the parking lot of the Strasburg Rail Road. Let's hope he can get it done. He said the train will stop at the tank and the filler nozzle will drop down to the tender when the engine is going through it's switching routine. Check out that parking lot light. Looks like someone's big foot was someplace it shouldn't have been. That'll get fixed or replaced before we open.
Ever wonder what happens to the trains that were running all year when we do our annual cleaning? Well, they are taken off the track, one train at a time, cleaned, oiled, repaired and boxed . Here's a stack of boxes of trains that are ready to be put back on the layout the beginning of March. We always like to have the display close to finished at least one week prior to opening so everything can be test run and tweeked. That's when we'll check all the house lights and car lights to make sure they all work. We'll also make any adjustments to the animations that need done, especially lubricating. By this time, Tom will have all the broken stuff fixed and the new animations in the display and Eric will put the finishing touches on the landscaping. Of course, there's always something we've missed or that breaks down during that last week. I'm anxious to see what it is this year..
By the way, Tom finally finished vignette done that will be used in marketing the display. Now he can really dig into the other stuff. He said he wants to have the antique car ride animation at Dutch Wonderland finished by Feb. 12. We'll see how that works out!

Tom started work on the top of the antique car ride for Dutch Wonderland. The slot that he made for the brass rods is too big so he had to come up with a way to make it less noticeable. He decided to make the ride like an older style ride which had a wooden track for the cars to follow. Tom decided what width to make the track and then went to his bass wood "stash" to find scribed wood that will fill the bill. He settled on pieces that will simulate 6" boards which means the scribe lines are 1/8" apart. He began by cutting 3/4" strips of bass wood and then measured and cut the first pieces for the straight sections shown in the foreground.
All the corners had to be made after two straight sections of wood track were glued on first. Cardboard templates were made for each piece of inside and outside track and then transferred to the bass wood. The wood was then rough cut with a hobby knife (actually an X-Acto handle and #11 blade. Tom buys the 100 piece multi-pack of #11 blades.) and then the finishing was done with a Dremel tool with a drum sander on a right angle attachment. Tom loves his right angle attachment!

Here's a succession of photos while Tom works on the track:

LEFT: Tom had to sand the slot to allow the brass rod to travel without obstruction. Once again, he's using an Emory board to do the job! His tools are very diverse. RIGHT: He's finally done with that part. Here he's starting to patch all the holes and counter-sunk screws. He uses white Squadron putty because it's easy to use and dries quickly.
Tom decided to put strip wood on the outsides of the track. Here you can see the little brads that hold the bass wood strips while the glue dries. He had to soak some of the strip wood in water before attempting to bend it around the some of the shorter radii.

LEFT: Once the track is done, Tom used Kilz to prime the track. It doesn't matter at this point how much paint gets on the plywood - it will be covered later. RIGHT: Now comes some color. Tom used some old grey porch paint that was left over after he painted his in-laws' porch steps a couple years ago. Like I said before, he throws NOTHING away.
It's time to paint the plywood. Tom paints with brown Acrylic craft paint from A.C. Moore. It's cheap and easy to clean up. He paints the plywood brown so that when he covers everything with Woodland Scenics landscaping materials, whatever doesn't get perfectly covered will look like dirt. It looks a little more realistic this way.

LEFT: Now it's time to fasten a Du-Bro collar to the bottom of each car. Tom initially used J-B Weld epoxy to glue the collar but unfortunately the epoxy wouldn't adhere to the plastic. So Tom drilled a hole in the plastic in the bottom of each car, stuffed #00000 steel wool in all the cracks and crevices inside the whole and then filled the whole with Devcon 5 minute epoxy. After the epoxy cured, he filed the bottom of each car so it would be flat, drilled a 1/8" hole in the center of this Epoxy "plug" and then epoxied the Du-Bro collar again. This time it worked. RIGHT: Here you can see the cars waiting for the epoxy to cure. That's the Du-Bro collars in the right foreground.

It's detailing time! Tom built a "tent" to be used over the area that's going to serve as the place for the riders to get in line for the ride. He started by making a metal frame-work for the poles and then built a wood and cardstock top. He then covered to top with some red and white striped material that he's had in a plastic container in his "circus stash" that he's had at least 25 years. Tom always says, "You never know when you'll need something!" If you noticed what looks like a remote in a couple of the photos, you're right. Tom actually has a TV in front of him and usually has a movie playing while he works. He says he doesn't actually watch them, that they are just "background noise", but that sounds a little hard to believe. He did tell me he "watched" Braveheart 50 times a couple years ago. He said he had it on every night! And that was before he got a DVD player.

Here he's mixing his own landscaping glue. They use watered down carpenter's glue with a couple drops of dishwashing detergent in the mixture to make it "wetter". The detergent releases the surface tension from the liquid and allows it to soak into the landscaping material.
Some glue, some landscaping "greens" a few rocks and the scene starts to take on a life of its own:

The following photos (above and below) show the natural progression of landscaping the scene. Tom says he doesn't know what happened to the camera settings! By the way, we'd love to know if anyone out there is reading this! If so, PLEASE - send an email to kristi@choochoobarn.com!! If you include your name and address, we'll put your name in a drawing for a FREE Choo Choo Barn DVD! We'll pick the winner on opening day and notify you via email! Speaking of opening day - we did decide to open three weeks early on March 10, 2007! We hope to see you there!

While the hole was still in the display, Tom took the Space Shuttle ride out to refurbish it. It's time to start that project. The animation has to be dismantled first. Tom can't remember when he made this ride but thinks it was at least 25 years ago. This is the first time it's been taken off and totally re-built and repainted. A number of years ago, the drive mechanism needed some work done but Tom said it was done while on the display.

Let's see what's involved in dismantling and then rebuilding this cool ride. The base was repainted to simulate concrete and the tower was taken apart, cleaned and readied for re-assembly and painting.

The Choo Choo Barn And The Shops Of Traintown
Route 741 East, Box 130
Strasburg, PA 17579
(717) 687-7911
Fax: (717) 687-6529
Email: info@choochoobarn.com

Copyright ©2005, Choo Choo Barn, Inc. All rights reserved.