Trainfest is the largest model railroad show in the country, and it just happens to be held here in Milwaukee, 1 block from my house. So camera in hand, I headed over to meet my uncle, cousins and a few other people for a day of trains and flashbacks. I haven’t been to this show in at least 10 years and it didn’t disappoint.
I’ve had an interest in model trains since I was a kid. I can remember being really young and playing with an old HO layout my uncle had setup in grandma’s basement. Which I then altered a few times over the years myself, but due to the space needed I never continued in the hobby. The technology has come so far from what I remember as a kid, and even more since the last time I was at this show. With the introduction of much smaller scales needing less room, maybe someday I’ll get back into it with an N scale set.
For me the trains are just one part, the modeling that is done for these layouts are in my opinion where things really shine. The level of work and detail that go into modeling and painting a whole town is amazing. Likewise the work that goes into painting, flocking, and detailing the landscapes is no less impressive. There was a huge hand built bridge that I overheard a guy explaining he cut, glued, assembled and painted over 5100 pieces of wood himself. That’s dedication. There was even a complete working layout made completely of LEGO sets, including the trains and tracks.
The modeling is mostly what I dedicated most of my pictures to this time around. 80% of shots were taken with my manual focus 50mm 1.7 Minolta Rokkor, the rest were taken with the standard kit lens 18-55mm. Some of the focus and depth of field are off, but I was trying to get pictures in between a ton of other people and kids around the layouts. Enough rambling, on to the Gallery.
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