Day Fifty-One- 2/20/11 Visit the Great American Model Railway-Northlandz!

Day Fifty-One: 2/20/11
New Thing: Visit the Great American Model Railway- Northlandz!      
Inspiration: The Dr. Seuss 51&1/2 Travel Cards 
Cost: $37.25 (for a family of three)   
Time: About 4 hours with travel  
Bottom Line: This place was amazing--even if it ended poorly.

"Look Honey, over eight miles of track!"

Reflection: Lately, we have been going through a bit of a rough patch as a family. I have had a few pieces of professional setbacks as well as burning the candle at both ends, Ken has had a hard time finding a job, and Delia has been sick. On top of all that, I am also feeling something coming on (although I refuse to acknowledge that). So, thanks to Mo. Laura, we decided that the best thing for the family would be to lay low this morning and stay home from church. We all work up feeling a little better but very cabin-fever-ish. Thus, we decided that in the afternoon, we would venture over to Flemington, New Jersey to the Guinness World Record setting Northlandz Model Railway gallery.

I first heard about this amazing place through a little pack of travel cards we have called, "The Dr. Seuss 51&1/2 'Oh, the Wondrous Places You'll Go' Adventure Cards. These cards are filled with 52 of the most amazing places in the universe that people could visit. To give you an idea of how impressive Northlandz truly is, the list also includes such places as Machu Picchu, Galapagos Island, Antarctica, and Mars. That's right, this place is on par with visiting Mars. I was thrilled to see this card and to learn that it was only about an hour from our house. That is much better then trying to get to Mars. Here are some statistics from it's card.

Scale of model to real railway equipment: 1:87

  Length of track if scaled to life-size: over 700 miles

With eight miles of track, more than 300 bridges (some up to 40 feet long), and as many as 100 trains running daily between small towns, around mountains, through a desert, and even past the site of a small plane crash, this model railway has been dazzling visitors since it opened to the public year round in 1996. Step into the Northlandz Music Hall to hear the pipe organ [which were did], played several times a day [by the guy who actually built the place]. 

This impressive instrument has 2,00 pipes arranged in 37 ranks and 5 keyboards.

It is even more amazing to see in real life. Delia loved looking at all of the little towns and people and was always excited to see a train come out of a tunnel. The doll house was really impressive as well. At the end of the tour, we took a little train ride around the property. 

However, when we were about 60% of the way through the gallery, Delia announced that she needed to go to the bathroom. When we got there, she got sick, and we felt like awful parents for not realizing that she wasn't over her illness. So, we all went straight home and she took a long nap. If I am bring totally honest, I was also going down hill and felt glad to be home where we should have been all along. She is now back to her old self, and seems no worse for the wear. I highly recommend going, but not if you are sick.

On the Train