Ashe County Museum

Visited the Museum of Ashe County (NC) last week to see their HO layout -- turns out the railroad is only a loop with one passing siding and one dead-end siding.  The scenery is OUTstanding!

http://ashehistory.org/index.php/gallery-item/virginia-creeper-train/

The layout is about 30 feet long with about four different eras and four local communities modeled.  The work was done by several local townspeople and the number of scenes is amazing.  Besides that, each modeler has positioned him- or herself in a scene somewhere!  A builder can be seen with a clipboard near a house under construction.  A law enforcement officer's patrol car (1949 Ford) has pulled a yellow convertible with a blonde driving (the other modelers asked if he gets her phone number and he says, "No, and I only gave her a warning").  An artist that has done a mural downtown of the Virginia Creeper can be seen with his easel set up to paint that very same mural picture.

The officer has pulled her over!

Downtown in the 1950's.

The Virginia Creeper arrives but rumor is they coasted through town to keep from getting soot on the fresh laundry -- note that "Mom" is waving as the train approaches around the bend.

I suppose this might be the junkyard that the "Greaser" on the Blacktop Crossing uses for his parts cars!

Obviously, the time of the year is Fall in the NC mountains.  No puffball trees here; every one of them has a trunk!

This layout is worth viewing.  The rest of the museum is unique, as well.  The emphasis is what happened in Ashe county that is of note -- not just a collection of old "artifacts".