Osoyoos Desert Model Railroad

[pH]

I recently visited this model railway in Osoyoos, BC. http://www.osoyoosrailroad.com/ . I’d seen it on TV some time ago, but had forgotten about it until I saw the building while driving through Osoyoos.

 

It’s not the size of something like “Miniatur Wunderland” in Hamburg, but of the same kind – proprietary items put together very well. The engines and rolling stock are Marklin, and are of European prototypes (with a very few exceptions – see below). If you look hard enough, you can find most of the ‘cliches’ you associate with this type of layout. Having said that, I think it’s an excellent example of its kind – very well built, and intended to keep both adults and kids happy. I particularly liked the way they’d modelled shallow, still water like ponds.

 

It has been built by a couple, with help from their grown-up children and a programmer for the computer control system. Parts of it have been moved from Denmark to Spain to Canada, as the family moved.

 

As I approached the building, a couple were leaving and, having paid, I had the whole layout room to myself, apart from the owner at the control desk. He was quite happy to chat about the layout. He wasn’t too worried about how few people were stopping in at this time of year – their (very) busy time is during the school holidays with families on vacation.  

 

Some pictures:

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

And a few North American prototypes hiding away in a shed: