Wichita Toy Train Club and Museum

This was a fun place to visit. It's not the largest of museums or the most all-encompassing, but it it's interesting and fun. I'm surprised there are no other reviews for this place. For the most part, it is on one level. There is a small playroom for tots upstairs and a small layout. Downstairs is where it's all happening. The first room we were taken to housed a layout that was bequeathed to the club. This was my favorite. The HO scale layout fills the room and has a great track design. It's the details of this that are mind boggling. The there is the Old West and everything about the layout adds to that. The steam locomotives are period pieces as are the rolling stock. Beautiful pieces. The buildings are all period and are weathered for realism. The people and vehicles are also in line with the theme. There are small touches, like a bird sitting on a telegraph wire. There is a lumber yard and the layout builder whittled tiny split logs -- hundreds of them -- just like real cut wood with bark on one side and the bared wood inside. It's said that he did this task while watching TV. I could have stayed in that room all day looking at different aspects of the layout. I have always wanted one with this theme and this is what I'd always envisioned it looking like. Absolutely gorgeous. In the main room, there are several layouts, some relatively simple and some more intricate. One side of the room has the skeleton framework for a new layout started and I look forward to seeing the progress next visit. There is a small layout with transformers for kids to actually run some trains. Nice touch. The walls are lined with cases filled with trains and train related items donated to the museum. Walking through them brings back memories of the Lionel O gauge trains of my youth. Off in another room is a layout with a Swiss theme. Oh my! The track design is interesting but the layout scenery, etc., is amazing. There are many moving pieces, like a Ferris wheel, cable cars strung between the mountains, and so much more. The headlights and taillights of the cars on the street scenes actually light. That must have been a wiring nightmare. Dim the lights and the night scene comes alive. I've rambled long enough. If you're in the area when it's open, do visit. Sadly, it's only open on the second and fourth weekends of the month, 10am-5pm Saturday, 1pm-5pm Sunday. And one last thing, the people working there couldn't be nicer. They answer questions, point out interesting things, and just seem to love what they're doing. I'll definitely be back.