Big Boys' Toys

Sunday, we joined Ron and Barbara for a delicious breakfast at Crackers.  It was so good, we didn't need anything to eat till dinner. Next we drove to check out the Adobe Mountain Desert Railroad Park.  None of us could believe we had never heard of this place before.



These are not what I think of when the term "toy trains" is used, but there are lots of grown-up men and women enjoying these trains.









Members of the club have built 18 miles of track on their land in northwest Phoenix. Trains travel on six different routes. There are free rides on Sundays. Here is a map of the tracks.



A yard tower shows where each train is traveling and where the switches are.



Look at all this wiring to keep everything going.



Members of the club (who pay $100 to join and $25 a year--I think) have access to the park every day of the week. They can get their own trains out and run them on the tracks. We were fascinated by how the trains were stored and moved around. Rail containers are used as storage places. I guess each train owner gets a container. (Click on the photos to enlarge them.)









These are another form of storage.



The trains are moved about on a sort of elevator.






















There is a hand-driven turntable.



We saw two different types of railroad crossing signs--the traditional



and non-traditional.



There was even a hand-powered "speeder," the type of vehicle maintenance workers sometimes use on full-sized railroad tracks. This one has been resized to fit the Adobe RR tracks.



Here is Barbara taking a picture of me taking a picture of her as we rode the train.



Like I said, these are toys for big boys. Wives must like the activity, too, maybe in a different way.



There is a humongous, absolutely huge water park near the railroad. It probably opens about the time of year the Sunday train rides close down for the summer.