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Ahh this looked so fun! Thanks for taking us along!

The club NVNTRAK is a decent club, We love our passenger trains and freight 😂 if you even come to timonium train show (the next one is in october) be sure to swing by I plan to have some W.I.P MARC Equipment in N scale and some NS

It’s nice to have a new tunnel in DC. However, they nixed the Columbia Pike metro in favor of this. VA has been neglected in favor of MD for too long in terms of rail transit, instead getting terrible BRT’s that don’t get the job done. Columbia Pike badly needs new transit, and it could use the new tunnel as well.

you definitely want to head to the Amherst Railroad Hobby Show every January in Springfield, MA. they have 4 warehouse-sized buildings filled with club layouts, model train & railroad memorabilia dealers, and model train manufacturers who usually announce new products at the show. free shuttle available from Springfield Union Station as well.

Do you own any model trains, Thom?

Also the Lego Train you see at 5:03 is a rarity. It is the 1991 metorliner set. I thought it looks more like a premature Acela rather than metroliner train. I have a 1999 lego train called railway express that I bought in 2002. It was very expensive when my parents got it for me. Both are very hard to find. Railway Express reminds me of an transnational train that is seen across Europe. A feature of some lego trains is a destination board with European cities.

This event kind of reminds me of the Franklin Park Railroad Days that takes place every year on the second Saturday of June. I was in town and went to it earlier this month. I still try to get to it every year since I’ve been going for almost 10 years now.

I never been to a railway festival before. This would be the first one I get to see in action. Thanks

In Missouri, you can secretly record (as long as you’re in there), in Illinois, you can’t!!!

2:52 the one time I ridden the Mollylink (and saw fare inspectors), they said that wasn’t necessary for a day pass

Thom, oooooh, you know what have been even more wild on these trainsets, railroad electrification, either third rail or overhead catenary!!

Would you happen to know how to run a model railroad in general? I love trains of any kind.

"Achtung" lieber Thom :-) wieder ein gutes Video!

Some interesting Manassas history: In July 1861, the First Battle of Bull Run, also known as the Battle of First Manassas, was the first major land battle of the American Civil War. The Union Army was slow in positioning themselves, allowing Confederate reinforcements time to arrive by rail. Each side had about 18,000 poorly trained and poorly led troops. The battle was a Confederate victory and was followed by a disorganized post-battle retreat of the Union forces. The Second Battle of Bull Run (or the Battle of Second Manassas) was fought in August 1862. At that time, Manassas Junction was little more than a railroad crossing, but a strategic one, with rails leading to Richmond, DC, and the Shenandoah Valley. Despite these two Confederate victories, Manassas Junction was in Union hands for most of the war. Following the war, the crossroads grew into the town of Manassas, which was incorporated in 1873. In 1894, Manassas was designated the county seat of Prince William County. The first Manassas station was a small log building where the Orange and Alexandria Railroad and the Manassas Gap Railroad intersected. The present Manassas station was constructed in October 1914. In 1975, Manassas became an independent city, and was separated from Prince William County. The Manassas area almost got an American history-themed Disney park called Disney's America! A site was selected in Haymarket approximately five miles from Manassas National Battlefield Park. Disney found the area to be an attractive place to locate a park because it isn’t too far from DC, sites of historical significance, and other attractions like Kings Dominion. The project had initial support from various politicians and local officials, but it soon faced opposition from citizen's groups and historians who objected to Disney's planned portrayal of historical events, as well as the potential impact on nearby historic sites. It was cancelled in September 1994 following disappointing early results for Euro Disney (now Disneyland Paris), the death of Frank Wells (who was then Disney CEO Michael Eisner's partner in crime), rising costs, and the prospect of reduced profits with the park being closed for four months each year.

Fun little fact; the station in Manassas features prominently in the music video for Steve Winwood's "Back in the High Life Again", which even features a cameo from Amtrak's Crescent.

you did a great job and very accurate with your facts. Lots of TLC and upgrades are needed not only to the equipment but to the stations. I use MBTA and Amtrak frequently as well as the Silver Line, You had facts and was worth exploring Hope to see more

I like your videos Trains Are Awesome

Thank you for this fascinating video. I really like the VRE operation on their two routes out of D.C, and as you saw, the gallery cars are kept in excellent condition ! I was surprised you deceived to take the bus back to D.D, for the train options you mentioned did seem more appealing to me ! Looking for hearing about your bus ride !

Love the detail on that Lego layout, especially the DC Metro, the DASH bus, and the McDonald's! Yup, I was quite into Lego when I was a kid as much as you were! I have a pretty big Lego Architecture collection! Great Wall of China, Villa Savoye, Louvre, Space Needle, Trevi Fountain, Venice, Leaning Tower of Pisa, Sydney Opera House, UN Headquarters, John Hancock Center, Berlin, Lincoln Memorial, Burj Khalifa, Fallingwater, you name it! And as a kid, I loved getting the Batman and airport-themed Lego City sets. I had the 7893 passenger plane set, and you can actually see the piece for the front of the plane from that set used for the high-speed trains at 5:10! I also have the Emerald Night train still in its box! The train at 5:04 is the Metroliner, set 4558, and that set was originally released in 1991 before being re-released in 2001 as set 10001! They actually sold a set, set 4547, where you could add a double-decker club car to the train, re-released as set 10002! I volunteer for the seasonally-operated Railroad Museum of Long Island, and the Railroad Museum of Long Island has an incredible indoor layout! The museum's Riverhead location (it also has a Greenport location) has a restored 1949 Lionel showroom layout that was moved from their offices in Michigan! The layout was going to be discarded by Lionel, but several original RMLI members had some inside intel and started negotiating with Lionel to cart it to Long Island! It is a 60 x 14-foot multi-level layout! Originally, the layout was cut into 7 pieces, but 8 additional cuts (15 in total, weighing 150 pounds each) had to be made to fit it in the trailer for transport to Long Island. Originally there were 43 operating accessories, which has grown to 88 working accessories as of June 2024! And the museum has a huge collection, the Riverhead location alone has old electric M1 cars, old double-deckers, baggage cars, a caboose, and a piece of a turntable!! It also has a Alan Herschel Company 16-inch gauge train from the 1964-1965 NY World's Fair that anyone who visits can ride! After being used at the fair’s LIRR pavilion, it was used by the Grumman Aerospace Corp’s (which became Northrup Grumman) Calverton site for their annual family picnics, it was given to the Village of Patchogue after that site closed, and finally Patchogue gave it to the museum! The museum hosts an annual big railroad fest in August!

Living here its always been great for concerts or shows in SLC or Ogden. The stations right in Ogden's downtown where everything happens and SLC's stations so well connected and pretty close to the major concert venues as well. Especially because of Utah's especially punitive and harsh on drinking and DUI's it's great to have that option. Aside from that most my jobs haven't been quite close enough to transit lines. I did have one where I boarded downhill from the station to get to work which made for a nice and easy morning commute into the industrial district. I have noticed mostly apartment complexes popping up in every possible empty lot near the stations. So land use is going about what you'd expect of it in the less dense areas. I could go on about our fast growing population here, housing costs, and how our car centric transit infrastructure is just another reason things are so expensive. It all takes up so much space, valuable space here. Though all that doesnt entirely fit here, it's just another reason trains are awesome.

Wait, what? You were there? Aw, man! I was hoping I would see you! In fact, I think I saw myself in the background of a few shots in this video.

I was there on June 1st.

I enjoyed that video👍👍

VRE does have the back bones of a good system modern trains and useful routes. Some of the gallery cars that VRE has are only 10 years old.

I rode VRE from Manassas since it started service in 1992 until I retired in 2003.. In those early days the staff and the passengers knew each other which made for an enjoyable commute. One thing you didn't show is the passage through Clifton and the Civil War era embankments that supported the original railroad line and are visible on the east side, just north of Clifton. All I can say is the VRE helped me keep my sanity in the last 12 years of my daily travels to DC.

4:07 😆😀HA😜😃HA😃😄 - It's a very confused 🖤❤💛 🇩🇪 German 🇩🇪 🖤❤💛, isn’t it?

did you code switch upon entering rural VA so they wouldn’t sense your euro-yankee nature?

Model trains are awesome!!!

It isn’t free, someone’s paying for it. In this case, the innocent taxpayers.

It looks like a lot of fun to me! I love model railroading--I model Marklin German prototype myself. I have working catenary and signals. Those were a lot of fun to wire up and make work! On my bucket list is a trip to Germany to see real German railroads in action.

7:12 7:27 I'm not a theif either infact i had my first train collection stolen sadly

That must have been a Bull Run-ish Battle to get through.

You should come to the train show at the Timonium, MD fairgrounds (Baltimore light rail station is just behind the building)

642

It’s good

"The Machine Will Not Take My Card, So i have to walk a decent chunk to an atm" Continues To Walk By A Bank Of America

Yo Tom isn't the line between D.C. to Richmond owned by Virginia DOT or at least half of the ROW owned by Virginia DOT? 1:26

yes I do indeed have a RUclips channel. thanks for inviting me, looking forward to the [REDACTED] video later this summer! thanks for bringing Bryce, he was great to get to know. I used to live in Maryland and we drove the hour and a half to this a few times bc when I was a young lad I love trains, great to see kids are still enjoying it these days!

Dang, this festival seems cool as heck. The "excursion" did seem to leave a bit to be desired but you're right about it probably being a lot of kids first train ride. If only VRE just ran more trains to/from Manassas to DC. lol Thanks for the great video!

Like this video too! Trains Are Awesome

I am super impressed by realisticness of the steam locomotive train model in the intro. I cannot imagine how much it costs.

BART is like an s bahn system 👇

This looks like fun. If I had known about this, I could’ve used my Amtrak vouchers to see this in person.

Me and my friend went to Manassas on train day as well, and my friend said he saw you on the VRE lol!

As a person who lives in the surrounding area I can’t wait until Lynnwood station opens. I never drive into Seattle anymore, it’s either the commuter bus or link. So much more convenient and cheaper.

14:50 really appreciate your positive attitude here. Ps. Regarding getting into model trains, if you do want to, used models can be a good way to get into it. I’d also recommend youtubers like Jenny E. Kirk and budget model railways, for ideas and inspiration, if anyone is interested.

Have you visited the little Vienna (Virginia) train station? A local club sets up model train layouts there, and there are sometimes other events. Fun fact: Legend has it that the town of Clifton originated as a retirement hideaway for CIA spies and other employees. I wonder if that's true....

Wish I could’ve gone this year after I learned about it just before it happened, but life got in the way 😔 hoping to visit next year instead at least

I like to go to this suff

BLOOP FTW!