What would you think about living in a house that was full of model trains?
Where you'd have to step over the tracks just to get around.
I've taken over a bedroom and turned it in to a train yard.
The tracks go down the hallway, but there is enough room to walk if you straddle the tracks.
The dining room and living room are pretty well covered with tracks...
And there are even tracks going through the kitchen...
Out in to the garage...
In to our side yard...
And the trains come back in the house through our patio door, past a little waterfall.
It seems crazy, right? How can someone live this way?
Well, it's not this way every day.
But today I've sure got the place covered with a lot of track for this layout, don't I?
And you'd probably be surprised to know that my wife is OK with it.
As long as it doesn't stay like this for very long!
This layout will exist for just two days before I put it all away again.
And in case you're wondering, what you see in this video is about $15,000 worth of model train equipment.
Running on the layout today I've got a real collector's item...
The classic Santa Fe Super Chief Passenger train, led by an EMD F7 locomotive.
I'm also running one of my newest trains, the Norfolk Southern First Responders train...
My other Santa Fe diesel locomotive, a GE Dash 8, pulling freight cars...
The Coca Cola train...
Thomas The Tank Engine...
Thomas' friend, Percy...
James The Red Engine is sitting on a siding really hoping that he might get to run at some point!
And finally, we've got Emily, another of Thomas' friends...
And try something fun while you're watching this video...
Every time you see Emily on the screen, just say "Hi, Emily!" OK?
Let's try it, shall we? Like this...
Hi, Emily!
Now, let me take you through the full layout...
From the perspective of a camera mounted on top of the Coca Cola train.
And we're going to slow down a bit right here... as we enter the train yard...
Where several of the trains that I'm not running right now are parked on their own sidings.
Back out in the hallway... Hey, there's Thomas down in the living room!
And I have to admit that this one is my favorite: the Santa Fe Super Chief.
In the comments, let me know which train is YOUR favorite.
Now we're doing a loop around the dining room table.
And we head in to the kitchen, and right out in to the garage...
Where we'll make a turn out the service door to our side yard.
Now if you pay attention to the sound of the engine...
You can tell it's a slight uphill until this pipe here...
And then the train speeds up as it goes down a very slight downhill slope.
Oh! I should have trimmed back those leaves there!
And we'll go right in our patio door to the living room, which is full of trains...
Past the book case and behind the couch.
Now watch here shortly where the tracks cross over themselves.
There it is.
Sometimes a train will derail right there.
Hi, Emily!
We're heading in to the garage now...
And approaching the red tunnel.
(laughing)
Hi, Emily!
That wooden structure over on the right there is our Puppy Palace.
If you don't know what that is... follow the link that should be up at the top of the screen right about now.
We're going past a row of fruit trees on our left there...
But they're so tall you can't see them.
You only see low things...
LIKE THESE LOW HANGING LEAVES COMING UP HERE! WATCH OUT!
And that right there is one full trip on the main line through the layout...
A two and a half minute ride.
But there's more to this layout than just the main line.
There are also a couple of short loops with other trains on them.
Here's the view from the top of the Santa Fe Super Chief...
As she does a short loop around the living room.
There's one place, as it passes the couch, where the clearances are kind of tight!
And the other little loop that goes around the living room...
Has Thomas and Percy running on it...
But I messed up when I shot this and I forgot to turn on Thomas' steam train sounds.
Sorry!
Now, my favorite part is coming up here!
Watch out! It looks like we're going to crash in to James!
Ooh, close call!
We've got to see that again, only this time from the camera mounted on Percy.
(Laughing)
I love that!
And here's how it looks from a different perspective.
I told you that sometimes a train would derail there!
Now I'm going to be quiet for most of the rest of the video...
And let you enjoy the sounds of the trains...
As we view the layout from the perspective of a camera mounted on a different train...
The Santa Fe Dash-8 locomotive...
Which is one of my favorites because it has a great sounding horn!
Hi, Emily!
Now we'll do one more complete run on the main line...
This time with train music!
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I'm Jim Zim. Thanks for watching!