This rather goofy-looking photo was taken yesterday afternoon as my wife and I enjoyed a neat exhibit at Chicago’s sprawling Museum of Science and Industry.  Although the main attraction which drew us was a temporary exhibit about glass (which closes this weekend)  the first thing we saw was just as interesting….  a permanent exhibit on transportation and breakthroughs in speed.  In this single exhibit space you can see a full-size Boeing 727 and several fighter planes (all suspended from the ceiling) as well the famous locomotive 999 which was the first surface vehicle to go more than 100 mph.  Maybe most amazing of all,   there is a gigantic model train setup which includes a dazzling mockup of the Chicago loop extending to outlying areas, complete with small towns, hillsides, bridges. . . and train lines which take us (supposedly) all the way to far-off Seattle,  complete with a miniature Space Needle.  (If only getting to Seattle were as quick as easy as this.)

We spent a long long long time marveling at how they had brought the Chicago loop to life, with elevated trains whizzing around and even bridges moving up and down to allow boats on the river to pass.   But interestingly enough, the most amazing sight of all almost escaped my notice until my wife quietly whispered to me “how about that giant over there?”  I looked just past the loop and my eyes nearly popped out of my head when I saw what for a split second did indeed appear to be a giant crawling on a hillside. . .  wreaking untold destruction in his wake.  I’m happy to say that it didn’t take too long – once I’d spied his tool belt – to realize that we were seeing a technician trying to fix something in the exhibit and that it was not going to be necessary to call Godzilla or any one else for assistance.

The guy was actually quite a big guy – although not NFL lineman big.  More like Chris Farley big.   And when it came time for him to stand up and reposition himself he very nearly toppled over and turned this bridge into a box of unwanted toothpicks.  But he caught himself just in time and there was no harm done, but I for one didn’t manage to exhale again until Twinkle Toes was back on the ground, safe and sound.

This really is an amazing exhibit and it reminded me of several interviews I’ve done over the years about model trains. . . talking with several different authors as well as the editor of the world’s leading model train magazine, which is headquartered in southeastern Wisconsin.  I’m not sure if any of them were able to fully explain to me just what the enormous attraction of model trains has been over the years, way more than model planes or boats or rockets.  Apparently the essential appeal is that when you see a model train in action,  you can really see it do what it does – and it works in miniature very similarly to the way it works full size. . .  and of course around it you can construct the most amazingly intricate and realistic landscapes. . . and people were doing this decades before there were computer programs that would allow you to do similar things on a screen.   How cool would it be to put something together like this and know that it’s your own.   It’s never been my thing- but then again,  my mechanical instincts could reside comfortably in a small thimble.  But I’m glad that this kind of thing is other people’s “thing” – and it’s something which makes me shake my head in wonderment. . .   with or without an unexpected giant in the middle of it, threatening to destroy it all.