New publication from Classic Toy Trains

It’s my pleasure to tell you, our devoted readers of Classic Toy Trains, about our brand-new colorful and informative 100-page special-interest publication: Great Layouts You Can Visit! Packed with photos and filled with stories and details, it offers toy train enthusiasts of every age, background, and level of interest and experience something enjoyable and useful. We believe you’ll save this wonderful publication and return to it many times in the years ahead.

The background to Great Layouts You Can Visit! extends to the Winter 2024 issue of CTT. In it, readers may recall, Editor Rene Schweitzer put together a cover story on layouts and exhibits featuring toy trains that are open to the public. This was a time-consuming and worthwhile project that needed several months of research, as Rene hunted for information about museums, clubs, and other places located across the United States and Canada. She thought a detailed list of facilities open to you, our readers, was something that everyone would like and benefit from.

The overwhelmingly positive comments we’ve received proved how right Rene was. You’re probably getting the picture by now. When it came time to discuss a topic for our annual special-interest publication, Rene and I agreed that expanding what she had accomplished in the Winter 2024 issue was the obvious choice. We reached out to dozens of places on the list she had compiled, and the response was terrific.

Great Layouts You Can Visit! offers an inside look at 15 places featuring fantastic operating layouts and impressive displays of vintage and new S, O, and Standard gauge toy trains. You’ll have a great time learning about them, whether you intend to stay home and merely dream of hitting the road or you want to plan your next road trip. In fact, I wrote and edited the many articles as though I were traveling from Arizona to Colorado and then on to Wisconsin, Illinois, Indiana, and Ohio before reaching Pennsylvania, New York, and New Jersey and ending in Florida.

In narrative pieces amply illustrated with beautiful photos, I aimed to present places located throughout the country and put the spotlight on layouts and displays regularly open to the public rather than arranging just a few open houses. In addition to memorable pictures and thoughtful text, you will find information about the location as well as times and costs of admission. In other words, there should be everything there necessary to arrange an enjoyable and unforgettable visit.

So, go out and have fun with Great Layouts You Can Visit! and let us know how you used it and what places we should showcase in another special-interest publication on public layouts.

Go behind the scenes while CTT was shooting the cover for this issue.