Strasburg, Pennsylvania: Choo Choo Barn

At Christmastime, the people -- and even the animals in the Traintown Zoo -- wear tiny Santa hats. Keep an eye out for over 50 miniature Santa Clauses hidden among the layout scenes.

This is a really cool model train layout that's over 1,700 square feet. Almost everything on the layout does something, including a 3-minute long fire scene where the house fire is put out by a group of fire fighters that move. I was thoroughly impressed with the layout and the Strasburg Train Shop.

I was happy that this website referred me to Roadside America in Pennsylvania, but I was saddened and dismayed to find that the Choo-Choo Barn was not listed here! In Strasburg, PA, near the train museum, toy train museum, Strasburg railroad, and, of course, the Red Caboose Motel and Restaurant (sense a theme?), is the Choo-Choo Barn, a place much like Roadside America except for the fact that all the tiny little figures, many of them Amish men and women, move, and that there's no subtle religious message to it (no sudden picture of Jesus representing America along with the flag and the Statue of Liberty here!).

It's basically a model of Lancaster County, PA, including Dutch Wonderland and a night portion every half hour or so. It's great fun, but, alas, it is widely publicized in videos and brochures in the area, and so gets very crowded. With only one small aisle for people to walk through, when there's a crowd you never get enough time to look at the things you want to, since people start yelling at you for not moving, and usually will end up stalled watching one scene for maybe five minutes or more.