The NRV-MRRC has been actively making things related to model railroading since 1984. We have quite a number of portable layouts and a couple of table-top interactive displays that teach aspects of railroading and switch lists. One of them is actually a brain-power and memory game where you classify rail cars per destination and cargo based just on the reporting marks on the sides. Another teaches mathematics in the guise of estimating train tonnage loads from manifests. That plus Thomas the Train and Friends for the younger crowd draws quite a number of people by our table. There is an open-source train simulator that can be run as a multiplayer game for kids and adults to sit down at a couple of computer stations. We also have scenery making and CAD design demonstrations, and would be using arts and crafts techniques to demonstrate diorama making. We also have video made from small pin-hole cameras mounted on model trains that moving through the various dioramas look like their real- size counter parts. We are also working on tying in the train-simulator software to "drive" the train through our layouts using a joystick input for throttle and direction control.

Last updated on June 8, 2012 by Maker Faire:NC