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Ray Smalley’s Sierra Nevada railroad on display Nov. 22

Help celebrate National Model Railroad Month

Even without an engineer's cap, Ray Smalley stands proud by his 16.5 ft. x 16.5 ft. model railroad display of an old California mining and logging operation. Bring the kids and visit Ray's Railroad Room on Saturday, November 22.

By Alice Eachus
One thing you can always say about Ray Smalley – he can’t ever lose his train of thought or he just might go down the wrong track!

You’ve heard the old adage, “The only difference between men and boys is the price and size of their toys.” Here’s the proof of that pudding!

While Thomas the Train and his cabooses aplenty might fascinate the little guys, Ray has taken whistle blowing to a whole new level. His above-the-garage level includes a giant room dedicated to his love of trains.

Not just any old trains either. Ray always liked early logging and mining operations so his expansive HO railroad layout depicts a gold mining subsidiary of the Sugar Pine Lumber Company in the Sierra Nevada Mountains in Northern California, circa August 1929. Can’t

Reagan Arnold and his little brother Spencer have a Thomas the Train layout that takes up most of their bedroom. Just wait until they see Ray Smalley's roundhouse!

Each building in Ray Smalley's layout is carefully handcrafted by him. There are 110 feet of mainline in the display.

get more specific than that!

Ray’s layout includes a 16.5 ft. x 16.5 ft. run with 110 feet of mainline on a roadbed made of cork and foam. Scenery reaches to 55 inches high, all hand painted and very realistic.

Every building in the layout is hand-created by Ray with tiny wooden sticks and pieces of tin. No pop-together plastic houses – no sir! Each structure is a piece of art and is representative of the times. Even the little people look authentic.

While there are dozens of buildings already in place at the Sugar Pine Lumber Company, Ray has plans to add another 50 or so until he has a true bird’s eye view of that old logging operation.

He spends about 20 hours a week on his hobby and has been at it for almost three years.

There have been other layouts over the 30 years Ray has been “engineering,” but his Big Canoe miniature is the most extensive. He plans to stay here for a lot longer than he’s lived in other places so his tiny landscape can just grow and grow and grow.

Such a hobby doesn’t come cheap and Ray estimates he has about $5,000 invested so far–or at least that’s what he tells his lovely wife Sandi. Of course,

if you look at Ray’s other hobby – golf…well, what can you say?

November is National Model Railroad Month. To celebrate this hobby, the National Model Railroad Association (NMRA) is inviting the public to enjoy private layouts all over the country. The 6th Annual Tour of Atlanta’s Great Model Railroads called Piedmont Pilgrimage will showcase dozens of displays.

As part of Piedmont Pilgrimage, the Smalleys will host an Open House on Saturday, November 22, from 1 to 5 p.m. in Ray’s Railroad Room at 3415 Bluestern Drive, Big Canoe. Admission is free and kids are welcome, but need an adult along to keep them under control when fingers fly.

If you’d like more information, give Ray a shout at This e-mail address is being protected from spam bots, you need JavaScript enabled to view it or 706-579-1656 and climb All Aboard! for a fanciful trip to yesteryear.

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