More Trains but Miniature, Alongside Some Odds and Ends

It's that time again, I've got a number of phone pictures from the week I took the photos seen in the last few posts! Most of these photos are from an incredible miniature train set called Choo-Choo Barn (yeah... I'm kinda embarrassed to refer to it by name) in Strasburg, PA; then we'll finish off the post with some miscellaneous photos I also had on my phone camera roll.

Choo-Choo Barn is basically one giant room with this huge display set up.

This construction project's been going on forever; much like another pipeline project in my area.

Despite the name, "Choo-Choo's" are only part of what they have here. It's basically a full town set up.

Zooming in on a particular model gas station. You'll see why toward the end of the post. ;)

This building was neat. Once every few minutes, this house lights up like it's on fire and a firetruck comes over to it from the fire station.

The model's big enough that the building's support columns have to go through it. And yes, that's the Strasburg Railroad to the right of the column.

I missed getting a picture of the full thing, but towards the back you'll see a Turkey Hill sign complete with a light-up price board.

Frank Sinatra was a fan!

Red Caboose Motel also gets some representation here.

A model of Dutch Wonderland, a Lancaster amusement park. It's mainly targeted towards younger kids so I haven't been in over a decade, but I remember really loving it.

The monorail station here is also part of the Dutch Wonderland display.

They also had a circus set up here. This clown thing was a little unsettling.

The attention to detail here is incredible.

The windmill here is local landmark Dutch Haven, an Amish giftshop and bakery. In addition to having fantastic pies, it's also famous for it's mid-century design... and massive windmill on top. If it sounds interesting to you, and you've got $2 million to drop, it's currently for sale.

Every half hour or so, the lights in the room drop to simulate nighttime. 

I noticed this behind the counter in the lobby/gift shop area and snapped a picture while the cashier was distracted. With that logo, this has to be from the 80's or early 90's.

Red Caboose Motel, Ronks, PA

Nighttime shot I got of Red Caboose's lobby/restaurant/gift shop building. Yes, it's built around three train cars.

Texaco?/Strasburg Auto, Strasburg, PA

Remember that zoomed-in picture of that model gas station from earlier? On the drive back, I found it in real life. It looks like a former Texaco, but has been operating independently for a few decades now.

Clemens/Giant, North Coventry, PA
Clemens opened this store in 2003. It was their last purpose-built location; Westtown and Frazer also opened around the same time, though they moved into existing stores. Currently, it is one of three remaining unremodeled former Clemens' (the other two being Frazer and New Britain). Despite that, it gets a lot of attention from corporate. Fairly recently, they added a Peapod (most likely rebranding to Giant Direct soon) distribution center to the store in the former gym next door. Within the past couple months, they've also replaced the lighting here with LED's. The aging Clemens decor's been falling apart for a while. A lot of it, and the peeling wallpaper it was mounted on, has been removed and many of the walls have been repainted. I really don't know what's holding them back from a full remodel here; unless they're anticipating moving the distribution center elsewhere and then expanding the store itself.

Regal Theater, Downingtown, PA
This theater opened in 1996 with the center as the area's second Regal. The other (slightly older and smaller) location, Lionville, closed in 2002. For a while, it was the most popular theater in the area; but has taken a hit in recent years after Movie Tavern opened in Exton.

Shop N' Bag/Clemens/Giant, Frazer, PA

I could have just directed you to this picture from the one above, but I wanted to link a picture instead. This one's gotten significantly less attention than Coventry. The only major change Giant's made here was turning the former Cafe into a Giant Direct (not a full distribution center like Coventry, but a similar concept). I've covered the interior here several times in the past; it's an odd store. I love it. It's got an open-truss ceiling, but it's pretty low and all made of precast concrete instead of steel frame. It's also painted like a dark olive green color.

Wawa, Woodlyn, PA
I should've included this with my exterior pictures a couple posts back, but here's the inside. Standard remodeled Wawa, but with another entrance in back. It's weird they gave the salesfloor the full remodel, but only replaced the lighting in the bathrooms. I've seen Wawa totally redo a bathroom twice in five years when the only thing they changed in the design was the tile color.

Festival Foods/Shoprite, Eddystone, PA
Festival is primarily a midwestern chain, but they had a small presence in PA up until they went bankrupt in 2003. This was a very short-lived store, it had opened the year before. It sat vacant until Shoprite opened up in 2005. Somehow, I missed getting an exterior photo and about 3/4 of the photos of the inside were too bad to post; which is why the few remotely okay ones are thrown in with the odds and ends post.

Not really sure what Festival's decor was like but it's safe to say Shoprite redid it either when they first moved in or at some point not too long after. I'm reasonably certain this store also had mercury vapor lighting until they went fluorescent a few years ago. They've gotta be kicking themselves for not waiting another year or two for LED's to become popular.

Pharmacy is mostly walled in by bottled water. They just had a tiny opening to let customers in.

Sears Hardware/Outlet, Phoenixville, PA

This Sears Hardware converted to an Outlet in 2016, but closed about a year later. It was vacant for a little while, but has now been divided between a Dollar tree, appliance store, and a True value Hardware. Kmart next door is still vacant and fenced off, I have a feeling that's going to be knocked down for apartments or something before too long.

With all these trains, we need a song about them. Johnny Mercer's got us covered.