1 of 6
2 of 6
3 of 6
4 of 6
5 of 6
6 of 6
By Perry Mack - photos courtesy Osoyoos Desert Model Railroad
You don’t have to be a model train enthusiast to be captivated by the creations of Poul & Ulla Pedersen and Lotte & Joe Mendes. It’s the real life moments of over 16,000 hand-painted miniatures that will have you stopped, staring in wonder and laughing out loud.
You and your family walk through this living world like Jules Verne’s giant Gulliver in the land of the Lilliputians. It’s easy to appreciate this incredible feat of engineering watching 40 computer-controlled trains traverse 4,000 sq ft of displays. But it’s the artistry that brings it to life. The everyday scenes mimic real life in the seven different weddings, the traffic cop administering roadside breathalyzers, the ski resort with skiers, boarders, and skaters and Santa Claus with his reindeer (well perhaps that’s not quite real life).
It takes a full five-person team to create and maintain this world. Ulla creates the smaller buildings and hand paints the miniature people – over 20,000 to date and still counting. Lotte is the master landscape artist transforming the teams’ wild ideas into reality. Joe is the craftsman constructing all the larger buildings, especially the motorized structures. Poul is responsible for the framework of the world, which supports the 2 km of track, 20 km of wires and programming the computers with his associate Phil Walker. Look for the miners with their helmet lights, with painstaking detail Poul drilled miniscule holes into their helmets and implanted tiny fibre-optic cables – he explains, “it was a challenging piece of the scenery to create and very satisfying to see the end results”.
It is only fitting, that after wandering through the miniature railway world that the last thing you experience is the forest fire scene, and when day magically turns into night, the mountainside is ablaze with colours both from the fire itself and the many emergency vehicles at the scene. Helicopters are dropping water to fight the fires with teams of fire fighters and ambulance crews on the ground.
It was one of the hardest and most difficult scenes for Lotte and Ulla to create because of the bleakness and devastation surrounding a forest fire - whereas the rest of the world expresses fun, humor and is bursting with colour.
One of the scenes creating a stir is the nudist beach colony. Most people find it hilarious however a few are offended – if you fall into the second group – shield your eyes. It is by far the most talked about scene.
It is a miniature wonderland with North America’s largest Marklin Train Layout. You’ll be impressed with the devotion to detail, and the charm and humour of the presentation. You’ll delight in the unique operational car system running through little towns, stopping for gas and at traffic lights – a hit with children of all ages.
They have been wowing customers for 10 years and even though there is no room for expanding, they continually change the scenes, adding newer features like the man moving his arm and drinking beer, and a city worker removing a man-hole cover. The latest challenge is to create a Zip-line.
This hidden gem is tucked in the Buena Vista Industrial Park in Osoyoos just off Highway #3. They’re open year round, Monday to Saturday from 10 am to 5 pm, closed Sunday. For more information call or visit www.OsoyoosRailroad.com