Big Men on Small Trains

Very near travel Town is the home of the Los Angeles Live Steamers. Formed in 1956 by model train enthusiasts, including Walt Disney, this corner of Griffith Park is transformed every Sunday into a wonderland for kids and a second childhood for their Dad's. Although many wives can be found here they seem to be relegated to ticket taking, lunch preparing and other menial tasks and are rarely seen driving the trains. Children might best benefit from playing with these expensive toys, but it is predominantly older, overweight white males that get to ride the rails here.

The tracks themselves are laid out for several gauges, and cover over 4 miles of parkland. Guests can wait in line and ride uncomfortably close behind some of these lumbering "engineers", bent over a smoke belching, noisy and dangerous looking contraption for a lap or two, and then wait again to catch another "train". On most Sundays there can be dozens of these miniature locomotives in service and the experience can be quite fun. (or embarrassing if someone takes pictures of the act)

Every third Sunday they open the Disney Barn, a huge edifice transported plank by plank from Walt Disney's former estate in Holmby Hills. Legend has it that the concept for Disneyland started in those walls, as although he had a huge estate, Disney wanted to run a real gauge railroad requiring a much larger area.

So when in Los Angeles, if the sight of a stable of soot stained Peter Pans piloting $10,000 toys around in circles is your idea of entertainment, this is the place to be.