William "Bud" Davis is a retired military commander who began collecting and painting military miniatures as a hobby in the 1960's. Each of his over 5,000 lead miniatures had been researched, hand cast and hand painted in meticulous detail. In 2012, he donated 1,000 of them to the museum, creating this exhibit called "Freedom is not Free". It ranges from the American Revolutionary War through more modern wars. It was so well done that I could have spent hours just here!
Germans at Normandy
British Sopwith Camel 1917
Well I say, old chap!
British Indian Machine Gun Team WWII
French Officer Camel Corps 1950's
Greek Evzone Infantry
Scots in India 1930's
Teddy Roosevelt and the Rough Riders
The American Civil War 1861 - 1865
The American Revolutionary War 1776
We returned to the train yard and took our seats in one of the open gondola cars. Eventually everyone was all aboard and it was time for our journey to begin!
Switching the tracks...
... backing up...
... and connecting the engine with the passenger cars.
All prepared to head up the mountain!
All aboard!
We bought a book that gave us lots of interesting information as well as a detailed description of our journey, mile marker by mile marker.
A sample of some of the train whistles signals. The dot is a short blast while the line represents a long one.
The train chugged out of the station, through town and headed out into the hills. Because we were in an open car, we had to wear some kind of eye protection (sunglasses were enough) because of all the cinders that blew in from the engine smoke.
Hey... we just saw a guy like this in the model train exhibit!
Ding ding ding ding ding ding... The lights tell everyone to stop. We're coming through!
Kayakers enjoy a nice day on the river.
Uh ok... kinda creepy.
This little dog appeared out of nowhere and suddenly began running along with the train.
It was actually FASTER than we were!
Eventually it ran out of place to run and had to turn back.
Shalona Lake
Entering San Juan National Forest
