Patch"Nestled inside the red caboose adjacent to Tomball's replica train depot, is yet another piece to the puzzle that is helping to put the former town of Peck, Texas on the tourism map.
For more than a year, John Lockwood, the volunteer station master at Tomball's train depot, and David "Mr. Dave" George, have used their love of locomotives and model trains to create a model train village, chock full of historic Tomball images, within the little red caboose.
"John has been working on this for more than a year, but I came along in March," George said, who painted the scenery, the mountains and many of the piece, while Lockwood was responsible for a lot of the construction. "I spend three to six hours a day here. I see the fun that moms, dads and munchkins will have when they see this."
That labor of love for trains and the history they bring to the Tomball community, will be officially unveiled at this year's German Christmas Market that takes place on Dec 8-10.
"This is gonna be beautiful when it's done," said Lockwood, who built the platform for the entire model inside the caboose.
It was almost two years ago when Spring resident John LaPage, an avid collector of Lionel trains since 1999, donated nearly all of the pieces to Tomball and the depot.
Many of those pieces were still in the boxes, making some of them collection pieces, when Lockwood and Tomball Marketing Director Mike Baxter pulled up LaPage's home in early 2016 with a nine-foot flatbed trailer, and piled it with hundreds of pieces that have since become a working train lovers masterpiece.
The pieces that will be used in the display include a replica of the E.L. Beckendorf and Son's Dairy, Tomball Furniture Co., Klein's Grocery, a memorial tunnel for the late Ken Walden who served as a volunteer at the Tomball depot for many years, and others pieces too numerous to name.
While the train is obviously the main attraction, there are sections that make it truly Tomball, and celebrate the history that include oil derricks, farming, houses, and of course a trailer park.
One of the attractions will be the lights on the buildings.
Some of the buildings have lights inside and outside that will work.
One of those is the Klein's Grocery that once lit will show the details of the merchandise inside, Baxter said.
Baxter, who has helped transform Tomball intlo a weekend tourist destination, said he's looking forward to incorpotatng themes on the model railroad, such as a Polasr Express theme for Christmas, and "Boo-Choo train during the Halloween season.
"We'll do a pre-grand opening during the German Christmas Market, as an introductory and maybe do a ribbon cutting in January or Februrary," Baxter said.
When it's all said and done, the new attraction will serve as a magnat for train lovers, especially when all the pieces are in place, George said.
This is going to have morde detail, and we may even change things as we go along," George added."