Model Trains and Sweet Pie in Foley Alabama

Foley has an attraction that fascinated me during our visit this week. It’s a complex and detailed array of O gauge model trains that is located inside a former train station downtown. The set up is a model train lover’s fantasy–sixty feet long, twenty-two feet wide, multilayered and full of neat little details like tunnels, a whole miniature town, and a bunch of freight trains and passenger lines. There’s even a little streetcar that rolls up and down the tiny town.

It’s all run by a team of train aficianadoes who wear engineer’s caps and control the animated displays and keep the trains rolling. At a miniature drive-in restaurant, tiny car-hops flit from car to car; at the scene of a fire, a ladder trucks roars to the rescue, up in the hills, a tiny still is in operation. Not only the visuals are here but there are sound effects the men can turn on, and our guide shined a light on the action as the fire raged and the carhops hopped.

The set up was donated to the town and in turn, Foley built a big building to house their new treasure. There’s also a history museum in the building that was the former train station.

After we enjoyed the model trains, we got a chance to sample some mighty fine pie at Sweetie Pie’s. I asked Tammy Mason, the boss, which pie was the most popular. Coconut creme, she said, pointing at one of gravity-defying slices.

But Southern Living magazine that her pecan pie was the best. She proffered a plate with three different pecan pie varieties for me to enjoy. How can you not love pie!?