On Wednesday I had to run by a storefront I had seen before, but had not entered. That would be HobbyTown USA right next to BooksAMillion in the shopping center behind Seminole Towne Center Mall. What drew me in was the train model village in the window. I had to have a look after being with the ‘big guns’ over at Amtrak.
I wish these photos would do it justice, but the display is elaborate! The detail and time spent getting this set up must have been pretty tedious. There are details in this small scale set that include a fireman rescuing a cat in a tree. The water fall, the landscape, just amazing. The whole display belongs to the owner of the store and the employee said it was very old.
The place itself has all types of hobby items from airplanes, to cars, to paint supplies. It is very orderly and well stocked. Kids must love it, especially the miniature car racing track. Have a look:
This is no flat display, it has hills and valleys, a big dip where the water falls, this took a lot of planning. There were train sets of different scales and all the accessories too. Anyone with children might want to check it out, and that includes adult children who have hobbies, like the model airplanes with motors – it looked like a lot of fun was just waiting to be had! Here’s their link: http://hobbytown.com/flsan
So grab your spouse, child, grandchild, neice, nephew, neighbor and have a look. Gotta be something there of interest!
Unless you are putting your car on the train, or picking it up, there’s really no need to go to the Sanford Amtrak Auto train Station. But I wanted to see some trains and I have only passed by the train station two times in all the time I have lived in this area, (since 1985) and do love trains, so I figured, why not look up close. The original station opened in 1971, and was taken over by Amtrak in 1983. This new terminal was dedicated in May of this year. The colorized photos below are of the old abandoned station in the old location not too far from the new one. I took several photos of it last April for a show called The Abandoned Florida exhibition at The Gateway this year. This is how the old Amtrak Station used to look.
and it is, the area is not large, they can easily monitor crazy, older ladies with a train fetish, or someone worse.
a clean space under a tent. So if you have to wait for your car, looks like you won’t have a problem finding a seat. At one time Sanford did take regular passengers, but they quit that a few years ago I guess to become the ‘auto-train” only station. There is a gift shop too, and a very nice lady was busy with her work.
I don’t know the arrival and departure times, but I did see one train come in with all the red flashing light, horn honking pagentry a train deserves upon arrival.
I saw a funny sign — was it for the passengers or the trains? I guess trains are quite romantic when coupled, haha. 
