Maybe old news. Awhile back CBS did a story of a man who had constructed a full size train and railroad. I think there was a thread running here where people were trying to locate the place.

BTW: Protivin (population 317 per 2000 census) is in the southeastern tip of Howard County
Iowa. Howard County in turn is along the eastern side Iowa Minnesota border. Google
Protitin Iowa for more than you ever want to know about this area.

But at last the mystery is solved of location, location, location!!


Here is the story:

All Aboard!
By Sara Daehn


Protivin, Iowa -
Jim Halverson has been fascinated with trains ever since he was a little boy
living next to the railroad tracks in Ridgeway.
For a while he kept himself content by collecting toy train sets and any railroad
paraphernalia he could get his hands on.
But after a while, it just wasn't enough.
So, he decided to build his own personal full-size railroad - train cars, tracks,
depot and all - on his rural Protivin property.
The half-mile loop runs from his garage, along the edge of his property and
past the depot he built. The tracks then curve along the other edge of his property,
travel over a bridge, and return to his garage.
His fascination with the railroad first began when he received an American Flyer
toy train set from his father for Christmas one year. He often fantasized about
owning his own full-size train ever since that boyhood holiday.
About 25 years ago, Halverson started looking for a place to build his own large-scale
train set.
"I was looking for a piece of woods that had a fairly good size house on
it to store my lamps," he said. "It had to be at least 10 acres."
About seven years passed before he came across the ten acres of woods that his
home and railway now occupy. He purchased the property in 1979 and began laying
down track in 1988.
Halverson, a forklift operator at Donaldson Company for the past 41 years, spent
five years of nights and weekends laying the track himself.
"I'd get off at 2 [p.m.], change clothes and, if I had enough energy
to do it, I'd lay a 30-foot section of track every night," Halverson said.
It took him another summer to construct his train depot, which he built from
scratch to look like an old Milwaukee Road 18-by-36-foot small-town depot. Most
of the doors and windows in the depot came from an old barn, house and shed in Ridgeway.
The depot, tucked away in the woods on his property, is equipped with an antique
telegraph, typewriter and functioning levers for the railway signals outside, among
other authentic items that would likely have been found in a train depot in years
past. An old-time outhouse and tool house sit adjacent to the depot.
Halverson called it his "retreat away from the rest of the world,"
where he used to spend a lot of time relaxing and forgetting about his worries.
"I would light the kerosene lamps and bring a few beers, or wine and cheese,
and think about what to build next," Halverson said.
Halverson also built a yellow train car using an engine from a 1973 Ford Maverick,
and another car using a 1923 engine that was previously used in a coal mine in
Berlin, Germany.
Over the past 50 years, he has collected railroad paraphernalia from all over
the country. He's found lights and signals at salvage yards and other items
at flea markets. Some of his track came from track that would have been scrapped
in Minneapolis, and a portion of the railroad ties he used originated from the train
that used to ride through Cresco. He's even had a few items given to him by
the railroad companies.
Since it's tucked away in the woods, few people knew his personal railroad
existed until recently.
His secluded getaway became not-so-private last May when Halverson and his train
were featured on CBS News' Assignment America.
A CBS reporter, along with a camera crew, spent several days interviewing and
photographing Halverson and his train. At one point, the news company even flew
a helicopter in to shoot video from the sky. Halverson took two days off of work
so CBS could shoot the story.
"It was a fun thing to do. It was very interesting," Halverson said.
But how did CBS News hear about the private man who built his own train station
in rural Iowa?
Halverson has a niece in Boston who works for CBS. After asking her uncle's
permission, she proposed the story to her boss, who agreed that it would fit in
great as an Assignment America feature.
At first, Halverson asked his girlfriend of 20 years not to tell anyone about
the national news story.
"I was trying to keep it a secret," he said. "I finally gave
in before it aired."
Even though he's afraid he's running out of steam, Halverson said he's
not done with his railroad quite yet. He would like to put up more signals, build
a second depot and build different types of cars, such as a passenger car, before
his train station is complete.
Why did Halverson decide to take his hobby of collecting railroad items this
far?
The "romance of the railroads" has always been alluring to Halverson.
He also respects the important role they played in U.S. history.
"They helped to develop the country. They're a big part of history,"
Halverson said.
Plus, having a hobby has always been fun for Halverson.
"I just happened to get carried away," he said with a chuckle.

Now all he needs to do is build a new J3a Hudson and life would be complete!