Model Railway Swap Meet Crowd

Long tables display rows of model trains, cabooses, and tiny painted houses, sorted by color-striped runners that mark each vendor's stretch of floor. A crowd lines up before a hand-lettered sign for rare locomotives, browsing engines lined up beside a bald seller behind the counter. Nearby, an elaborate diorama recreates a snow-capped mountain with tunnels, bridges, and a train looping through pine forests on painted green hills. A boy plays with a circular track laid on a rug shaped like a winding road, while another child hides inside a fort built from stacked cardboard boxes. At a side table, two collectors trade small parts over a glass case of vintage engines, a cat dozing beneath. Farther back, a technician repairs a locomotive at a workbench, coats hang on a rack, and a man mops up spilled coffee near a plate of donuts, each stall its own siding along the aisle.