Growing up, Rob Caves remembers there was always a train set under his family Christmas tree.
As an adult, the Los Angeles native has brought this fond memory, and his passion, on a grand scale to the backyard of his home on the famed Christmas Tree Lane in Altadena.
For more than a decade, Caves has invited the public to experience this ever-growing labor of love built by him and his fellow hobbyists in the Christmas Tree Lane Model Railroad Society.
The model train display first started in the garage — and quickly outgrew the 400-square-foot space.
“ It was completely wall to wall, five decks of trains,” Caves said. “ So we decided it’s time to make it bigger, it’s time to make it better.”
That was 2010. What Caves and his club members did were constructed what he called “peninsulas” — or extensions — out of the garage. They then built displays housed inside — complete with train tracks, scenic backdrops, landscapes, structures and whatever else you can think of.