Man Spends 14 Years Building Model Railroad, Realizes He Forgot to Include a Train Station

Retired civil engineer Douglas Coupler revealed to fellow hobbyists this weekend that his award-winning model railroad layout, which occupies the entirety of his three-car garage and has been under continuous construction since 2012, contains no train station of any kind. 'I got so focused on the topography,' Coupler said, staring at 2,000 square feet of hand-sculpted mountains, rivers, and forests. 'The thing is, terrain is just so much more interesting than buildings. I kept saying I'd add the station next month, and then I'd see a really beautiful rock formation that needed modeling.' The layout, which has won three regional awards for scenic realism, features 47 bridges, a functioning waterfall, 300 individually planted trees, a working lumber mill with moving saw blades, and a hand-painted sunset backdrop that took eleven months to complete. Trains run on 1,400 feet of track through tunnels, over trestles, and alongside a meticulously recreated section of the Colorado River. But they have nowhere to stop. 'I noticed about six years in,' admitted Coupler. 'But by then I'd already built the mountain range where the station should go. You can't just tear down a mountain range. It took me eight months. The granite alone was three different shades of gray.' Visitors to the layout have universally praised its beauty while gently questioning its functionality. 'The trains are magnificent,' said fellow modeler Rita Spur. 'They just run in endless circles through paradise with no purpose. It's actually kind of philosophical.' Coupler says he has identified a small clearing near the river where a station might fit, but he's 'not sure he wants to disturb the wildflowers.' He estimates a station could be added within two years, 'assuming I don't discover another interesting rock formation.'