Terry Lynch (left) of Kansas City and Jim Flynn of Belton cover the front edge of their HO scale track with plastic in July before the grand opening of Train Town in Independence. Lynch is the author of two books on railroad history and a long-time model train hobbyist. Paul Beaver / the Associated Press

Ryan Hull of Raytown adds another car to the track in Train Town at Blue Ridge mall in Independence. Jeff Stead / the Associated Press

Model trains and scenes are created by various hobbyists, each adding their own flair or nostalgic feel to the general display. Jeff Stead / the Associated Press

The next minute, it is chugging up the side of red rock cliffs into the Southwest, connecting the great landscape of America.

Sure, the landscape is constructed from foam and plywood and the coal car will fit in the palm of your hand. And, yes, the power plant is a cardboard construction with idle smokestacks. But, to the enthusiasts who make it run, it might as well be real.

"If it wasn't for the railroads, America wouldn't be what it is today," says Terry Lynch, one of the builders of the new Train Town center at Blue Ridge mall in eastern Kansas City. "Railroads brought farm products from the west to the east and people from the east to the west. It built this country."

Lynch, a former history teacher, is the author of two books on railroad history and a long-time model train hobbyist. Like many train fans, he used to run his trains on isolated basement and garage set-ups with limited space and little exposure. Not anymore.

Four area model train clubs have combined forces to operate Train Town, a 12,000-square-foot display of track, train and landscape, designed and constructed by hobbyists. The displays are modular units, allowing one hobbyist to join their construction to the chain of others, making a circuit of vastly different landscapes.

Darren Hensley, of Grandview, is a member of The Weekend N'Gineers club, and the resident technical guru for Train Town. He runs N-scale trains, a standard model and track size equal to 1/160th of a real-life train.

"The object of the game is to operate without having to touch anything," Hensley says. Physically picking up a piece and moving it is referred to as the "hand of God."

Hensley's display is one of the largest at Train Town with 11 modular units, part of a 13-piece set he's been working on for many years. It includes a very complex rail yard, which, down its length, follows the history of trains from steam engines to high-power diesel locomotives.

"This is a very unusual yard in the N-scale world because it has three crossover tracks so you can enter or exit from either end," Hensley explains. It also features an old-fashioned turntable and roundhouse that were used in the past to turn trains around.

"People get pretty excited to see that," he says.

A few weeks ago, Hensley was scrambling to work out the kinks in the vast electrical system powering the different displays, getting ready for the grand opening.

At the July 20 opening, visitors seemed delighted by the detail and accuracy of the displays. The hobbyists even set up a miniature camera on the front of one train, letting viewers see the landscape from inside.

"I'm walking around hearing people say 'Yeah, I remember that from when I was a kid.' That's what it is all about, preserving history," said Ken Clark of Blue Springs, one of Train Town's organizers.

Clark points out the timeline of history represented on the tracks from World War II-era troop transport cars to Desert Storm tanks on the beds of cargo trains. One landscape recreates the 1950s Main Street with a neon-lighted movie theater and a circular drive-in restaurant. On down the line, another display is a modern landscape with high-rise offices and suburban homes.

The great landscape of Train Town is open to the public each Sunday from 12 to 5 p.m. It is an ever-changing landscape, which like the story of trains, as Clark said, "is never really done."