Garden Railroad Tour arrives in Des Moines July 31
Des Moines Register
In Fred Loveridge’s small town, the main employer is a factory called Barney’s Big Bricks. It’s just down the road from the church and cemetery.

The carousel on the east side runs daily. Trains on the local railroad line, the Beaver Valley and Donnelly, bring a bit of the outside world into tiny, isolated Pleasantville.

Various episodes included him creating a full scale Lego house and, of most interest to model railroaders, he attempted to create the world’s longest model railroad.  The attempt failed after vandals destroyed a part of the track.

From BBC America:

James is used to goofing around with his pals from Top Gear and taking on some insane challenges, but for this series he’ll leave the keys to the supercars at home as he embarks on some ludicrously ambitious adventures and feats of engineering using classic toys.

Over the course of six episodes James and thousands of volunteers will undertake challenges like laying ten miles of model railroad tracks, creating a life-size bridge out of Meccano (aka Erector set) pieces and building a full-scale Lego house.

He’ll get both adults and children out of the house and working side-by-side on these fun, spectacular challenges; reminding everyone of the joys of doing things together while playing with toys that have captured our imagination.