This layout had several neat features.
The first one is that it used 12V rails. I had to purchase these rails (and the engine) on a trip to Europe because LEGO didn't sell them in the U.S. at the time. The 12V stuff was FAR better than the 4.5V battery trains.
The second feature is the engine and first car. I modeled these on the French TGV trains. Of course, a little artistic license was used in adding the "steam" pistons on the engine. I realize that this is totally unrealistic, but it looked really cool to see those parts moving around. It was especially neat to have the pistons move on a carriage that could rotate freely below the engine.
The third interesting feature is the dual-level nature of this layout. The picture shows the high-level which spirals down to the left and comes out a tunnel on the bottom-right before plunging below the upper track.
Below is another shot of the back of the layout. Unfortunately, the exposure isn't very good, but I thought it was a cool Christmas town, so I included it anyhow.
