NARRATIVE OF A FAMILY ADVENTURE         This family adventure, for it is indeed an adventure, would probably have never happened had the young Yves Crué not spent his early years in Le Havre, a few streets away from a tramway station. For every time an occasion arose, and it did so several times a week, his father would take him to dream of faraway travels in front of the smoking locomotives. As is the case with all children, Yves Crué grew up. But still after having become a farmer and cider producer at Saint-Denis de Méré in Swiss Normandy, the bug his father had given him had still not left him. And it’s eventually with a friend he decided to give full rein to his passion for trains. Only, since there was no question of him giving up his farm to become a railway worker, Yves Crué threw himself body and soul into the railway world…the miniature railway world. Once his first model railway layout was completed, he thought to himself it looked somewhat silly with its 2 m² [22 Sq Ft] fitting on the dining room table. Very soon a whole room of the house was given over to it, a room that soon became too small… A devouring passion took hold of Yves Curé when he got back from Switzerland, country of which his mother was a native, and where he visited the large Lucerne model railway lay-outs and the Interlaken funicular railway. In those days, Yves Crué owned a co-operative cellar built in a former lime kiln where tourists passing through were sold the family cider production. This is how he decided to use the site to present his new model railway which now spread over 25m² [269 Sq Ft]. In 1969, in this structure which resembled a medieval keep, a first Miniature Railway Museum was hence to open at Clécy! Its instant success dispelled the villagers’scepticism. And the model railway expanded once again to 60m² [646 Sq Ft].          Another trip led Yves Crué into Germany to discover the largest model railway layout in Europe at that time (270m²) [2902 Sq Ft]. On his way home, he thought to himself: “I must outdo that!” And it is therefore thanks to the energy of the whole family that a new model railway of 310m² [3336 Sq Ft], especially built, opened in 1986, one of the largest in Europe! In those days also, Emmanuel, one of the sons of this large family, gave up his trade as a cabinetmaker to help his father. Today a museum animator, it is he who is pursuing an adventure undertaken over 40 years ago…             Look out for head-spinning figures! Regarding the model railway shown at Clécy, the figurines and railway track count has enough to make you dizzy… Constantly being improved, this 1/87 HO scale layout includes 14 to 16 trains running simultaneously, 18 tunnels, 70 signal boxes, 650 buildings, 1250 tracked vehicles, a 240 locomotive collection and 400 railway carriages, 5000 fir trees, and a great number of characters that we stopped keeping count of a long time ago. Designed to appeal to the general public, the model railway favours quality of scenery arrangement more than the unity of time or space. Each landscape depicts trip memories or a life scene always recreated with infinite details and much life-likeness.          The main railway carriages and locomotives are made by Fleischmann, Marklin, Roco, Brawa ou Jouef... For the houses and scenery elements, Faller, Vollmer et Kibri brand names were preferred. This assorted collection comes to life within an imaginary landscape reminiscent of the high mountain pastures characteristic of Switzerland (a cogwheel train crawls up to the mountain top set against a Matterhorn background), Germany (one can recognize Ludwig II of Bavaria’s castle), or Alsace (Yves Crué travelled through it during the Liberation of France)…   With the enthusiasm that was once his father’s, the tour is now commented by Emmanuel Crué.   From his locomotive cab, as a station master, he operates, monitors and manages the entire railway layout. And when you no longer know where to look next in this miniature topography, as a good guide he helps us spot the thousands of details that abound on the plateau, the comical life scenes, the latest additions, and answers the questions of scale model enthusiasts. In the display cabinets, you will discover several of the finest locomotives in the world and even the “RTG” turbo-train (gas turbine trainset) that ran between Paris, Caen and Cherbourg.   The Miniature Railway Museum is also a theme park built on a former quarry site that can now be visited aboard a miniature train.   A magnificent arched cellar that accommodates the family cider production can be found in the former lime kiln. Cider being ideal served with crêpes, all of these can be fondly enjoyed in the terrace sun!