To mix my metaphors a bit, sometimes the travel medium is the message. Some of the most vivid memories of a travel adventure stem from the unusual modes of transportation we use to get around. Whether it’s riding a hot-air balloon over the Serengeti, maneuvering a race car on a track at Mont Tremblant, or kicking back on a floating city in the Caribbean, how we get ‘there’ can be an important part of the travel experience.

For one man though, how he gets there has always been far more important than where ‘there’ actually is. You see, Jason Shron loves trains. That’s an understatement. He is deeply addicted to trains. That too is an understatement. He’s just plain bat-s**t crazy about trains. Now we’ere getting closer.

For the past 4.5 years, and over 2500 hours of work, he has been constructing a train.

In his basement.

Seriously.

I’m not talking about an intricate model train set (though he certainly loves those and his personal passion is also his business passion where he constructs and sells model trains and all their accessories through his company, Rapido Trains Inc.). I’m talking about a full-sized, accurate-down-to-the-rivets recreation of a 1980 Via passenger car. In his basement.

I had the distinctly bizzarre pleasure of joining Jason and his family for lunch recently where the conversation immediately turned to the, um, unique (?) basement furnishings. There is something utterly surreal about reclining in the cloth-upholstered seats of his Via train, sipping single malt scotch out of authentically recreated Via Rail shot glasses while perusing a genuine 1979 Via Rail passenger menu that lists a choice of grilled halibut or strip steak for $4.75. The level of realism is almost unnerving. The trash bin, the ticket sleeves, the subtle click-clack sound of the rails running underfoot created by a recurring audio file. It was all enough to send my motion sickness prone wife  back upstairs after a brief visit.

It is an obsession given form that truly has to be seen to be fully appreciated. But if you can’t score an invite for lunch, Jason has posted his own visitor’s guide to YouTube.

Time for me to get started on that full-scale recreation of the International Space Station for MY basement. Completion date 2019. Jason, have you got some free time?