63岁大爷在自家330平米庭院建“火车王国”，自己当总统|Traveling the world on a mini train

Imagine this: a train passing through a tunnel, going along the river into the forest before heading for the sea-crossing bridge; eventually, it takes a U-turn on the turntable and pulls into the station, waiting for more passengers before it rolls away again – all this happens in a 330-square-meter courtyard.

在一个占地330平米的小区庭院中，一列火车穿过隧道，沿着大河开进森林，驶过跨海大桥；在旅程的末尾，它到转盘上一掉头，进入车站，准备载上新一批乘客，再驶向八方。

Interesting right? There's a man among billons who's creating and living this dream. "I feel like a king dispatching these trains," says 63-year-old Zhang Jiu'an. 

“我在指挥火车的过程中，感觉自己像个国王”。

He has spent almost 5 years to create this 1:22.5 mini-railway in his own courtyard. Not only trains and tracks, but there is also a roundhouse, a coal tower, a water stop, roadbeds, culverts, fences and various factories, even miniature "residents". All these details make this an elaborate railway sand table. 

这是63岁的成都老爷子张久安花费近5年时间，按照1:22.5的比例在自家后院打造的火车庭院。这里除了火车和铁轨，还有车库、煤塔、水塔、涵洞、护栏、居民、路基，甚至还有各种工厂。所有元素加起来，构成了这一逼真的大型火车沙盘。

"This was my childhood dream. I always liked trains, and I wanted to be a train driver, although it was a luxury then to buy model trains. I had to work hard for this costly hobby. Now I can finally afford that dream."

“这是多年前的梦想。我童年时期就喜欢火车，想当火车司机，但那时没有条件玩这个。年轻的时候，想着拼命挣钱，因为玩火车模型需要有经济基础。活到这个年龄，有条件了。”

"The work requires versatility. Working on the natural elements is a sort of physical exercise. It involves brainwork too. It's a mix of work and leisure, pretty healthy for an old man like me."

谈起自己的爱好，张久安总是信心满满：“我这个活是多工种的。栽树弄草坪的时候是体力活动，晚上用劲修理时是脑力劳动。劳逸结合，很健康，也是度过老年的一个新方式。”

He began collecting model trains in 2003 and made a small sand table, measuring about 10 square meters. In 2011, he bought a house with a huge backyard and started to map out his model railway plan.  

2003年时，他开始收集火车模型，在10多平米的地方做比例较小的沙盘。到了11年，他在某开发商的规划中发现该小区的院子很大，果断决定买下来，然后就开始盘算怎么修建火车庭院。

"The model trains must be digitalized in a more complex sand table, otherwise controlling them would be a real handful. I want to dispatch them systematically as if they were real trains." 

“沙盘大了以后，火车模型就都必须数码化，否则车子多了，一开动就所有都动，一停就所有都停。如果要仿真就得数码化，这样他们才能服从我的调度、指挥，和真车一样”。

Zhang installed electronic chips on the trains in order to control their movement and make them whistle. 

张久安给火车模型加装了芯片，这些芯片除了能控制车身，还能决定列车运行时发出的声音。

"There are different whistle sounds for different model types, and that should be taken into consideration."

“型号不同的列车，发出的声音也不同，声音不匹配的话，就会损害真实性。”

"The most preferred scale for the garden railway is 1:22.5. There are more refitting possibilities with larger trains. They look great in an outdoor setting, but only with proper artificial landscapes including plants and houses, etc." 

“国际上庭院火车最流行的比例就是1：22.5。火车大一点，自己动手改装的空间也大，这些大比例的火车模型还可以放在室外。但我们需要修建成比例的天然场景，比如植物、房子这些。”

Zhang's craving for perfection made him realize that he needed a professional perspective. Soon, Zhang teamed-up with a German engineer to work on a sea-crossing bridge over the "Pacific Ocean.” Their cross-border friendship was spurred by the common passion for railway culture.  

这些高要求曾让张久安感到“专业知识不足”。比如庭院内太平洋上的那条“跨海大桥”，它其实是一位德国基建工程师的主意。他们的跨国友谊始于对火车文化的共同痴迷，也“补救”了张久安非科班出生的局限。

Together, they worked out the bridge's specifications according to the railway's layout, before taking the blueprint to the factory. When the bridge was finished, the error was smaller than 1 mm. 

他俩根据场地大小、线路走向确定桥的长度、曲线半径等参数，合作画设计图，然后找工厂加工，最终的成品与设计稿误差不到1毫米。

"God had sent me an angel," Zhang recalled.

张久安回忆道，“老天给我派了一个天使。”

He even built a lifelike "Sino-Euro tunnel." The tunnel was designed as per European standards on one side and traditional Chinese features on the other. Plus, there are miniature lights and passengers in every train carriage.

除此之外，他还修建了栩栩如生的“中欧隧道”。在欧洲这边，他按照当地规范造出欧式隧道口，在另一边，则按照中国人的审美打造园林风光，并在所有车厢里面加装了灯和小人。

Perfectionism is what makes Zhang's locomotive kingdom so vivid and eye-popping.

诸如此类对细节的完美追求，造就了张久安的火车王国令人赞叹的逼真性。

"Now that I have realized my dream, I feel much healthier and at peace. I shall celebrate my 100th birthday by playing with these trains." 

“我现在实现了我的梦想，觉得身体越来越健康，脑子很平静。我应该活到100岁，继续玩。”

"There's culture in trains. I am having fun with them. Yet I am, in a broad sense, promoting the railway culture in China. I'm also showing people that there're more ways of enjoying the retirement life other than square dance and traveling."

多年过去，张久安依旧对火车乐此不疲，“火车是也是一种文化，主观上看是我在玩，客观上我也推动了中国火车文化的发展。我要让更多人知道有一种玩法区别于跳广场舞和旅游。”

Director：Liu Yangyang

Editor：Ma Mingyuan, Gao Xingzi

Filmed by: Zhang Hao

Designer：Yu Peng

Article Written by: Yao Xinyi

Copy Editor: Henry Weimin, Khushboo Razdan

Producer：Wen Yaru

Chief Editor:Liu Hui, Qin Xiaohu

Supervisor：Pang Xinhua

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