"See that organ in there?" asks Vir-
ginia, pointing to the back of the par-
lor room in her gorgeous doll house.
"I paid $500 for that in Frankenmuth.
I was working at the time and out of
my mind," she recalls.
Some ice skaters come into view.
Happily twirling on a frozen pond,
the life-like skaters look as if they're
enjoying the cheery surrounds. "That
was $70 at Franks," explains Virginia.
"I wanted it, but..." Her best friends
knew she had her eye on that winter-
time scene and they gave it to the
Jacobs for their 50th wedding anniver-
sary.
Morticia and Gomez Adams come
to mind, especially when the word
"crash" is mentioned. "Crashes?" they
both exclaim in unison. "Oh yes, we
have crashes," they say, smiling at one
another.
A Castle of Horrors, a movie the-
ater with "Gone with the Wind" shin-
ing on a marquee, European houses
and a fast-moving gandy dancer draw
the eye.
"There's my favorite lady," says Vir-
ginia, waving at a miniature woman
with a cigarette in her hand, sitting on
a park bench near her baby. "I keep
telling her 'Don't smoke,' but she
won't give it up."
Then Virginia looks over to her
partner and joshes him. "Lee, Lee,"
she chides. "Here it comes Lee, look
out!" He's tinkering somewhere down
the track and knows the swift train is
heading straight toward his hands and
arms. "I see it, I see it," he laughs. ri

car accidents, tennis courts, golf cours-
es, city life and rural landscapes. Not
only is the hobby fun for the couple,
it keeps their love life...well, on track.
Leo, a well-known piano player and
singer in the metro area, worked in
the furniture business for 25 years fol-
lowed by a couple decades at Ford
Motor Company. He retired six years
ago and realized then that he should
find a hobby.
Says Virginia, "I told him, 'you'll
have to have a hobby if you retire or
you'll make me nuts.' "
Virginia, 69, says when the two were
kids, they always wanted a train and a
doll house. Leo and his brother used to
get a wind-up train from their aunt
every year, but Leo had his sights set on
an electric train. "We were depression
kids," says Virginia. "My so-called doll
house was an orange crate."
Then one day, Leo bought Virginia
a beautiful doll house kit so she
bought him his lifetime dream: an
electric train.
He first set up the train outside in
their garden. But it became too diffi-
cult for Leo, 73, to bend down to
operate the train, so they moved it
inside. The hobby grew. One train
became two, three, four and eventual-
ly filled up most of their present
2,000-square-foot basement. Virginia
estimates that their hobby is com-
prised of about $25,000 worth of
items.
Virginia, who once worked at
Kaufman Furniture on Woodward and
then Gorman's in Troy, glows when
she talks about how Leo wanted her
beside him during the many hours he
spends in their basement train room.
"I used to make all this stuff (the
miniature buildings and other acces-
sories) on the kitchen table and one
day he said, 'I got an office for you
downstairs.' He didn't want me
upstairs when he was downstairs," she
says, beaming at Leo. The "office" is a
card table on which Virginia creates
her miniature masterpieces.

.

All aboard!

On a weekday afternoon before the
holidays, Leo and Virginia open up
shop. During a quick spin around
their massive layout, they light up the
village, hit the trains' power controls
and watch their world come to life.

Above: The trolley car transports visitors
through the Jacobs' village.

Inset: European architecture adds to the
elegance of the town hall.

Right: After 50 years of marriage,
Virginia and Leo Jacobs stay on track
with their passion for trains.