Step into Downtown Walnut Creek's Ace Hardware, and you'll quickly realize it's more than just a place for nuts and bolts. You'll encounter a marvel of miniature engineering. A 575-foot G-scale model train, which has become a beloved community fixture, loops on its intricate overhead tracks. It chugs past a redwood bridge and tiny landscapes that evolve every few years.
If you look closely, you'll discover several detail-oriented features, all painstakingly designed. There's a stunning replica of the Golden Gate Bridge, a charming covered bridge crafted from aged wood with hand-lasered planks and tiny lights illuminating a rolling landscape dotted with clusters of miniature trees. This G-scale locomotive traverses twin tracks with continuous loops, logging an impressive distance.
"It runs 104,000 feet a day—that's our record since 2010," says Eric Moe, the visionary behind this kinetic installation and owner of Moe Trains. That's nearly 20 miles daily, equivalent to circling a football field 79 times!
What began as a holiday pop-up is now a community fixture, embodying Eric's lifelong passion for railroads in motion. "It's not just tracks and scenery. It's about making every detail feel alive," he says.
Eric's passion for the rails started when he was just a one-year-old with a Santa Fe caboose, the only surviving piece of his first set. His path to professional model-making took detours.
He found success in the high-octane world of drag racing, even winning Top Eliminator at the Phoenix International Raceway in 1986. He recognized surprising parallels between the demands of drag racing and the intricate detail required for model railroads.
Eric then merged these skills to launch Moe Trains – a boutique studio specializing in custom railroads.
"I didn't find anybody (locally) doing this," he says. "It's about troubleshooting, not just buying something out of a box."
Eric recounts a particularly poignant request when a client wanted to recreate the view from his childhood back window.
"We built the house with a camera inside so he could watch the train pass by on a screen, just like when he was young."
His projects range from practical solutions, like a water-tank car that services a hillside garden, to elaborate displays, like a logging railroad with "about 2,000 model trees." Some creations don't even move: "Just a picture frame where the linkages move," he says. "It doesn't go anywhere."
His shop has eight 3D printers, including a stereolithography machine, laser cutters, and CNC mills. He produces everything from McKeen motorcars (only 500 originals were made in 1908) to interactive displays where passing trains activate lighting.
"At our Pleasanton installation, the train triggers shadow boxes to light up," he says. Eric says he's also done work at the Walt Disney Family Museum.
But his dream project is the Orient Express: "(The Orient Express) is the world's best," he says. "I wish the United States would get high-speed rail. I'd get on board with that."
After summer maintenance, he begins to prep for Christmas, his busiest season. Clients request nostalgic recreations, like childhood views of passing trains.
"We build the house, put a camera inside, and they see that same view on screen," he says, emphasizing kinetic displays. "People connect more when things actually move."
Visit: Moetrains.com