The American Wind Power Center

Lubbock has the American Wind Power Center http://windmill.com/.  I have been there before inside and out. Recently, they have opened a new exhibit center, which houses windmills and a miniature train display, miniature houses, and windmill artifacts.  There is also a millstone exhibit.

These might seem strange inclusions in a wind power museum, but in some way, they make sense. Having grown up in the Northeast, I would not think of this, but the steam engines crossing the prairies needed to have a source of water, and sometimes, oftentimes, access to that water was only due to the construction of a windmill. The miniature train display is incomplete, has quite a bit of landscaping around it, and has a circular rise/decline, so the train can travel to a track well above the floor and back down. It has a trestle bridge, an old fashioned iron bridge, and a turn around so the train can travel back down to the floor display.  There is a tunnel, with a train travelling in a loop on the display.  I think having a train over head is a bit magical, making me think of Christmas displays of times gone by.  I hope they continue to do the landscaping, including on the upper track.

Again, my thought of a mill location would be on some sort of waterway that would allow the water power to be harnessed by a water wheel.   Not so in many places in the world, and windmills were used for this in areas where running water was not available.  The place I think of the most using windmills is The Netherlands http://www.dutchnews.nl/features/2015/05/10-things-you-should-know-about-dutch-windmills/.  I always thought the windmills were used for land reclamation, but obviously that was not the case.

This trip to the Wind Power Center opened my mind and educated me, which is what a museum is supposed to do.  So, I would say this museum is a success!