Ever since I was little, I’ve loved model trains (and that ladies and gentlemen – is a long time).  I love to watch them wind around the track, chugging through tiny worlds that are lovingly created in exact detail.  There are tiny shops, tiny trees, and tiny people.  It fascinates me, and I could stare at model railroad displays for hours.

I can fondly remember traveling out to the Hagerstown Fairgrounds when I was a wee lad to view the holiday train display that the Model Railroader’s club had there during the 1970’s.  My brother and I would stand on the raised wooden platforms and point at the circus train, the trolley car, and the long Western Maryland Railroad coal trains as they labored past us and into the model mountains.

As a kid, I can also vividly remember playing with my own model trains in my father’s basement.  We had a nice layout on a large wooden board that had an Esso station, a Kentucky Fried Chicken, and several homes and neighborhoods for our trains to traverse.  We had model telephone poles, a barn, and even model livestock, lazily grazing in the green painted fields.  It was fantastic.

I think a love and obsession for all things model railroad must be strictly a guy thing.  Alas, I was blessed with all girls for my own children, and they were never bitten by the model railroad bug like their father.

Oh, well.

Luckily, I can relive my childhood again during the holidays.  The Hagerstown Roundhouse Museum’s “Trains of Christmas” is back for a new season, and this year, it’s a totally new setup which has been rebuilt from top to bottom.  If you go, you’ll notice man and boy alike in a trance-like state, gazing longingly at the iron horses as they gallop along the tracks.  The ladies will be staring at their watches, wondering when they can leave.  You may even see me there as well.  Tap me on the shoulder to say “hello”, or you may not get an acknowledgement.

I’ll be in a model railroad dreamland.

 

IF YOU GO:

What: The “Trains of Christmas”

Where: Hagerstown Roundhouse Museum – 296 South Burhans Blvd.  Hagerstown, MD 21740

When: Fridays-Sundays through December from 1:00 p.m. – 5:00 p.m. (closed Christmas Eve, Christmas Day, and New Year’s Day, but open Monday-Friday December 26^th – 30^th)

Cost: Adults – $5, Children (4-12) – $0.50, Kids under four are free