IF YOU GO
| The B&O Railroad Museum |
| Holiday Festival of Trains |
| 410-752-2490 |
| HYPERLINK “http://www.borail.org” www.borail.org |
| The Fire Museum of Maryland |
| 2010 Holiday Train Garden |
| 410-321-7500 |
| HYPERLINK “http://www.firemuseum.org” www.firemuseum.org |
| Distances: Approximately 40 and 52 miles from DC |
As the holidays approach, days and nights are all about trips. That’s not hard to imagine, really. There are trips to the mall, to the grocery store, trips to the Christmas plays and holiday concerts, trips to the office parties, to the school parties…ad infinitum! Take a moment, though, for a trip back to childhood where the little and the big in all of us comes to life amid a cornucopia of family memories.
You have probably guessed it. How about a trip to one or more of the area’s myriad train garden layouts? They can be found in museums and in volunteer fire departments all around town. Since it is difficult to compete with Union Station’s magnificent layout, it is therefore foolish to even make the comparison. However, DC residents might wish to explore a little farther to the north where the railroad was born — Baltimore, MD.
The B&O Railroad Museum is home to the oldest, most comprehensive collection of railroad artifacts in the Western Hemisphere and within its iconic Roundhouse, surrounded 360-degrees by true historic engines, some of the most interesting of model train layouts are found.
“The Holiday displays are set up in the Roundhouse [but] in addition to these visiting model train layouts, we also have our permanent HO model train layout that’s actually built inside a C&O 725 passenger car!” said Dana Kirn, B&O Museum’s public relations director. “Outdoors, a G-scale layout measures 240-feet in diameter.”
Additionally, eight model railroad clubs from the area — including The National Capital Trackers with their O-scale models and the Japan Rail Modelers of Washington DC displaying N-scale models — are part of the Holiday Festival of Trains operating now through January 2, 2011.
Making its debut at the museum this weekend and running throughout the Festival is the incredible LEGO toy train layout, created by the Washington D.C. Metropolitan Area LEGO Train Club. Built completely with LEGO toys (houses and buildings included), it operates on a LEGO train track that has been placed on the 60-foot diameter Roundhouse wooden turntable.
“The miniature train under the Christmas Tree is a tradition that a lot of us have grown up with,” Kirn noted. “For those who don’t have it now, coming into the museum brings back memories and creates childhood memories for their own children.”
Rob Williams of the Fire Museum of Maryland agrees. His 20-foot by 30-foot garden is built entirely by volunteers and showcases an O-train gauge, along with representations of area businesses. New on the garden this year are wind turbines, helicopters, the long closed Gwynn Oak Amusement Park (remember that exciting place, baby boomers?) complete with roller coaster, and, finally, a big, lit-up fire scene.
“It’s like being a giant on earth,” Williams said. “It’s like you are seeing a town and all of the activity in its totality.”
For sure, a holiday trip worth making.
