Model railroad on track for holidays

FREMONT- There was a series of constantly circling model trains chugging along at the Hayes Presidential Center's Hayes Train Special on Sunday, but Jess Richards had her eye on an ice rink set slightly back from the track.

"I really like the ice skating rink. We had one of those when I was a kid," Richards said as she held her son, Joey.

Richards, a Clyde resident, was one of hundreds of people who turned out over the weekend to see the Hayes Center's annual holiday model train display.

The center has hosted the exhibit — which features nine trains riding through tunnels and around the corners of a 24-by-12 foot display— for 22 years.

It includes winter, holiday-themed scenes from President Hayes' time, with buttons positioned along the sides of the display that visitors can push to light up a scene, power a trolley or activate a crossing signal.

Richards said it was her first time visiting the display. She said her grandmother suggested that she go and take her children.

"They seem to be really loving it," she said.

Joan Eckermann, the center's special events and volunteer coordinator, said it took four to six weeks to set up the display, which opened Friday.

As she walked around the display, Eckermann said Mary Lou Rendon, the center's collections manager set up the exhibit with help from volunteers.

"Some of these trains will change up from year to year, depending on how they are running," Eckermann said.

Visitors to the exhibit can see carousels and Ferris wheels on one end of the display and tree-filled streetscapes littered with snow at the opposite corner.

Early 20th century black-and-white photos of trains and train workers are set on the walls around the display. Eckermann said the photos were taken by Ernst Niebergall, a German immigrant who settled in Sandusky in the early 1900s.

The display runs through Jan. 3. Eckermann said there will be a model train clinic at the center Jan. 2 from 1 to 4 p.m.

Ken Fullenlove will preside over the clinic, which Eckermann said draws serious model train collectors and newcomers to the hobby every year.

"Sometimes there's a line here. It's a popular workshop," she said.

dacarson@gannett.com

419-334-1046

Twitter:@DanielCarson7