MIDDLEBURY, Vt. (WCAX) – There’s still time to check out the Henry Sheldon Museum’s annual holiday model train exhibit in Middlebury.
It’s an exhibit that shrinks the state’s history down to scale, complete with three Lionel model trains.
Its conductor is Underhill native Bill Frank. “I came down here one day just to see the trains. My wife noticed it was in, just came out to look, and I grew in love with it immediately. I think my wife went through the museum eight times before she could get me out of here,” Frank said.
Falling back in love with an old hobby, Frank is one of many volunteers at the museum reconnecting with youthful pastimes. “It slid under my bed. I come home from school, pull it out, play with it for the rest of the evening until my mom sent me to bed and I had to push it back,” Frank recalled.
Many of the “railroad workers” are members of the Middlebury Train Club, enthusiasts who help build, design, and maintain the holiday display each year.
“It’s really an incredible community effort which I think is one of the great parts of the train program — that it’s been really sustained by the energy of Middlebury,” said the museum’s Coco Moseley.
Complete with lifting bridges and all the bells and whistles, the interactive display teaches families about Vermont’s locomotive history.
“The kids that come down stand up here and watch it, and just seeing their face and watching their eyes go back and forth, and having you stop the train, start the train — everything about that,” Frank said. He calls it a chance to reflect on beloved traditions.
“For some families, they’ve been coming year after year and that kind of grounds them,” Moseley said.
“And there’s people that come down, like me, that still have their original train. They put it up under the Christmas tree or they have it up and others who have no idea what happened to their train and they’re sitting here reminiscing,” Frank said.
The last chance to hop on board and catch a glimpse of the trains is Saturday. Admission is free.