Written by Paul Race for Family Garden Trains |
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Southwest Ohio/Northern Kentucky 2015 Christmas-Themed Open RailroadsDo you like to see big trains running at Christmas? Many people do, although most Large Scale railroads only operate during the summer months. However, some brave folks every year fight the temptation to take their trains inside when it gets cold, and they run trains in the weeks preceding Christmas as well.For the last seven years, we've had our garden railroad, the New Boston and Donnels Creek, open for visitors in early November. We light dozens of trees, play Christmas music, run Christmas-themed trains, pop popcorn (in a theater-style popcorn popper), serve other snacks, show Christmas or train movies outside, set up toy and model trains that little kids can take turns running, and generally show folks a great time. This year we plan to host our Eighth Annual Christmas-Themed Open Railroad on Saturday, November 14. Locally, we're calling this event "Christmas Train Day," because we've figured out that most folks don't know what "open railroad" means, or even "garden railroad." But if you say "Christmas Train Day," folks come expecting to see trains and something "Christmassy," and that they do. Lots of folks come early to see the daylight operations. When the weather is cold, I don't blame them. But if it's a warm day (for November) the truth is, the BEST time to come is about 3:45 - then, as you visit and it starts to get a bit darker, the lights glow more and more. The "magic hour" is just before twilight - you can still see everything, but it all has begun to take on a warm glow. Of course you can check the weather report before you plan your visit. This is Ohio, after all. In the past five years, we've had one bitterly cold day, three pretty days that turned cool after dark, and two "shirtsleeve weather" days. In other words, it's usually a nice place to spend a Saturday afternoon getting into the Christmas spirit early. Our friend Dan Stenger, who lives about eighty miles south of us, often has his railroad open in December, but we choose November, because the NMRA has a big show in Dayton a week before and we want to show our support. If you want directions or to be notified of future open houses, just use the contact form on this page. Dan Stenger, a friend in northern Kentucky, is braver than I - he usually schedules two or more Christmas-themed open railroads houses in December. Dan's railroad is much larger than mine, so it's always worth seeing.
In addition, there are many other places to see Large Scale model trains running in December. I'm going to start with the ones I know and add any more that I learn about as time goes on. So you should probably check back.
Additional Resources Note About Public Railroads: While we are posting the best information we have, we can not guarantee that any railroad listed on this page will be open as planned. If you are going to be traveling any distance to see these railroads, please contact the organization first to make certain it will be open at the time you plan to attend.
Note About Railroads at Private Residences: Most garden railroaders who have "open houses" prefer to have contact information for the people who are planning to come - it lets us know how many people are coming so we can better line up help and snacks, it provides a bit more security for us, and it also gives us a way of getting ahold of you in case something goes wrong and we have to cancel at the last minute.
Also, please use the comments box below if you would like to:
Thanks, and happy railroading,
Paul Race
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