McLaughlin Foundation hosting rolling model railroad exhibits

PARIS – The McLaughlin Foundation in South Paris will celebrate Maine railroad history, model railroading and garden railways in its fourth-annual Trees & Trains holiday exhibit, Dec. 11 to 14 at 97 Main St.

A perennial joy of the holiday season for both adults and children is a model train navigating around and between packages beneath the boughs of a Christmas tree. For four days, the McLaughlin Foundation house and barn will be filled with model trains of all types. Engineers of all ages will enjoy Lionel, G, O and HO scale model trains running on table tops and beneath decorated trees.

In the McLaughlin Foundation barn, visitors will find an extensive garden railway (G scale) exhibit set in a landscape of dwarf and full-size conifers. SAD 17 students and volunteers researched and built scale models of 14 western Maine train stations, bridges, shanties and water towers. Constructed on a half-inch scale (each half-inch is equal to one real-world foot) and illuminated from within, the models are finished with found natural materials: birch bark, moss, acorns, pine cones and sumac.

Buckfield, Harrison, Hebron, Oxford, Norway, South Paris, Mechanic Falls, West Minot and West Paris stations are included along with the Waterford Lake House, a stage stop, bridges in Mechanic Falls and Oxford, and the Norway Trolley House. There are two train lines and one trolley line.

An exhibit prepared by SAD 17 students tells the history of each station and of the Bridgton/Saco, Grand Truck, and Maine Central railroads.

On display is a botanical key to all the materials, trees and shrubs included in the exhibit. The living materials are well suited in scale and hardiness to outdoors garden railway installations.

Longfellow’s Greenhouses, O’Donal’s Nursery, Paris Farmer’s Union, Young’s Greenhouses, Hancock Land Co., and Hancock Lumber Co. have donated living materials for the display. Falls Fencing of Oxford is the sponsor of this year’s exhibit.

The G-scale rails and trains belong to Doug Johnson, president of the Maine Garden Railway Society. This year’s exhibit will include two large rail loops and one trolley line. Members of the Maine Garden Railway Society will help to set up the exhibit.

While the historical exhibit seeks to educate about the era of passenger trains in western Maine, there is a touch of seasonal whimsy, as Santa propels his own hand car along the rails.

Hot coffee, tea, cocoa and cookies will be available in the ticket office. Tickets are $3, $1 for kids under 12. Trains will run from 10 a.m. to 5 p.m.

Visitors should dress seasonally. Please park along Western Avenue and enter through the side porch. Call ahead if needing wheelchair assistance. Pre-registration is required for school groups.


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