Bells ring and whistles blow as Essex Train Show rolls on
ESSEX Alyssa Nicholls peered into a small opening under a bridge. Wide-eyed she watched the trains whiz by.
“With that super fast train all I saw was (a blur),” said the nineyear-old who was attending the Essex Train Show Sunday with her family.
“This is my first time here and my favourite part about being at a train show is because when the trains go by you see a lot of miniature places that look pretty cool,” Nicholls said. “I like how there’s a lot of trees and there’s a couple of houses. It looks like in the countryside.”
Nicholls was joined by hundreds of other visitors taking in the sights and sounds of whistles blowing and bells ringing while miniature trains chugged along oval tracks set up on great expanses of plywood decorated with replica train stations and grassy knolls.
The annual two-day event, billed as Southwestern Ontario’s largest train show, was expected to attract more than 1,200 people on what was its 25th anniversary, said show co-ordinator Marnie Aldridge.
Aldridge said it has grown from the first year where a few collectors gathered at the Essex Railway Station. Now it spreads out around the halls of Essex Public School and fills the gymnasium.
In addition to the elaborate displays, vendors sell all sorts of train-related products, train models, train books and offered advice on how to get started with the hobby.
Rachel Braga brought her two children, Eleanor, 5, and Henry, 3, to the show.
“My son is train-obsessed, so we have to come and see trains whenever they’re out,” said the Kingsville
resident, adding Henry loves the children’s character Thomas the Train.
“I grew up with a train set smaller than this,” Braga said, pointing to the large exhibit her children were admiring. “My dad actually just pulled it out of the basement and is working on setting it up for them.”
If you missed the Essex show, mark your calendars for March 14 and 15, when there will be a display of train layouts set up by the Windsor Model Railroad Club at Devonshire Mall in the area in front of the Hudson’s Bay store.
Club member Shane Mccarthy said it is the fifth year for the exhibit at the mall. And the club also has a permanent display set up at the Windsor Market at Walker Road and Ottawa Street. Visitors are welcome to drop by every Tuesday from 6 to 9 p.m.