The Morning Journal (Lorain, OH)
TREES, TRAINS LIGHT UP LORAIN
City’s Locomotive history celebrated with seasonal twists
The Trees and Train display at the Lorain Black River Landing is a celebration of the International City’s locomotive history with some seasonal twists.
For the past six years the display in partnership with the Lorain Growth Association and the Lorain Port Authority have welcomed guests to Black River Landing at the Transportation Center at 421 Black River Lane where the space is filled with numerous Christmas trees and different train displays.
“Seven years ago, the Port Authority asked the tourism council of the Lorain Growth Corporation to do something with this building in the wintertime,” said Gail Bonsor, who coordinates the exhibit for the Lorain Growth Association’s Tourism Council. “We’re an international city and this is a train station which was basically built to have a train go into Cleveland.”
Since opening its doors on Nov. 30, Bonsor said more than 2,100 people have come to partake in the display, which runs until Dec. 30.
Train enthusiasts Rich and Helga Papay have been displaying their holiday train set since the beginning.
Rich has been collecting trains for about 30 years and revels in the opportunity to unveil the set for the public to enjoy. Helga decorated the display by
“I wore out the first train. This is the second one. I had to make bridges tall enough for Santa Claus to go underneath.” — Train enthusiast Rich Papay
customizing it with a greenhouse, adding a merry-goround and a hotel adding to the festive spirit of the exhibit.
“The Christmas display is at least 12 years old,” Rich said. “I wore out the first train. This is the second one. I had to make bridges tall enough for Santa Claus to go underneath.”
The Transportation Center with the help of the Lorain Port Authority also features mesmerizing trains running around the wall near the ceiling, with each car sponsored by local organizations which help provide for the maintenance of the cars to be enjoyed for years to come.
For this year’s display, the tourism committee decided to place all of the international trees in the middle with train displays on the
outside.
The collection of trees includes the Lorain International Tree covered with different flags representing different nationalities in the community. A special commemorative tree marking the centennial anniversary of the Lorain Lighthouse in addition to a Lorain history tree covered with picture snippets reminiscent of downtown Lorain in the winter in decades past which shaped the city’s identity including ice skating on the Black River.
Gary Schaefer and Lee Sheffield of National Model Railroad Association MidCentral Region’s Division 4 returned. The group with more than 200 members cover Lorain, Cuyahoga, Medina, Erie and Huron counties in promoting model railroading.
“For me, I enjoy interacting with the people,” Schaefer said. “One thing I will say about our group as opposed to some of the other groups that are out there, we
don’t just sit and watch the trains go around and round, when we have our big layouts we follow the trains around and we engage our people. It’s nothing for us to hand a throttle over to a kid and say, ‘here, want to control the train’ and let them go.”
Their module display consists of several small portable sections of track that put together spanned the length of the Transportation Center. The group provides a detailed look at locomotive history and the science of trains.
“If you look at our modules and if you look at model railroading, you have it all. You have the science, the electronics and constructing all this, and you have the arts,” Schaefer added. “You can then take it a step beyond and go into history and economics and how it rose.”
The International Trees and Model Train Display will run through Dec. 30 and is open from 5-9 p.m. on Dec. 29 and 30. It is free and open the public.