Model trains will be zooming along tracks past villages and through tunnels at the Beaufort Branch Library as the Beaufort Railroaders bring classic small town village scenes to life at this year’s 30th Annual Christmas Display at the Scott Street location in downtown.
Enjoy Christmas fun from a bygone era and watch vintage Lionel and American
High Flyer model trains along with small town Christmas scenery complete with churches, train depots, little people and vintage model cars on city streets.
You may remember these from your grandparents’ home while you were growing up. These days, they are the passion of members of the Beaufort Railroaders, and several of them show up each year at the library with their trains and the entire vintage Christmas villages, taking up several large rooms at the downtown library.
No one knows for sure how the tradition of toy trains under the Christmas tree got started, but historians believe the tradition dates back at least 100 years. In fact, it probably got started in the early 1900s, around the time when manufacturer Lionel began to produce the first electric toy trains.
Children were more familiar with trains than automobiles at the time, so toy train sets were a popular Christmas gift. Kids would open their presents on Christmas morning and, like kids do, they wanted to assemble and play with their toys after opening. Assembling the train set around the tree only made sense.
The trains are running on a special, one week only schedule from Tuesday, December 12th thru Saturday, December 16th. The display hours are from 9am to 5pm Tuesday through Friday, and 9am to 4pm on Saturday.
The event is free to the public.
Make sure not to miss it. These model trains at the library are special, and they’ll be pulling out of the train station before you know it and won’t be back until next Christmas.
The library is located at 311 Scott Street in downtown Beaufort.
