Magical Exhibit Features More Than a Mountain of Toy Trains
A playful special exhibit at the Richard Nixon Presidential Library and Museum will take visitors on a magical journey through the world of miniature trains when it rolls into town November 16 through January 10.
One of the largest such collections ever assembled, A Holiday Festival of Trains features a breathtaking landscape of toy trains, many whistling through tiny snow-covered turn of the century villages, a 1890 Bavarian castle, and forested mountain passes with over 5,000 miniature trees.
Additional highlights include:
- A "Mountain of Trains" featuring a multi-tiered platform 13' tall by 40' long by 32' wide running more than 16 trains on 1,500 feet of track.
- A sensational LEGO train display featuring a 20 ft long bridge and LEGO's famous Emerald Nigh Train, built by the LEGO Club of Southern California.
- Thrill to the "Chloe," a full-size sugar plantation engine formerly owned by Academy Award winning Disney animator, Ward Kimball.
- An exciting interactive 8x8 ft train display where youngsters can play conductor, stopping and starting trains, plus operating the crossing gate and warning signals.
- Rare combination of five gauges together in one exhibition, including: G, Standard, O, On30 and Ho.
- Colorful pre-WW II tinplate accessories by Lionel, American Flyer, Ives and Marklin.
- Locomotive, tender, and cars from the early 1930s.
- Modern classics including Polar Express and Thomas the Tank Engine.
- Photos of Walt Disney & Ward Kimball at their famous visit to the 1948 Chicago Rail Fair.
- Original pieces of the Blue and Red Monorail train enjoyed at Disneyland in the '50's, plus photos of the 1959 Monorail grand opening and ribbon cutting by Walt Disney and Vice President Nixon.
- A warm and scenic Santa Claus Village featuring miniatures from Dept. 56.
- Volunteers for the Train Collectors Association will be available on weekends to discuss the history of the various trains.
The exhibit was created through the pooled efforts and resources of the Western Division of the Train Collectors Association, the Richard Nixon Presidential Library and Museum, and the Nixon Foundation.
The exhibit reflects months of work from local volunteers of the Western Division of the Train Collectors Association, the leading national organization of train enthusiasts whose 30,000 members worldwide are dedicated to the collecting, preservation, and running of toy trains.
Led by Western Division Project Coordinator Robert Lemberger and President Wayne Sheriff, local TCA volunteers are on-site assembling the tiny tracks, trestles, and holiday villages with many TCA volunteers logging 12-hour days around the multi-tiered platform with its 144-feet perimeter. Lemberger says the exhibit has been a labor of love for the TCA members.
The idea of a train exhibit reflects Richard Nixon's love of trains beginning in his childhood in Yorba Linda. He recalled in his Memoirs one of the earliest memories from his Yorba Linda boyhood: "In the daytime I could see the smoke from the steam engines. Sometimes at night I was awakened by the whistle of a train, and then I dreamed of the far-off places I wanted to visit someday."
A Holiday Festival of Trains will be on display from Monday, November 16, 2009 through Sunday, January 10, 2010, and is included with museum admission. The Richard Nixon Presidential Library and Museum is located at 18001 Yorba Linda Boulevard, Yorba Linda, California 92886. The Library is open every day except Thanksgiving, Christmas and New Year's Day from 10 a.m. to 5 p.m., Sundays 11 a.m. to 5 p.m. Admission is $9.95 adults, $3.75 children 7 to 11, free for children 6 and younger; $6.95 for seniors 62 and up, and students; $5.95 for active military. Group tour discounts are available, contact Mindy Farmer at (714) 983-9138 or mindy.farmer@nara.gov. For additional information visit www.nixonlibrary.gov, or call (714) 983-9120; or www.nixonfoundation.org, or call (714) 993-5075.
SOURCE The Richard Nixon Foundation
