It could be the only one of its kind in the country and Saturday, Rochester Mayor Lovely Warren recognized the volunteers celebrating the Edgerton Model Train display’s 65th anniversary.
"I like when it moves." Five year old Abram King has his own layout in his bedroom. WXXI found Abram, his mom and kid brother enjoying the Fall season layout, one of four in the basement of the Edgerton Recreation Center on Backus Street.
The anniversary provided the city a chance to thank volunteers and donors who spend hours cleaning, restoring and improving the displays.
"65 years of a train exhibit being in operation anywhere in this country is phenomenal,” said volunteer curator Lee Wood. “The fact that it's municipally owned, by the city of Rochester for all these years, makes it even better."
One of the youngest members of the Edgerton Model Railroad Club is Mike Boccacci. He and his dad help repair train cars for resale.
Mike loves running the trains. His favorite is winter, the Polar Express display. He says he’s always coming up with ideas for improvements.
"I want to change up Spring; I want to get the scenery better. I want to add more buildings and more animals on the mountains."
Curator Wood concurs. "My goal, as long as I'm curator here, is to make those layouts so detailed that people can come down here 4, 5, or 6 times and still find things they haven't seen before. So, stay tuned and keep coming down and keep seeing the train layouts."
Visitors are welcome to a free open house on the last Saturday every month. To join the club, Wood says just stop in on a Tuesday evening.
