My Favorite Section of the Exhibit
I love it when I attend an event where going into it I don’t have a real love for the subject matter and leave realizing all the fun I’ve missed over the years. This was the case yesterday when we went up to Littleton, Colorado to the Hudson Gardens and Event Center special exhibit of Lionel O-Gauge Model Trains! From the minute we walked in I was hooked. I knew this was going to be something different and something fun. Neither of us was disappointed!
We arrived just as the doors were opening. As this was our first (and now, definitely not our last) visit to Hudson Gardens we were pleased that the entire event was FREE! Wow – gardens just starting to pop a little AND a free exhibit. Life is good. We were directed to the Inn at Hudson Gardens where they have weddings and business meetings, etc. The entire center section of the room was set up with a very large oval train track and the models were almost ready to go.

It was obvious, right from the beginning that the gentlemen that run this exhibit love what they do. The collection is very impressive. There were some very old trains, showing their age, but gracefully as well as some bright, shiny black ones that had steam coming out of the “stack”? What made this special was that these guys put a lot of time, effort and money into the buildings, the old trucks and the people working away on the toy tracks. I hadn’t seen anything like it since I was a kid.
Speaking of kids – to see the kiddo faces beaming at seeing the trains going round and round made me remember bringing Matthew to events like this when he was little. Lots of grandpas and their g-kids were sharing in this almost lost part of Americana. Little, little kids were smiling and laughing. 6-7 year old had huge, wide eyes. I loved their faces when they were allowed to hit but button for the “Woo-oo-Ooo”. It was a real treat to stand back from the crowd for a few minutes and just watch everyone having a good time. Did I mention that it was FREE????
Spring is definitely here and I hope you will keep your eyes open for similar local and near by events like this model train exhibit. It was a special treat for us. I can’t wait for our next adventure!