Trains and Christmas seem to go together. The first model trains appeared in 1891 and 13 years later, a group of English hobbyists began building little worlds to go along with these wonderful trains. Electric model trains appeared just before WWI, and the 1920s saw an explosion of these as toys for the wealthy. By the 1950s, model trains were the most common Christmas gift for little boys.
There are numerous model train displays throughout the year, but the holiday season brings out even more, usually holiday themed displays — often referred to as Christmas Gardens or Christmas Train Gardens. This year, we went to the Ellicott City Volunteer Fire Company #2 to see its Christmas Train Garden.
Christmas train gardens are a Baltimore tradition. “The custom is known only to Baltimore and many of the smaller towns of Pennsylvania,” according to a 1936 article in The (Baltimore) Sun, “particularly those settled originally by people of German origin.” According to the B&O Railroad Museum, in the late 1800s, German immigrants would set up scenes as they had done in Europe, and of course, because Baltimore itself is the home to the oldest railroad in the United States (the Baltimore and Ohio (B&O) Railroad), it was natural that model trains would be integrated into these scenes.
In homes, often model trains and the accompanying villages were built around Christmas trees. In the 1930s and into the 1950s, the B&O Railroad itself often displayed model train layouts at stations or cities along its routes.
Baltimore City Fire Department, Engine Company 45 and Medic 14, 2700 Glen Avenue, Baltimore, MD; www.facebook.com
Baltimore & Ohio Railroad Museum, 901 West Pratt Street, Baltimore, MD; www.borail.org
Cambridge Rescue Fire Company, 307 Gay Street, Cambridge, MD; https://www.rescuefirecompany.org/
Easton Volunteer Fire Department, 315 Aurora Park Drive, Easton, MD; https://www.facebook.com/eastonvfdmd/
Ellicott City Baltimore & Ohio Railroad Station Museum, 2711 Maryland Avenue, Ellicott City, MD
Ellicott City Fire Company #2, 4150 Montgomery Road, Ellicott City, MD; www.ellicottcityvfa.com
Hagerstown Roundhouse Museum, 300 South Burhan’s Boulevard (US 11), Hagerstown, MD; http://www.roundhouse.org/christmas-at-the-roundhouse.html
Jarrettsville Volunteer Fire Company, 3825 Federal Hill Road, Jarrettsville, MD; www.jarrettsvillevfc.com
Mount Airy Volunteer Fire Company, 702 North Main Street, Mount Airy, MD; www.mavfc.org
Pleasant Valley Community Fire Company, 2030 South Pleasant Valley Road, Westminster, MD; www.pleasantvalleyfire.org
Upperco Volunteer Fire Company, 16020 Carnival Avenue, Upperco, MD; www.uppercovfc.org
Wise Avenue Volunteer Fire Department, 214 Wise Avenue, Dundalk, MD; www.wavfc.org
White Marsh Volunteer Fire Company, 10331 Philadelphia Road, White Marsh, MD; https://www.wmvfc.org/
- Bull Run Festival of Lights
- Christmas in New York City
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- Garden of Lights at Annmarie Sculpture Garden
- Garden of Lights at Brookside Gardens
- Festival of Trees at William Goodrich Center
- Frederick by Candlelight
- Lights on the Bay
- Making Christmas Ornament: Glass Blowing at Art of Fire
- Maryland Lights Roundup
- Meadowlark’s Winter Walk of Lights
- Mid-Atlantic Holiday Lights Roundup
- Newport News’ Celebration of Lights
- Sailing into the Solstice 2018 and 2019
- Symphony of Lights
- Tale Lights
- Williamsburg’s Christmas Wreaths
- Winter Festival of Lights at Watkins Park
- Winter Lights at Seneca Creek State Park
- Zoo Lights at the Maryland Zoo
- Zoo Lights at Smithsonian National Zoo
