Hayes Train Special returns, dedicated to the volunteer who built it
The holiday model train display at the Hayes Presidential Center honors Gordon W. Knight, who died last year while setting it up.
The Hayes Train Special, a holiday model train exhibit at the Rutherford B. Hayes Presidential Center in Fremont since 1994, is back for the season. This year it is dedicated to Gordon W. Knight, who designed and set up the display for almost 20 years and died last year while helping put it together.
Knight’s family is paying for this year’s exhibit, and the center has hung a photo montage of his work, many of the pictures taken by the center’s head of photographic resources. Knight also ran the center’s annual Train Clinic, helping visitors with trains they brought from home.
The layout
Eight trains run on a three-tier, 12-by-24-foot layout that rises toward the ceiling. Visitors can push buttons to blow whistles, lower crossing gates and run other features. Scenes include 19th-century trolleys, a snowy Victorian village and a decorated Christmas tree.
Hours
The display opened Sunday, Nov. 27, and runs through Sunday, Jan. 8, 2012. Hours are 9 a.m. to 5 p.m. Tuesday through Saturday and noon to 5 p.m. Sunday and Dec. 24. It is closed Christmas and New Year’s Day. The center is at Hayes and Buckland avenues in Fremont. Details are at rbhayes.org.
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