Story by Karen Parr-Moody
CLARKSVILLE, Tenn. – When the kids get possessed of the post-holiday wiggles, it’s time to head to the largest model railroad layout in this area. Spruced up for the holidays, the amazing model in the Customs House Museum’s Kimbrough Gallery will make special runs from 10 a.m. to 12 p.m. on Dec. 26, Dec. 27, Jan. 2 and Jan 3.
While the trains are on display year-round, during the holidays they get glammed up with billows of white snow and are renamed the “Snowflake Special.”
In this winter village scene, visitors can watch as one train rushes to deliver a car filled with presents or as tiny guests line up for the colorful Ferris wheel festooned with the sign “Ride the Starberst!” Even Elvis makes an appearance on the big screen at a drive-in movie theater and tiny ice skaters flit along at an ice skating rink.
This train has been running for 24 years, thanks to a volunteer crew. And for the littlest ones in your family, there are wooden train models nearby where kids can try their hand at being an engineer.
The Customs House Museum is located at 200 S. Second Street. Find more information on the museum’s website at www.customshousemuseum.org.
It’s fascinating to examine the tiny details of the Snowflake Special model railroad.
Karen Parr-Moody began a career as a New York journalist, working as a fashion reporter for Women’s Wear Daily, a beauty editor for Young Miss and a beauty and fashion writer for both In Style and People magazines. Regionally, she has been a writer at The Leaf-Chronicle newspaper and currently writes about arts and culture for Nashville Arts magazine each month.