Photo: Jay Willett/WBZ NewsRadio
ROSLINDALE, Mass. (WBZ NewsRadio) — As the MBTA Commuter Rail rattled through the Roslindale Village station Sunday, across the street a much smaller set of trains made their way around the tracks.
The Bay State Model Railroad Museum on South Street held its spring open house this weekend, one of two times a year that the museum, private club, and non-profit organization opens its doors to the public. Otherwise, the museum offers no private tours and does not host parties, but people can make a reservation to watch members work on their layouts on Wednesday nights.
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"It started off as a showcase for the neighborhood," said Tom Landro on the museum's 1968 origin. "[The] last few years has really expanded to be the whole region."
Guests lined down the block to enter the museum and wind their way through a path of miniature sculpted landscapes, junctions, yards, tunnels, and dozens of replica model trains, including the MBTA, Amtrak, Pan Am Railways, and even Thomas the Tank Engine.
"Out of all the model rail museums I’ve been to, this is definitely the coolest one," one kid told WBZ NewsRadio.
Although the trains may be small, it takes a huge amount of coordination to keep the tracks running smoothly. Each model is outfitted with a microchip, which operators around the building use to baton pass the signal from one person to the next.
"I take it from point A to point B, then somebody else takes it from their point A to point B," said AJ, one of the operators.
The second open house weekend will be in November.
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