Model Christmas Train of LEGOs

On Saturday, December 15, 10-4pm, all are invited to come see the Christmas LEGO Model Train at the museum. Donnie and Lori Richardson will return to the museum with their Model Train set made entirely of LEGOs. Come see their special Christmas features. Also that day, the museum volunteers will present a 10:30 Storytime for the children with a Trains/LEGOs theme. Youngsters are encouraged to come and hear stories, make crafts and do creative activities. At 12:30pm the staff invites visitors to enjoy the Movie, “A Charlie Brown Christmas” with free popcorn. All held in the Log House area. Drawings for prizes of Lego kits will be held throughout the day.

The story of the LEGO Model Train set begins with Lori Richardson. Lori Richardson began her love of LEGOs from the time she was a child. She played with them and introduced her son, Chandler, to them. Chandler enjoyed building with the sets and he was given more sets to build for his birthdays and Christmas. His love of the LEGOs fueled, or reawakened, Lori’s love of LEGOs.

After her husband and son built their first LEGO train (a red city passenger train), the possibilities became endless. Her husband wanted to start a free, train show to display some of his pre-war collection and his Marx layout to the community. When the first show happened, their son set up his LEGO train, and at the time, a small handful of buildings.  Both the show and the LEGOs were a success!  Eventually their son started growing out of LEGOs, but Lori continued the fascination with LEGOs. She still loves building with LEGOs, but she absolutely loves watching the children and even the adults get so excited when they see the layout. She enjoys having conversations with all and answering their questions.  And, she thanks her husband, Donnie, for sharing her love of LEGOs and helping to display the train.

The Christmas layout will be displayed on a – 4′ x 8′ table that houses just the Christmas scene and contains almost all of the LEGO Christmas village pieces. Lori is still on the hunt for two pieces that she is missing. It features a town square that has a carousel, mini-figures ice skating and participating in various winter activities, and of course, Mr. and Mrs. Claus.  Around the Christmas scene, they run the LEGO Christmas train.