A HOLIDAY FESTIVAL OF TRAINS PULLS INTO THE NIXON LIBRARY

Magical Exhibit Features More Than 100 Toy Trains

November 18, 2006

A new special exhibit at the Nixon Library takes visitors on a magical journey through the world of miniature trains. One of the largest such collections ever assembled, A Holiday Festival of Trains features a breathtaking landscape of more than 100 toy trains whistling through dozens of tiny snow-covered villages and wintry mountain passes. 

   Accompanying the toy trains is a rare display of the Lilly Belle, the miniature steam locomotive built in 1949 by Walt Disney and enjoyed in his own backyard, on loan from the Disney family. 

   Additional highlights include: 
   -- "Tower of Trains” design, featuring 12-feet tall, multi-tiered platforms and more than 1,000 feet of track

   -- “Wall of Trains” featuring more than 60 vintage engines

   -- Section from the first Disneyland Monorail, dedicated by Vice President Nixon in 1956

   -- Section from the 1960 Presidential campaign whistlestop platform used by candidate Richard Nixon

   -- Rare combination of six gauges favored by collectors, together in one exhibition, including: g, standard, o, s, on30 and Ho-gauge 

 -- Cast iron “floor trains” from the 1890s, pulled across the floor by string

-- Rare wind-up trains from the early 1900s

-- Early 1920s Ives engine and passenger cars, known for rich lithography

-- Voltamp locomotive, circa 1922

-- More than 30 tinplate accessories, including a 1920s Lionel set

-- Buddy L locomotive, tender, and cars from the early 1930s

-- Modern classics including Polar Express and Thomas the Tank Engine

-- A Wall of Trains featuring 60 special engines, including the Southern Pacific Freedom Train and Hiawatha Sky Dome

-- More than 100 scenic miniatures from Dept. 56, including Snow Village, North Pole, Christmas in the City, and Western themes

-- Antique toys and collectibles, including a Marx Super Circus play set

-- Special weekend visits by uniformed “conductor” volunteer 

    The exhibit reflects months of work from local volunteers of the Train Collectors Association, the leading national organization of train enthusiasts whose 30,000 members are dedicated to the collecting, preservation, and running of toy trains.

    Led by Western Division Project Coordinator, Bob Lemberger, local TCA volunteers have been encamped in the Nixon Library’s special exhibition gallery since mid-October, assembling the tiny tracks, trestles, and snow-covered holiday villages. Logging 12-hour days around the multi-tiered platform with its 144-feet perimeter, Lemberger says the exhibit has been a labor of love for the TCA volunteers.

    The late Lillian Disney understood the enthusiast’s lure for toy trains, recounting in Michael Broggie’s book, Walt Disney’s Railroad Story, “My husband had many projects and interests that competed for his attention but none could supplant that special place in his heart reserved for trains…whenever he was around railroads, and in the company of his fellow rail-fans, he enjoyed being ‘just one of the boys.’”

    The train whistle’s song was also special for Richard Nixon, who recalled in Memoirs, one of the earliest memories from his Yorba Linda boyhood: “In the daytime I could see the smoke from the steam engines. Sometimes at night I was awakened by the whistle of a train, and then I dreamed of the far-off places I wanted to visit someday.”

    A Holiday Festival of Trains will be on display through Thursday, January 11, 2007, included with museum admission. The Richard Nixon Library & Birthplace is located at 18001 Yorba Linda Boulevard, Yorba Linda, California 92886.  The Library is open every day except Thanksgiving, Christmas and New Years, from 10 a.m. to 5 p.m., Sundays 11 a.m. to 5 p.m. Admission is $9.95 adults, $3.75 children 7 to 11, free for children 6 and younger; $6.95 for seniors 62 and up, and student; $5.95 for active military. Group tour discounts are available. For additional information visit www.nixonlibrary.org, or call (714) 993-3393.