Morris Museum hosts Mega Model Trains

Start your weekend on the right track at the Morris Museum, as it hosts its popular Mega Model Trains display.

Featuring three separate tracks and dozens of interactive working accessories, the set is designed to appeal to railroad enthusiasts of all ages. The exhibition will be on view through March 1.

“Trains captivate children and people of all ages,” said Linda Moore, executive director for the Morris Museum. “They provide a terrific opportunity for family members of different generations to have a wonderful experience together.”

The Mega Model Trains set travels across a 288-square-foot landscape that replicates a city and pastoral scene. The display includes 37 diesel and steam locomotives: 110 rolling stock cars; 42 passenger rail cars; 139 cars, trucks, and motorcycles on local roads and a main highway; 84 skyscrapers; and 47 interactive working accessories that visitors can operate, including rail yard lights, building lights, railroad sound effects, signals, and animated figures.

“The highlights of the Mega Model Trains are the fascinating details on the landscape, and the interactive features on the exhibit,” Moore said. “Visitors can operate 48 buttons that activate a crossing gate, blow a train whistle, move figures such as Wile E. Coyote, set a playground in motion, light train signals, change billboard signs, and much more. The detailed landscape also provides an opportunity for a great game of “I Spy” as visitors try to locate fun elements, such as a skeleton waiting for a train, children playing a game of tug-of-war, and a host of animals.”

Among the exhibit’s most popular features include model trains from the children’s series “Thomas and Friends” as well as from the book “The Polar Express” by Chris Van Allsburg.

“Trains are a perennial favorite for children of all ages,” she said.

The Mega Model Trains display was originally on view from Thanksgiving to New Year’s Day at the Nabisco Factory in East Hanover. First opened in 1985, the set was constructed, maintained, and expanded by Nabisco employees until 2000, when the company was purchased by Kraft Foods, now Mondelēz International. In 2012, Mondelēz donated the display to the Morris Museum, where it is displayed annually.

“We hope that the trains will be a gateway for lifelong learning in a museum setting, and will serve as one way that children learn to love a museum and all that it has to offer,” she said. The trains are maintained by volunteers Bob DeGuarde, Ira Ginsburg (who designed and built the original display), and Ken Zippler.

“The Mega Model Trains were a perfect fit with the mission and history of the Morris Museum. For more than 30 years, the museum had had a modest model train display in the basement that was maintained by our volunteers and enjoyed by our many visitors,” Moore said.

“The gift from Mondelēz offered an incredible opportunity to provide our visitors with a truly unique train display that would be exciting to explore.”

The Mega Model Trains are on view from Thanksgiving through February, and then again during the summer from July through the middle of August.“Whenever the trains are open, you can walk into the gallery and see children and families captivated,” Moore said. “When the trains are closed for repair and maintenance, one of the most frequently asked questions we receive is: ‘When are the trains coming back?’ ”

MEGA MODEL TRAINS

WHEN: Through March 1

WHERE: Morris Museum, 6 Normandy Heights Rd., Morristown

COST: Regular museum admission; $10, adults or $7, children, students, and seniors. Free for museum members.

INFORMATION: 973-971-3700 or www.morrismuseum.org