The train display from the Dumont Museum lobby; photo courtesy of the Dumont Museum

The Dumont Museum in Sigourney is hosting its annual holiday tradition this weekend, and people are expected to come in droves for Train Days. According to museum owner Helen Dumont, they started the event nine years ago, because people would regularly come into their lobby and see the model trains they had set up. They decided to expand by setting up a bigger train display in the museum proper, and it’s grown steadily every year in number and variety of trains, and attendees. This year’s display is 90×45 feet and includes lots of moving parts and flashing lights that Dumont believes will captivate young children and adults alike.

She says they change the display setup every year, and they have nearly 40 trains they can put on the track, which gives the event variety. She says, “We have nine trains running on the front layout in the lobby. And then we can run as many as 25-30 trains on the larger layout in the center room. Probably we will not be running all 25 trains at one time, because it’s too hard to keep track of all the different trains going through the tunnels and et cetera. So we’ll probably be running about 12-15 in the center layout.” Train Days runs Saturday and Sunday from 1-4 p.m. each day, and there will be refreshments provided. There is no cost to see the display in the lobby, and there is a reduced price of $5 to enter the museum to see the big display. For more information about Train Days, listen to the In Touch with Southeast Iowa interview with Dumont at KCIIRadio.com.