All aboard: Roslindale model railroaders resume semi-annual public visits

People lined up on South Street in Roslindale today for the open house at the Bay State Model Railroad Museum, what will once again be a twice-yearly event where museum members get to show off their O, HO and N-gauge trains and layouts to the public.

The open house did take respiratory viruses into account: It was held before Thanksgiving, and occupancy was limited to 50 at a time, both steps that the museum hopes would reduce the odds of Covid-19 or RSV spreading - especially among all the little kids who came to watch the trains go round.

As a Boston club, of course some of the displays had a Boston feel - such as this scene in front of the old Back Bay station (those green trucks are not Globe delivery trucks, though, but Railway Express Agency vehicles):

One display also pays homage to Roslindale Square, where an old BERy/MTA trolley made a turn:

School bus about to cross the tracks:

There was plenty of old-school loco action:

Museum members took position across the displays, dispatching the trains, including one way up on a mountain top:

Along the displays were controls to determine how trains would move through switches, such as this "wye."

Some gnomes waited patiently for an MTA trolley: