On November 18th, 2006, I saw on Trainweb.com that a special exhibit was now at the Nixon Library in Yorba Linda, California which would take visitors on a journey through the world of miniature trains. This exhibit was one of the largest ever created and was called "A Holiday Festival of Trains", featuring an incredible landscape of more than 100 trains travelling through snow-covered villages and wintry mountain scenes. Also on display was the Lilly Belle, the miniature steam locomotive built in 1949 by Walt Disney which had been enjoyed in his backyard, on loan from the Disney Family.
Additional displays included the "Towers of Trains" featuring 12-feet tall multi-tiered platforms with more than 1,000 feet of track. The "Wall of Trains" display features more than 60 vintage model train engines. Another exhibit was sections from the first Disneyland Monorail, dedicated by then Vice-President Richard Nixon in 1956. A section is dedicated to the 1960 Presidential campaign whistle stop platform used by candidate Richard Nixon. Also there was a rare combination of six gauges favoured by collectors together in one exhibit, including G, standard, O, S, ON30 and HO gauges. This and plenty more would be seen and should be quite an amazing collection to behold.
After a morning train ride to Solana Beach, I drove to the Richard Nixon Library.
The fountain in front of the Nixon Library.
The entrance to "A Holiday Festival of Trains".
The first display case inside the exhibit.
The Pacific Electric Red Cars were used by the young future President in his youth; his father Frank became a motorman on the line from Los Angeles to Whittier; he had been a motorman in Columbus, Ohio.
A scale model of the car that Richard Nixon used on his 1960 Presidential campaign whistle stop train.
The Wall of Trains
Lionel Electric Toy Trains poster. Lionel Corporation was an American toy manufacturer and retailer that did business from 1900 to 1993. Founded as an electrical novelties company, Lionel specialized in various products throughout its existence, but toy trains and model railroads were its main claim to fame. Lionel trains, produced from 1901 to 1969, drew admiration from model railroaders around the world for the solidity of their construction and the authenticity of their detail. During its peak years, in the 1950's, the company sold $25 million worth of trains per year. In 2006, Lionel's electric train, along with the Easy Bake Oven, became the first two electric toys to be inducted into the National Toy Hall of Fame.
Ives Trains poster. The Ives Manufacturing Company, an American toy manufacturer from 1868 to 1932, was the largest manufacturer of toy trains in the United States from 1910 until 1924, when Lionel Corporation overtook it in sales. Ives was founded in Plymouth, Connecticut by Edward Ives, a descendant of Plymouth colony governor William Bradford. The company initially produced paper dolls whose limbs moved in response to hot air, but soon began producing a wide range of toys, including a toy cannon that shot using real gunpowder and clockwork powered dolls and animals that could move. The clockwork toys were designed by Jerome Secor, Nathan Warner, and Arthur Hotchkiss and by the 1880s, Ives was a leading producer of these toys.
Display Case I.
An American Flyer Trains poster. Although best remembered for the S gauge trains of the 1950's that it made as a division of the A.C. Gilbert Company, American Flyer was initially an independent company whose origins date back nearly a half century earlier. Chicago, Illinois-based toymaker William Frederick Hafner developed a clockwork motor for toy cars in 1901 while working for a company called Toy Auto Company. According to the recollections of William Hafner's son, John, he had developed a clockwork train running on O gauge track by 1905.
Display Case II.
A second American Flyer Trains poster.
Display Case III.
Two locomotives.
A streetcar and an electric locomotive.
Lionel model trains.
Model railroad building kits.
Models of various railroads.
Missouri Pacific round-end observation car and Union Pacific train below.
Chicago and North Western Baldwin diesel and a Union Pacific locomotive.
Baltimore and Ohio steam engine and tender.
Display Case IV.
Southern Pacific Daylight steam engine.
Milwaukee Road locomotives.
Milwaukee Road observation car, very similar to "Cedar Rapids", in which I have ridden behind Milwaukee Road 4-8-4 261.
Disney Electric Locomotive.
A steam engine, tender and caboose.
A U-boat, a 2-4-0 steam engine and cabooses.
Steam engine and passenger cars.
Brass train in front of a station.
Walt Disney's Lilly Belle
Walt Disney's Lilly Belle, the miniature steam locomotive built in 1949, which ran at Carolwood Park.
Walt Disney along with the Lilly Belle.
A model railroad diorama.
The Disneyland Monorail System (originally, the Disneyland ALWEG Monorail) opened on June 14, 1959, as a sightseeing attraction in Tomorrowland in Disneyland. The Mark I trains (Red and Blue) consisted of 3 cars each. With the debut of the 4-car Mark II in 1961 (and the new Yellow train), the track was lengthened to leave the park and stop at a station at the Disneyland Hotel. The monorail trains reached their current length of five cars in 1968 with the arrival of the Mark III. More streamlined and efficient than the Mark II, the Mark III also included the arrival of Monorail Green. There were two forms of access to the monorail. Persons who were leaving the park or persons at the hotel who had purchased tickets to enter the park could purchase a single ticket to go to the hotel or from the hotel to the entrance in Tomorrowland, respectively. Persons who had not purchased admission to the park could purchase a ticket to ride the monorail from the hotel station, into the park, and back to the hotel station. To prevent them from entering the park without paying, persons buying a monorail ticket who did not have a park admission would be loaded in a separate compartment which would remain locked until the monorail returned to the hotel.
The model railroad display at the Richard Nixon Library
Gebr. Märklin & Cie. GmbH or Märklin (MÄRKLIN or MAERKLIN in capital letters) is a German toy company, founded in 1859. Although it originally specialised in doll house accessories, today it is best known for model railways and technical toys. In some parts of Germany, the company's name is almost synonymous with model railroads. The Märklin system is the technique of using a third rail concealed in the roadbed with only small studs protruding through the ties of the track. The two outer rails are connected electrically. This provides the simplified wiring enjoyed by larger gauges—such as for reverse loops—without seriously detracting from the realism of the track because only two of the rails are visible. Because the two outer rails are not electrically isolated from each other, however, some do not consider Märklin's system to be a true three-rail system.
Another Ives Toys poster.
Some of the public enjoying the unique railroad exhibit here.
As you can tell by the smiling faces everyone here was enjoying "A Holiday Festival of Trains."
A special thank you to the Richard Nixon Library for allowing me to write this story and also to President Richard Nixon for signing the Railpax Bill that created Amtrak.
Orange County Railway Historical Society Visit 1/6/2007After seeing the railroad exhibit, I thought that other Society members might like to join me.
Our group met in front of the Richard Nixon Library and we waited to go inside and then all proceeded into the railroad display room. Since I had been here last month, I explored the rest of the museum, my first stop being the East Room of the White House display.
I really felt as though I was in the East Room of the White House.
Outside of the East Room was the Hallway of Flags.
I went outside to see the reflecting pond.
The gravesite of President Richard and First Lady Thelma Catherine "Pat" Nixon.
The Nixon Birthplace plaque.
The house in which Richard Nixon was born.
The Presidential Helicopter. Lieutenant Colonel Gene Boyer, President Nixon's Chief Helicopter Pilot, secured the President's VH-3A "Sea King" helicopter, tail number 150617, to be on permanent display on the library grounds. The helicopter was in the presidential fleet from 1961 to 1976, transporting Presidents Kennedy, Johnson, Nixon and Ford, and many foreign heads of state and government. Boyer flew President Nixon on his final flight from the White House to Andrews Air Force Base on August 9, 1974 in this aircraft.
Interior of the Presidential Helicopter. After that I toured the rest of the Library.
One of the display halls.
A car used by President Nixon in an early campaign.
Nixon campaign memorabelia. I listened to some of the Watergate Tapes as I finished my tour of this most interesting Presidential library.
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