Hobbies and Miniatures Festival big draw over the weekend

Bulletin

The Hobbies and Miniatures Festival is in its 16th year and was held at the Galeries Aylmer January 14 and 15. The Club Ferroviaire had 10 members on site who are miniature train enthusiasts. They collect trains in specialized stores, mostly in the United States. Many of the members are retired and have a real passion for trains. The financial investment required can go from modest to outrageous. In fact, one of the locomotives on display was bought for $13,000 USD.

Some of these displays were huge and require trucks or trailers to cart around.

The dioramas were impressive and life-like, right down to little people sitting on benches and cars lining the streets. These “scenes” are mostly made from scratch and are realistic. Some of the locomotives even produced realistic sounds.

At 11 am on Saturday, more than 700 people had come to see these collections first-hand. The club’s President stated that he wouldn’t be surprised if more than 2,000 people showed up over the weekend. They intend to come back to the Galeries next year.