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Sarasota club brings model train enthusiasts together to share their passion

By Barry Wong
Updated  May 9, 2025 5:14pm EDT
Sarasota
FOX 13 News

Sarasota club brings model train enthusiasts together to share their passion

Every Monday, the Sarasota Toy Museum closes it doors so that the Sarasota Bay Model Railroad Society, a newer club with around 25 members, can work on the train layout. It features four loops and one large end-to-end track.

The Brief

    • Every Monday, the Sarasota Toy Museum closes its doors so a train club can work on its train layout.
    • Club members have spent months working on the layout.
    • Viewing the Vermont Train Layout is included in general admission to the Sarasota Toy Museum.

SARASOTA, Fla. - When the Vermont Toy Museum became the Sarasota Toy Museum, a model-train fixture needed to be moved as well.

What they're saying:

"This was built like 40 years ago. When it came in the truck, it only had a few letters and a few numbers, and it was in several hundred pieces. We had a bunch of pictures from when he (Sarasota Toy Museum owner Richard Pierson) was up in Vermont at the museum up there where this originally came from, and that's basically how we built it," Sarasota Bay Model Railroad Society Vice President David Fontaine said.

Every Monday, the Sarasota Toy Museum closes it doors so that the Sarasota Bay Model Railroad Society, a newer club with around 25 members, can work on the train layout. It features four loops and one large end-to-end track.

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"We're trying to make it as realistic as possible. Hopefully, people get an idea of what terrain modeling is all about, what kind of detailing you can get into," Fontaine said.

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The club sponsors the layout and is responsible for refurbishing and keeping the layout going for the museum. It’s a partnership that brings visibility to both the club and museum.

Fontaine and other club members have spent months fixing and updating the layout. For Fontaine, every day presents new opportunities and challenges.

"Trains in general, anything to do with it as far as the scenery, working on the track, putting decoders in engines, making them more realistic, doing lighting inside them, doing lighting inside the buildings," Fontaine said. "You can keep going. It just depends on how much you want to put into it."

What's next:

Viewing the Vermont Train Layout is included in general admission to the Sarasota Toy Museum.

The Source: Information for this story was gathered by FOX 13 photojournalist Barry Wong.

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