Holiday Express Train Show Opens Friday At Fairfield Museum

Via the Fairfield Museum: FAIRFIELD, CT — A holiday tradition full of model trains, wintery landscapes and loads of family fun chugs into town this week. The Holiday Express Train Show at the Fairfield Museum, 370 Beach Road, opens 5 to 8 p.m. Friday with cookies, cider, a craft, and reduced admission pricing of $3 per person or $10 for a family of four. Members and children ages 5 and under are free. The Holiday Express Train Show is sponsored by Brody Wilkinson, PC and People’s United Bank.

The museum’s new, family friendly exhibition, Local Heroes: What’s Your Emergency?, also opens Friday and takes visitors through the story of a local Nor’easter. See how Fairfield’s first responders team up to keep the community safe. Illustrations by Fairfield County artist Christine Kornacki, historical photographs, and artifacts from the museum’s collection explore what happens when an emergency occurs and people dial 911. Local Heroes is generously sponsored by NorcomCT and Fairfield Rotary.

For free admission throughout the show, visitors can become Fairfield Museum members. A membership promotion will run from Friday through Jan. 5, and it entitles the purchaser to an extra six months free, which means all visits to this year’s and next year’s Holiday Express Train Show will be free of charge. Members also receive discounts on programs like summer camp, unlimited free admission to the research library, guest passes for friends, invitations to members-only events and a 10 percent discount at the Museum Shop, where items are always tax free.

The month of December is full of holiday programming. Family favorites include three sessions of the Candy House Workshop at 10 a.m., noon and 2 p.m. Dec. 14; Choo Choo story times 9:30 a.m. every Tuesday; Paint a Train workshops 11 a.m. and 1 p.m. Dec. 23, 24 and 25; and Crafts & Cookies every Friday afternoon when the show stays open late until 7 p.m. New this year is a special "Polar Express"-themed evening Dec. 20. Tickets for the Candy House Workshop are available now online at Fairfieldhistory.org.

The Holiday Express Train Show is made possible by the Connecticut G-Scalers Club, The Housatonic Model Railroad Club and Central Connecticut G-Gaugers. The Fairfield Museum would also like to thank Christine O’Shea from Driftwood Farmhouse for decorating the museum so beautifully for the holiday season.

Train Show hours are 10 a.m. to 1 p.m. Monday through Thursday; 10 a.m. to 7 p.m. Fridays; 10 a.m. to 4 p.m. Saturdays and Sundays. The show is closed Dec. 25 and Jan. 1. On weekdays during the school vacation week, the show will be open from 10a.m. to 4 p.m. The Holiday Express Train Show is free for members and children ages 5 and under and is $5 for adults and $3 for students and seniors.