Hayes Train Special — Hayes Presidential Library & Museums

The Rutherford B. Hayes Presidential Library & Museums, at Spiegel Grove in Fremont, Ohio, stages the "Hayes Train Special" every holiday season. The operator describes an operating model train display that runs through an intricate Victorian holiday scene on a winding, multi-tiered layout. Interactive buttons let visitors control aspects of the trains' movements.

In the most recent season the operator described it as winter-wonderland scenery reminiscent of President Hayes's day, with villages and Victorian scenes, where visitors could push buttons to run one of the trains, turn the Ferris wheel and send ice skaters gliding across a pond. That season it was shown in the museum auditorium.

The operator says model trains have been a holiday tradition at Hayes Presidential for decades. Access to the display is free and donations are accepted. It is part of A Presidential Christmas, the museum's series of holiday events. In its latest listing the operator credits Croghan Colonial Bank and the Knight Family as sponsors. The operator describes Hayes Presidential as America's first presidential library, partly funded by the state of Ohio and affiliated with the Ohio History Connection.

An operating model railway in a Victorian holiday setting that visitors can partly control with buttons. It is free to see, with a donation box for those who wish to give.

Rutherford B. Hayes Presidential Library & Museums, Spiegel Grove, Buckland Avenue, Fremont, Ohio. Access to the Hayes Train Special is free, though donations are accepted. In the most recent season the operator said the exhibit's hours were the same as the museum's and that it stayed open during the museum's special holiday events. The Hayes Presidential site is closed on Thanksgiving, Christmas and New Year's Day. Phone: 419-332-2081.