Glen Avenue Train Garden Opens For The Holidays
BALTIMORE (WJZ) -- Moms, dads and kids have been enjoying it for 55 years. It's the longest running fire house holiday train garden in the city.
Ron Matz has more on the good times at Glen Avenue.
As Truck 27 leaves, the trains roll on at the Glen Avenue Fire House. It's the 55th year for the legendary holiday train garden.
"It's pretty rewarding. A lot of people who come in here claim they've been coming here since the onset of the train garden. They have a lot of stories to tell and they share them with the people who are here," said Captain Larry Goldberg, Baltimore City Fire Department.
It takes a lot of hard work to set up the 12 by 40 feet garden with four trains on track.
"The display is 12 feet by 40 feet. We have four trains running. We're open seven days a week from 10 in the morning til 9 at night. We go through Jan. 2. We invite everybody to come on down. We do this in between our shift work. Between our normal fire department calls. It's a lot of hours. Usually we start right after the summer. When we get into October and November we really pick up the pace. The week or two before it opens up and it can be crazy around here," said Captain Bob Scarpati, Baltimore City Fire Department. "We'll have the families come in and the kids are just amazed. They see the animation and the trains. I think the parents like it as much as the kids. It's rewarding because a lot of the firefighters here put a lot of time and their heart into this. Sometimes it's exhausting, but when you see the kids and you see the enjoyment it makes it all well worth it."
The Chilean miners, the firefighters as well as Harry Porter are apart of the garden. The display takes up half the fire house.
"We came up with the idea of doing the Harry Potter scene. My wife did the scene pretty much by herself. She was here many late nights trying to get this together," said Captain Goldberg.
"It's a great tradition here. The public loves to see trains and we just love doing this. It's great to have our citizens come in and walk through and see the good work our members do. We're very, very proud of what goes on here," said Don Heinbuch, Acting Baltimore City Fire Chief.
The train garden is open seven days a week and about 10,000 people will visit during the holidays.
"The way we keep this going is from donations from the public as they come in, so please come in and support this so we can keep this tradition alive," said Captain Goldberg.
It's a tradition, for the holidays in Baltimore and for the New Year.
The Glen Avenue Fire House Holiday Train Garden is open from 10 a.m. until 9 p.m. through Sunday, Jan. 2.
