Children’s Museum of Oak Ridge gala celebrates model railroad partnership

What This Story Is About

• The Children’s Museum of Oak Ridge is hosting its yearly gala set to celebrate its partnership with the Knoxville Area Model Railroaders.

Why It Matters

• For 25 years, the two have worked together to grow the club, opening the space to children every third Sunday of the month to learn about model railroading.

OAK RIDGE, Tenn. (WVLT) — A passion for model trains and a decades long partnership are in the spotlight at the Children’s Museum of Oak Ridge’s annual fundraising gala.

The museum’s relationship with the Knoxville Area Model Railroaders spans 25 years, giving the group a place to operate and share its hobby with children across East Tennessee.

Dick Brion, the group’s HO division coordinator, said his interest began when his father brought home a set of American Flyer trains to put around the Christmas tree.

“I have to thank my father for that,” Brion said. “When I was seven years old he brought home a set of American Flyer trains around the Christmas tree, the bug bit me and it’s never stopped.”

On the third Sunday of each month, visitors can see the model trains in action. Brion said children can also use the throttles to run the trains themselves.

“We show them how the railroad industry built up the United States,” he said.

This year’s gala theme, “All Aboard the Silverline,” pays tribute to the railroad. WVLT’s Will Puckett will emcee the event on Friday, Nov. 20. Tickets are available online.

Development associate Veronica O’Hearn said trains were also the theme of the museum’s first gala.

“The reason we’re doing trains is it’s our 25th anniversary. Our first gala was about trains, and it just kind of seemed appropriate we went back to the beginning,” O’Hearn said.

Executive director Beth Shea said proceeds from the gala support the museum’s general operations and account for about 10% of its overall budget.

“We couldn’t do what we do here without partnerships, and I think this is our oldest partnership, so it’s very important to us,” Shea said.

Brion said the museum is equally important to the railroaders.

“I don’t think we could exist,” he said. “This museum means everything to us.”