Press Release

SFO on Track with New Toy Train Exhibition

11/18/2008

FOR IMMEDIATE RELEASE:

CONTACT: Michael C. McCarron;
Director of Community  Affairs 
(650) 821-4000
SF-08-60

 

SFO on Track with New Toy Train Exhibition
Inside Track Explores the Golden Age of Toy Trains
 

SAN FRANCISCO -- All aboard for a new exhibition at San Francisco International Airport highlighting the golden era of toy trains.  Inside Track presents more than 200 vintage toy trains and accessories—including two miniature train layouts— to depict how the public’s fascination with the railways from the late nineteenth century through the 1950s led the toy industry to design a variety of colorful trains.

 

The exhibition features an array of realistic-looking trains that mirrored stylistic changes and technological advances in America’s railroad industry—from early steam locomotives to electric and diesel-powered engines. Also on view are a number of specialty items such as Mickey Mouse handcars from the 1930s and the “Lady Lionel,” a pastel train marketed to girls during the 1950s. Additionally, Inside Track includes a variety of toy train accessories such as buildings, bridges, tunnels, and signs—items that greatly enhanced toy train layouts— wonderful worlds in miniature.

 

Inside Track: Toy Trains is located pre-security in the International Terminal Main Hall and is on view through April 13, 2009. There is no charge to view the exhibition. 

 

Images from the exhibition are available at http://www.flysfo.com/web/page/about/news/pressres/exh-trains.html.

 

SFO Hosts Local Miniature Railroad Clubs

Complementing the exhibition, SFO will host local model train clubs. Clubs will set up full miniature train layouts in the International Terminal Main Hall, rear wall, between Ticket counters 6 and 7. The public is invited to view the clubs’ displays as follows:  

 

November 19, 11:00 a.m. to 4:00 p.m.:
The Golden Gate Lionel Railroad Club, Lionel O-gauge trains
The Golden Gate Lionel Railroad Club formed in San Francisco in 1986. Club members meet frequently to create modular train layouts for public display and education.

 

November 22 and 23, 10:00 a.m. to 5:00 p.m.
San Francisco Bay Area Z Scale Cooperative
Z-gauge was introduced in the 1970s by the German firm Marklin as the world’s smallest operating electric toy trains.

 

December 6 and 7, 10:00 a.m. to 5:00 p.m.
Bob Burke Family and Friends Railroad, Lionel O-gauge trains
Bob Burke Family and Friends Railroad will run a large 3 rail layout with many operating accessories including a magnetic crane, barrel loader, and milk car.

 

December 20 and 21, 10:00 a.m. to 5:00 p.m.
The Golden Gate Lionel Railroad Club, Lionel O-gauge trains
The Golden Gate Lionel Railroad Club formed in San Francisco in 1986. Club members meet frequently to create modular train layouts for public display and education.

 

San Francisco Airport Museums

The San Francisco Airport Museums program was established by the Airport Commission in 1980 for the purposes of humanizing the Airport environment, providing visibility for the unique cultural life of San Francisco, and providing educational services for the traveling public. The Museum was granted initial accreditation from the American Association of Museums in 1999, reaccredited in 2005, and has the distinction of being the only accredited museum in an airport. Today, the San Francisco Airport Museums features approximately twenty galleries throughout the Airport terminals displaying a rotating schedule of art, history, science, and cultural exhibitions, as well as the San Francisco Airport Commission Aviation Library and Louis A. Turpen Aviation Museum, a permanent collection dedicated to the history of commercial aviation.

 

S-F-O

 

About San Francisco International Airport

San Francisco International Airport (SFO) offers non-stop links with more than 30 international points on 25 international carriers. The Bay Area's largest airport connects non-stop with more than 65 cities in the U.S. on 20 domestic airlines. For up-to-the-minute departure and arrival information, airport maps and details on shopping, dining, cultural exhibitions, ground transportation and more, visit www.flysfo.com.