Train, trains and even more trains at Laconia Antique Center

LACONIA — It was 1965 and Tom Smith was 8-years-old when he got his first American Flyer model train set. He said he ran downstairs to his basement in his Long Island, NY home and from that moment on, trains became his life-long passion.

His passion led him to own and operate a train store in Manchester for 20 years and to continue collecting into his retirement.

Smith, who now manages the Laconia Antique Center on Main Street, has recreated some of those images from his past in the upstairs portion of what was Bloom's Variety Store.

The first stop at the top of the stairs is Santa Village and the Polar Express. Based on the hit movie, the attraction features a television screen with the movie "Polar Express".

The next stop on Smith journey through the railroads is the industrial stop. Recreated with details like real logs from the logging cars and coal for engine, he has recreated America's early industrial past when nothing went anywhere unless it went by train.

Next is the new England Village complete with little people boarding and deboarding the trains at stations.

The forth stop is a Charles Dickens Christmas Village recreated with the assistance of retired history teacher and fellow train aficionado Gerald Knight. Smith said he and Knight set up the same village in the community room at Knight's Beacon Street home last Christmas.

Surrounding the sides are hand-cars and replicas of the commercial buildings for the Lionel Tran Factory in Irving, N.J.

The scenes are all interconnected by tracks.

"There lot of action and lots of visual movement," Smith said.

The holiday train is available for view at the Antique Center, Thursday from noon to 4 p.m., Friday from noon to 6 p.m., Saturday from 10 a.m. to 5 p.m., and Sunday from noon to 3 p.m.