Every January the Ophir, Tintic, & Western Train Club (OTW) host a model train show at Thanksgiving Point. This exhibition has lots of different model train enthusiasts who set up their displays for those who attend to enjoy. There are also vendors with train products, plus hands-on activities for the kids. One of the reasons we love this show is that kids 10 and under are FREE, so you can take your young train lovers and enjoy a fun day watching the trains.
The OTW Model Train Club show is held in the large Red Show Barn at Thanksgiving Point. The entire barn floor is covered with models that have been set up. There are model trains of all different sizes. When you visit you can wander around and watch the trains around the different tracks, and often at different speeds. One of our favorite things is finding all of the hidden objects in each of the displays. They aren’t really hidden, but they are often little people or animals and they keep our kids entertained. We always stop and watch Thomas the train, too. He is a larger train on a small track.
One of the highlights every year is the Lego model display. There are so many characters and scenes that children and adults can enjoy. We usually see the Hogwarts Express, as well as Woody and the gang from Toy Story. This display takes up a very large area on the train show, and it’s colorful and bright, so everyone enjoys it. They even had a small train that kid could control on an iPad this past year. Our boys loved making the train go faster and slower around the track, and blowing the whistle. You can do something similar to this at The Train Shoppe (another fun train adventure).
We love that the Ophir, Tintic, & Western Train Club has added some hands-on activities to their show. When we visited last year, our boys made a little tree. They were able to glue it together and add some snow. It was pretty fun, and we used it in our little wooden train set since we don’t have a model train. There were other activities at different times throughout the day.
If you have a train lover, this is a fun adventure. Our boys look forward to the Thanksgiving Point train show every year. Everyone 11 and older is $10, and kids 10 and under are free. The event in 2023 is happening January 6 & 7. For hours and more information, visit their webpage.
