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Loblolly train display attracts hundreds of visitors to Nacogdoches Depot

Andrew D. Brosig
/
Nacogdoches Daily Sentinel

More than 500 people have come to the Nacogdoches Train Depot over the past two weekends to see a large display of Lionel electric trains

The Loblolly Railroad Crew is in the final days of exhibiting its model train display. It features four operating trains that run through different scenes inspired by the East Texas landscape with its oil fields and pump jacks. George Ellis says this display is set up 15 feet from the main line train tracks.

“Any time during the day a Union Pacific freight train could come through traveling from Shreveport to Houston,” Ellis said, who grew up running model trains in his basement. “It gets pretty exciting when we’re operating trains in the depot -- blowing the whistle and ringing the bell -- and a freight train comes through at 40 miles per hour.”

The model trains will be running from 10 a.m. to 7 p.m. Friday and Saturday. Sunday the exhibit is open from 10 a.m. to 5 p.m. in the Nacogdoches Railroad depot, a restored building that’s 103 years old.

Chuck Smith brings more than 30 years' broadcast and media experience to Red River Radio. He began his career as a radio news reporter and transitioned to television journalism and newsmagazine production. Chuck studied mass communications at Southern Arkansas University in Magnolia and motion picture / television production at the University of California at Los Angeles. He has also taught writing for television at York Technical College in Rock Hill, South Carolina and video / film production at Centenary College of Louisiana, Shreveport.