The Sandhills Central Model Railroad Club will host its 28th annual pre-holiday train show from noon to 4 p.m. Saturday, Nov. 20, and Sunday, Nov. 21.

The show will be held in the Historic Aberdeen Train Depot and Museum in Aberdeen this year, moving from the Campbell House in Southern Pines. The depot is located at the corner of Main and Sycamore streets in downtown Aberdeen.

Admission is $3 for everyone, with the exception of children under 4 feet, 8 inches tall, who are admitted free. Why that particular measurement?

"Because that is the distance between the two tracks on a modern railroad," says a spokesman.

In addition, visitors will be offered raffle tickets for an electric "Thomas the Tank" train set.

Visitors to the show will see a large HO-scale train layout featuring the town of Aberdeen and surrounding areas. The Aberdeen layout was started in 2007. Many buildings and scenes representing the Aberdeen area have been built by members to represent current town and area businesses and buildings. Additional buildings are currently being planned. Numerous freight and passenger trains will be operating at the same time on different tracks. All trains on the layout have sound and can be run independently on the same track. Many modern diesel engines will run under DCC or radio control direction, and will wind their way through tunnels, fields, neighborhoods and towns before completing their routes, on more than 800 feet of track.

Younger visitors will delight in seeing Thomas the Tank. This Thomas DCC engine is one of the few DCC Thomas trains in existence (maybe the only one) as it was custom-built by one of the train club members.

The Sandhills Central Model Railroad Club was founded in 1979, and started its first train show for the public in 1982. Until 2009, the club ran all of its model trains in Southern Pines. However, club members will showcase their new layout and operating system for the first time in the historic depot in Aberdeen this year. The club will continue to run trains at its Southern Pines location in the future, but only on a limited basis.

Club members meet every Wednesday at 7:15 p.m. at either the Campbell House or Aberdeen Depot locations. Visitors are welcome.

For information regarding meeting locations, membership or any other information regarding the Sandhills Model Railroad Club, call Jim McNiff at (910) 692-7439.