The Sandhills Central Model Railroad Club will host its 30th annual pre-holiday Train Show from noon to 4 p.m. Saturday and Sunday.

The show will be held in the Historic Aberdeen Train Depot and Museum in Aberdeen, for the third year. The depot is located at the corner of Main and Sycamore streets in downtown Aberdeen.

Admission is $3 for everyone, except that children under four feet, eight inches tall are admitted free.

“Why that particular measurement?” asks a spokesman. “Because that is the distance between the two tracks on a modern railroad.”

In addition, visitors will be offered raffle tickets for an electric “Thomas the Tank” train set, and other Thomas items.

Several other elements have been added to the annual SCRRC show, which should increase the interest of everyone interested in railroading. These features include tours of the Depot Museum, a model “N” scale layout, a small layout for the children to run, and a “sales store” where various train items (some new, some used) will be available for sale.

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.

In addition, this year’s show will again feature a large circus tent, with a complete circus being portrayed. The circus is serviced by a complete circus train.

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, as well as James, the Red Engine. The Thomas DCC engine is one of the few DCC Thomas trains in existence, and was custom-built by one of the train club members.

The Sandhills Central Model Railroad Club was founded in 1979 by a group of railroad enthusiasts and modelers who shared a common love of railroads and railroad modeling. The club 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 now showcase their new layout and operating system in the historic Union Depot in Aberdeen. 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 the Aberdeen Depot location. Visitors and anyone interested in club membership are welcome.

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