Holiday Trains Whistle Through the Bowie Senior Center

A delight to young and old alike, a holiday train display is brightening up the Bowie Senior Center, thanks to local model train enthusiast Ted Tuck. 

Tuck, who is a retired federal agent and lives in Bowie, has been collecting the trains for around 18 years.

"I got a set to go around a tree, if you know how that goes, it just multiplied from there," Tuck said. 

He's been putting up a holiday train display at the Bowie Senior Center for 12 years now. 

"The senior center looked like it had a place for a train, and they let me put it in," Tuck said.

Tuck's trains are "G-sized," or garden sized. They earn that name because the turning radius on the track is larger than what can be accommodated in most homes, so the tracks have to be set up outside, in the garden. 

The display in the senior center takes about two week to assemble. Tuck started arranging the display just before Thanksgiving and finished Wednesday, though he'll swap different pieces in and out over the next few weeks. 

On Saturday, from 9:30 a.m. to 11:30 a.m. He'll have some special guests on the track—Thomas the Tank Engine, Percy and the Troublesome Trucks will make an appearance. Young railroad enthusiasts will also have a chance to operate the trains. 

Tuck's trains will be on display at the senior center through Jan. 17. The Bowie Senior Center is located at 14900 Health Center Dr.