All aboard!
A carriage-load of families came out to watch miniature locomotives whiz around tiny tracks during a model train show at the Winter Wonderland festival in Coney Island on Dec. 17 — a dazzling display that brought back some warm childhood Christmas memories, locals say.
“It brought back that magical Christmas feeling from my childhood,” said Gravesender Cordi Loretta, who volunteered at the two-day event at Sideshows by the Seashore. “I hadn’t seen a train set since I was like 9 years old, when we use to run the trains around the Christmas tree.”
A half-dozen antique Lionel and American Flyer trains raced along a two-tier display complete with tiny snow-covered pines, old-school lamp posts, and vintage billboards — some models even tooting whistles and puffing smoke as they chugged along the tracks.
The trains were just a taste of Bensonhurst railcar enthusiast Erik Knapp’s collection of more than 50 cabooses, and the collector said it was a treat to wow today’s tech-obsessed kids with his lo-fi locomotives.
“Some of the kids’ mouths were gaping and they were just like, ‘How do they work? How do you do that?’ ” said Knapp, who is also known as “Mr. Cyclone” for routinely being the first in line to ride the roller coaster each summer. “As simple as it was, I think they walked away with a great memory.”
The two-day Winter Wonder festival also included elaborate laser shows, a holiday market hawking local wares, a hot cocoa bar with spiked drinks for adults, and, of course, a visit from Santa Claus.
