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Downtown Sykesville was a picture worthy of Currier and Ives last Friday as hundreds of people came to town for the 8^th Annual Christmas Open House sponsored by the Sykesville Business Association (SBA). Despite the chill in the air, visitors roamed the historic district, enjoying late night shopping and refreshments provided by town businesses.

Around 6 p.m., Santa came to town riding on the Sykesville-Freedom District Fire Department truck. After lighting the tree, he proceeded to the Old Main Line Visitor Center where he heard the Christmas wishes of a large number of waiting children. Helping him were his right hand elf (Rena Hudson, administrative assistant for the town of Sykesville) and Gene Gillispie (President of the SBA) who took free photographs of the youngsters, courtesy of the A. L. Howes Agency, Inc.

Music filled the town as several groups joined in the festivities. In the gazebo, next to the townhouse, the Sykesville Brass, a trio consisting of Liberty High School students Jon Barnes, his brother, Andrew Barnes, and Jake Peters, played seasonal songs. On Main Street, a group of “miscellaneous volunteers” dressed in long skirts and coats, bonnets and tophats, added atmosphere as they caroled in front of the historic downtown buildings. Another chorus of young people from Liberty High School sang outside Baldwin’s Station & Pub, and the Columbia Concert Band tuba section entertained those waiting to see Santa.

Just behind the new visitor center and Santa-central, the blue Pullman car of the Sykesville and Patapsco Railway was open so children could enjoy the model train displays inside. The adjacent red caboose was also open for anyone who wished to peek inside. Members of the railway served free coffee and cocoa to the crowd.

On the other side of the visitor center, the soothing clip-clop of horses could be heard as free hayrides around town were given by the J-MAR-B Company of Smith Hill Farms in New Winsor.

At the Sykesville Town House, the Sykesville Parks and Recreation Department got into the act, offering children a chance to decorate cookies and make crafts including candy cane reindeer and snowmen. In a nearby room, members of Girl Scout Troop 132 read Christmas stories to youngsters. Troop members also joined the carolers on Main Street and helped hand out “reindeer dust”, a mix of oats and glitter to be sprinkled on the grass to attract Rudolf on Christmas eve.

The Sykesville Christmas Open House is a fine example of how the business community can help draw residents together for a nice, family oriented and fun event to welcome in the holidays. “I think it’s wonderful” said Sykesville Town Manager, Matthew Candland. His father, who was visiting from southern Maryland agreed. “The spirit of Christmas was truly manifested in the town of Sykesville” said John Candland.

The winner of Sykesville’s storefront decorating contest for the year 2000 is Ziggy Molnar of Consolidated Stationers. He will now become the temporary possessor of the “Light Up Our Town Traveling Trophy” Mr. Molnar’s window display consists of a snowy village scene complete with ice skating ponds and lots of happy citizens.

The judge of the contest, which was sponsored by the Sykesville

Business Association, was Sykesville mayor, Jonathan Herman,

Sykesville has slowly been forging a new identity based on its history as one of the towns along the original Baltimore & Ohio Railroad. In addition to the renovated railroad station, now Baldwin’s Station & Pub, there is the new Old Main Line Visitor Center which is a replica of the Baltimore and Potomac Interlocking Tower built near Penn Station in the early 20^th century, the model trains of the Sykesville and Patapsco railway in a Pullman car behind the visitor center, the little red caboose next to the Pullman car, the new miniature train ride on Sandosky Road and railroad memorabilia at the Sykesville gate House museum of History.

Now there is a new attraction. On November 25, Purkey’s Toy Trains at 7604 Main Street had its grand opening. The well attended event included an impressive spread of refreshments and some generous door prizes including a $400 Christmas train set and a $100 Lionel trolley set as well as numerous other offerings.

You don’t have to be a model train enthusiast to enjoy the new downtown store. In one room, there is a mountainous model train layout with a passenger train running around it. The display, which is a work in progress, has interesting touches such as a group of people around campfire near the tracks. In another room, a LGB Trolley runs on an elevated track near the ceiling.

“It costs nothing to come see the trolley go around the top” said Wiley Purkey, owner of the shop. Mr. Purkey has been a fan of model trains for over 40 years. He even has his own personal train layout, consisting of 5 to 7 trains, which he likes to set up at Christmas.

As expected, the store deals in model trains including Lionel, Marx, LGB, MTH, and X-Line brands. It has train accessories and eventually will have landscape accessories. Antique trains can also be bought, sold, or repaired at the store. Besides trains, the store stocks some other collectible toys including wind up German toys by Schylling and Schuco and die cast cars by Corgi of England.

“The shop’s nice. It has a nice selection. He’s got a mixture of different manufacturers which is good” said train enthusiast, Ervin Ashby. For more information, call 410-549-6061.

In other railroad news, on November 25, the Sykesville Gate House Museum of History had an invitation-only event to honor those who helped finance one of the museum’s latest acquisitions: the MM&J Electric Railway. The Lionel standard gauge model train dates back to around 1925-1930. It is similar to one that was owned by the William Shipley family who occupied the museum building when it was a private residence in the early to mid 1900s. The Shipleys, who had two daughters, would put the little train up at Christmas.

Jim Purman, curator/archivist of the Gate House Museum, had been trying to find the actual Shipley train but had not been successful. While on vacation in Massachusetts, he met Bart King, a gentleman whose mother had left him a Lionel from the same time period. He offered it to Mr. Purman for $500. That was $200 more than had been budgeted by the town, but Mr. Purman couldn’t pass up the deal so he paid the difference out of his own pocket. The train, which still had the original boxes it came with, was wrapped for storage in 1938 Boston Globe newspapers and was in beautiful condition. It only needed new engine wheels and some rewiring which was done gratis by Tom Schwartz.

To cover the shortfall of $200 plus the cost of the new wheels and a train table, the museum sold “shares” in the MM&J Electric Railway, so named for the two Shipley girls, Mary Agnes and Margaret and the original owner of the train, Jeanne Macaffee. At least 144 shares were sold at $5 per share.

The display currently has the Lionel train and a smaller 1939 0-27 Marx gauge train. The tracks are enclosed within a cast iron fence on loan from Charlie Kuehne and the layout includes a 60+ year old girder bridge on loan from Andrew Collins.

At the November 25 maiden voyage of the MM&J Electric Railway, certificates were handed out to the “shareholders” attesting to their contribution to the project. The nontransferable, nonredeemable certificates were signed by Mr. Purman and Wiley Purkey, director of the railway. The engineers will be Andrew Collins and Justin Tims.

The Gate House Museum is located on Cooper Drive. December hours are 1 to 6 p.m. on Sundays and Wednesdays (except for December 24) and 2 to 8 p.m. on Fridays. For information, call 410-549-5150.

If you didn’t catch Santa at the Sykesville Christmas Open House, he will be back in town this Saturday, seeing children in the red caboose just off of Main Street and behind the new Old Main Line Visitor Center. Hours are noon to 4 p.m. The adjacent blue Pullman car, housing the model train layouts of the Sykesville and Patapsco Railway will also be open for viewing. On Sunday, the Pullman car alone will be open from 1 to 5 p.m. For more information, call 410-795-3157.

Don’t forget the Sykesville Historic Christmas Tour 2000 scheduled for tomorrow from 1 to 6 p.m. Fifteen historic buildings including 10 private homes will be open to the public. The $10 ticket donation will benefit the Main Street Historic Preservation Projects in Sykesville. Tickets are available at the Sykesville Town House, 7547 Main Street and at the Gate House Museum, 7283 Cooper Drive. For more information, call Judith Klein at 410-549-9538.

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