Jimmy Boyer’s train collection finds new home

In its second year, the Georgetown Historical Society Train Museum is getting bigger and better. The Jimmy Boyer Christmas Train Show has one more open house taking place from 10 a.m. to 3 p.m., Saturday, Dec. 17, at the museum, 510 South Bedford St., Georgetown. Admission is free, but donations are accepted.

The large train collection was donated to the society by lifelong train enthusiast Jimmy Boyer, who opened his home to visitors every Christmas season to view his train display.

When Boyer moved out of his home to a senior-care facility, he was looking for a place to donate his collection and contacted Jim Bowden, society president.

“We accepted his donation not knowing just how much he had,” Bowden said.

The collection includes thousands of rail cars, hundreds of engines, buildings, track and everything else needed for a train layout. Not only is the train layout impressive, but also the walls of the museum room are covered with train memorabilia, along with 300 engines and 1,600 rail cars – some still in their original boxes – from Boyer’s collection.

Bowden admitted he didn’t know what he had gotten himself into. But with the help of railroad enthusiasts Kevin Brown, Chris Black and Ronnie Gillespie, all of Seaford, they were able to re-create Boyer’s layout. Bowden said new track was added, all trains were converted to steel couplings, and upgraded controls have been added. “We still haven’t gone through all the boxes,” he added.

The society had to renovate an existing building to house the train layout and a new Western Auto Museum.

Bowden, who is a collector of Sussex County historical memorabilia, has added a new display to the museum, which includes vintage photographs of every train station in Sussex County.