Railroad fans have a holiday

Among those with information to share at Saturday’s open house: Seattle author Alfred Runte, shown here with his book “Allies of the Earth: Railroads and the Soul of Preservation,” and railroad artist J. Craig Thorpe.

A portion of the Swamp Creek & Western model train layout.

Train lovers of all ages dropped by the annual holiday open house sponsored Saturday by the Swamp Creek & Western Railroad Association at the Edmonds Amtrak station, located near the waterfront.

For those who have never visited the station, the Railroad Association operates a 30-foot x 28-foot HO scale (1/87th) model railroad layout for the Port Columbia and Eastern, a fictitious bridge route over the Cascade Mountains. The display is housed in the Amtrak station’s old freight room  and is quite a production, complete with running trains.