For Father’s Day
Take your dad to the depot for Father’s Day, Sunday, June 19! The St. Johns Depot, located at 107 E. Railroad Street in St. Johns, will be open its usual Sunday hours: 1:00 – 3:00 PM. Dads and kids (and everyone else) are urged to bring a favorite model train engine or car for temporary display on a table during the afternoon for “show and tell.”
The 1920 depot, which is beautiful in itself, will have its usual collection of artifacts, including the typewriter and other equipment used by our last station master, Harry W. Buck. You will also be able to look through the notebook of Depot Memories, as told by residents and former residents of St. Johns. Additions are always welcome.
A major feature is the Jerry Banks model train lay-out that was built by Jerry over many years in his basement in Lansing. He made all of the buildings and trees, painted many other miniatures and laid the track for a very large display, called the Four Seasons. The layout was offered to Clinton Northern Railway Museum, a branch of Clinton County Arts Council (CCAC), to display so the public would be able to enjoy the artistry and history of it.
The layout was so large that it had to be reconfigured to fit in the east room, a task accomplished by Doug Weir, a civil engineer and model train enthusiast from St. Johns. He has planned all of the landscaping and the routes for the multiple train tracks. The scenery on the wall panels and hills was done by artist John Becker, also of St. Johns. Thanks to the continuing efforts of these two men, the display changes almost daily.
On the tracks outside the depot sit two historic rail cars. The smaller black car was a box car that was turned into a “maintenance away” car for a crew to live in while making repairs around the state; the other is a railroad post office (RPO) and baggage car. Both are available for touring, with the box car having a number of additional railroad artifacts on display.
The Depot is rented May – October from the City of St. Johns by Clinton County Arts Council to remind everyone of the importance of the role of railroading in the cultural heritage of this area. CCAC is supported in part with funds from the Michigan Council for Arts and Cultural Affairs and the National Endowment for the Arts.