Hampton Halloween Express

Every year one knows it is the start of the holiday season when the train tracks begin going up at Kenilworth Mall. But did you know a small version of similar tracks lies right within our neighborhood? While walking around the neighborhood one morning, I spied a series of miniature train tracks running through a neighbor’s yard. I was intrigued. Little houses and depots stood around the track, which despite my walking by it several times a week, seemed empty. Turns out what started as a thought for his young daughter at Christmas became something more. When his daughter was two years old, Mario Pasquini thought a Fisher Price type children’s train around the Christmas tree might be a fun tradition, but after a trip to Belair where he saw more elaborate trains, he changed his mind. After purchasing a small 4 foot diameter round track, Pasquini began to build his all-weather, year-round train set right in his front yard. He has added and tweaked his track after attending over a dozen National Gordon Railway conventions where he would get ideas. Now, Mr. Pasquini’s daughter is grown, and he runs his trains on only one evening each year – Halloween. He begins at sundown and ends around 8:30 in the evening. If you missed it this year, assuming good weather, be sure to visit it next year. It is a treat to see, and Mr. Pasquini enjoys having the annual visitors come by! – Kerri Classen