Eli Whitney Museum’s Annual Model Train Show open on Friday, November 25th, 2022 and runs through January 15, 2023. Admission is Free but donations are appreciated.

The Eli Whitney Museum collects and studies the products and legacy of A.C. Gilbert and his company. Between 1909 and 1964, the Gilbert Company was the premier producer of learning toys in the world. Its showroom in New York, the Gilbert Hall of Science, was an emporium of experimental learning and a forerunner of the modern science museum. The Eli Whitney Museum’s workshops still nurture that experimental learning.

Exhibition Schedule
Saturdays: 10 am – 3 pm
Sundays: 10 am – 3 pm

Special viewing hours
December 27 – December 30th 12 to 3 pm

During the week you can watch the live Stream of the model trains in action.

The holidays are a time of remembering. Each Thanksgiving, the Eli Whitney Museum reaches deep into New Haven’s attic to unpack and display a tradition built here more than 60 years ago. Just after World War II, The A.C. Gilbert Company introduced its American Flyer Trains. Gilbert trains — with their lively movements, their carefully crafted sound, their bright lights, the cedar scent of their smoke — won an enduring place in our collective memory. New Haven built an icon of the holidays.