Lakes Region Model Railroad Museum

07/06/2026

Take note that this is the 100th anniversary of the Wolfeboro Railroad's 250 now being rebuilt. Where will it go from there?

Happy 100th birthday engine 250 built June 1926, we would be a miss for not recognizing this milestone! Plans are still being finalized - but the 250 has a bright future and will soon be traveling to our shop in Alna for attention!!

07/04/2026

4th of July Steamboats and Railroads
By 1872, Lake Winnipesaukee already had railroad connections on other sides of the lake. The **Boston, Concord & Montreal Railroad** served the Weirs and Meredith area, bringing passengers to the western side of the lake. On the southern side, the **Cocheco Railroad**, later part of the **Boston & Maine Railroad** system, reached **Alton Bay** in 1851. From these railheads, steamboats carried passengers, mail, freight, and summer visitors to towns and landings around the lake.

Wolfeboro became part of this network when the Wolfeboro Branch opened in 1872. The branch was not the first railroad to reach Lake Winnipesaukee, but it was very important locally because it gave Wolfeboro its own direct rail connection. Trains could now come right to the Wolfeboro docks, where passengers and goods could transfer between steam cars and steamboats.

Several steamboats were important in this period. The **Lady of the Lake**, launched in 1849, served during the early years of lake steamboat travel and was closely connected with the western lake route served by the Boston, Concord & Montreal. The **Dover**, later rebuilt and renamed **Chocorua**, was another important boat, associated with the Alton Bay side of the lake and the Boston & Maine route. In 1872, the original **S.S. Mount Washington** was built for the **Boston & Maine Railroad**. She was larger than the older boats and helped connect Alton Bay, Wolfeboro, Center Harbor, the Weirs, and other lake ports.

A scene of the **Mount Washington** at the Wolfeboro docks with a steam train nearby shows how important steam transportation had become to the town. In a **July 4, 1876** celebration scene, the flags and bunting on the boat, the train, and the dock would mark the nation’s centennial. They would also show Wolfeboro celebrating its place in a growing transportation network shaped by the **Boston & Maine Railroad**, the **Boston, Concord & Montreal Railroad**, the Wolfeboro Branch, and the steamboats of Lake Winnipesaukee.

07/03/2026

Happy 4th of July, 2026
In 1872, the Wolfeboro Branch brought the railroad age to the shore of Lake Winnipesaukee, linking Wolfeboro to the wider Boston & Maine system and opening a new era of travel, trade, summer visitors, and local industry. Nearly a century later, the old branch found new life when the Wolfeborough Railroad began carrying passengers again as a tourist railroad.

Its most memorable symbol was steam locomotive No. 250, a Baldwin 2-6-2 Prairie built in 1926. After earlier industrial service in the South, No. 250 came to New Hampshire and made its first trip to Wolfeboro on August 1, 1972, just before the branch’s own 100th anniversary. For many visitors in the 1970s, the sight of No. 250 steaming along the causeways and lakeshore made the past feel alive again.

In 2026, America marks the 250th anniversary of independence, 1776–2026. A July 4th scene with No. 250 decorated in red, white, and blue connects several anniversaries at once: the nation’s founding, the coming of the railroad to Wolfeboro, and the revival of steam on the Wolfeboro Branch. The engine becomes more than a locomotive. It is a moving reminder of how transportation, tourism, community pride, and history all came together on this small New Hampshire railroad.

05/27/2026

Senior Health and Fitness Fair Today at Pop Whalen
The Lakes Region Model Railroad Museum will have a booth today Wednesday 5/27 from 10AM to 1PM at the Senior Health and Fitness Fair at the Pop Whalen Ice and Arts Center in Wolfeboro. Stop in and take a look.
The museum needs many more skilled volunteers. Come to the museum on Tuesdays and Thursdays from 9AM to Noon to see what we are doing, get a tour, and find a way that you can be involved in our museum project.
We hope to start regular work sessions on some afternoons and evenings, if there is interest.
On Tuesday LRMRM had a table at the Back Bay Skippers Model Yachting Fair at Camp Brookwoods. We displayed 3D printed models, and two waterline ship models by Dave Warren: the Mount Washington and the Lady of the Lake. We have many historic building models that Dave made, and his recently completed waterline model of the Chocorua.

04/29/2026

Volunteers Needed to Paint 3D Printed Buildings for the Museum

The museum will have lots of historically accurate 3D printed buildings in HO (1:87) scale that need to be painted in historically accurate detail. Put your artistic talents to work and the results will be on display in our museum.
Experience is not required but you must have some artistic ability to do acrylic painting. Some assembly is required as the doors and windows are separate parts to make them easier to paint. Supplies are paid for by the museum. All we need is your expertise to help with this great community project presenting local history for many generations to come.
Our primary artist is Miriam Tourville who will show you what needs to be done. She does painting and assembly while her husband Gerry Tourville adds lighting to the buildings.
Contact us at [email protected] or come to the museum on Tuesdays or Thursdays from 9AM to Noon when we have regularly scheduled work sessions.
Many other volunteer positions are available involving model railroading, local history, and running a museum.
Lakes Region Model Railroad Museum, 61 Railroad Avenue, P.O. Box 713, Wolfeboro NH 03894

04/20/2026

Remember Winter? This was a particularly beautiful winter day at the museum. If you have any talents that you would like to put into our public display, we need volunteers. We are in the process of landscaping our layouts and making lots of 3D printed HO scale buildings that need painting. One of our painters has set up an area in her home to paint and assemble buildings, or we will provide materials. Lots of other help is needed with museum organization, model railroading, background painting, and local history. Contact us at [email protected] or come in Tuesday or Thursday from 9AM to Noon to get a tour and see how you could help. Thanks!