Hutson's brings back train display

People are once again pressed against Hutson's Fine Furniture holiday display window watching the fun.

"The whole fun behind it is to see the kids. When you see little nose and hand prints on the glass about this high," said Dave Hutson, holding out a flat hand three feet or so above the floor, "that's what it's all about."

But the prints aren't just child height. They stop at approximately five and a half feet up from the sidewalk.

The window exhibit at 43 S. Main St. in Cape Girardeau this year is a replica of Silverton, Colo., a favorite old mining town of the Hutson family. The display is 24 feet long and 8 feet wide. Eight trains race and chug along on tracks that run through and over mountains, and skirt around such businesses as the Territorial Bank and Bobby's Saw Mill.

"I remember coming down to look at it quite a bit," said Teresa Rimer of Chattanooga, Tenn., referring to her childhood in Cape Girardeau. "We were here visiting family for Thanksgiving, and I decided to bring the kids by to see the window."

Rimer and her three children, Stephanie, 16, Michael, 12, and Jennifer, 10, were headed out of town Saturday morning by way of the Mississippi River bridge when they stopped at Hutson's window. Rimer is the daughter of Ken and Nancy Webb of Cape Girardeau.

The trains in the Silverton replica cover between 40 and 60 miles a day, depending on which train and which track, according to Chris Hutson. There is a lot more track than what people can see from outside.

"Putting together the train set involves hours of tedious work. All the trains have to mesh together and be timed just right so they don't meet one another," Chris Hutson said. "They went around and around for hours the other day, but then we had a wreck."

Though the Hutsons have put up a different exhibit each holiday season going on the past 40 years, the Silverton design is a repeat from the late 1980s that is used periodically. It is the only scene that is repeated, and it is the most requested.

Working on it at night and on weekends, the Hutson family took about a month to complete the Silverton scene this year, Dave Hutson said.

The exhibit will remain running until New Year's Day.

"We're always hearing stories about people, that's what they do on Thanksgiving, is come look at our window," Dave Hutson said. "It's such a tradition."

jgosche@semissourian.com

335-6611, extension 133