CAMBRIDGE — Members of Cambridge Rescue Fire Company helped to usher in the Christmas season on Saturday, when they welcomed visitors to their 86th Annual RFC Train Garden.

“Each December, we operate daily, providing new memories and rekindling old ones for the people of Cambridge, and for visitors from around the globe,” a statement from the fire company said. “This year’s theme, Harvesters at the Holidays, pays tribute to the farmers and watermen who have called Dorchester County home.”

The Train Garden features miniature towns, cities, farms, forests, factories and highways, all decked out in holiday revelry, and crisscrossed by model trains. The display portrays both the familiar and the fanciful, with fun, humorous vignettes sprinkled into the display to add to the memories.

Since 1934, members of Rescue Fire Company have been operating a holiday train display for the community, carrying on a tradition that began in the Baltimore area. Though the train garden tradition remains strong on the western shore, peers from the 1930s and 1940s are gone. The RFC Train Garden is the longest continually operating fire department train display in the United States.

Today, the Rescue Fire Company Train Garden remains in the same home it has always occupied, the “Old Firehouse” at 307 Gay St., the gateway to Downtown Cambridge.
“We take pride in bringing the people of Cambridge, Dorchester County, and the Mid-Shore together each Christmas.

Join us for an hour or two, take in the sites, and enjoy our unique Christmas tradition. Enjoy our famous popcorn, some peanuts, and a soda or coffee. And, this year, two new treats will be added to our offerings, sure to satisfy the sweet tooth of our visitors, young or old.”