'Honey I Shrunk the Depot'

An eight-foot long model of Franklin's New Haven Railroad train depot, as it looked in the 1930s, will be on view starting today, from 1-4 pm at the Franklin Historical Museum, 80 West Central St.  The display will continue during museum hours through Feb. 5. 2023. Admission is free.

The exhibit, crafted by former Town Council Chair Scott Mason, reveals the lost Franklin of the age of coal and steam. Among the details carefully modeled on the diorama are the Franklin Furniture warehouse (formerly the factory of the Trowbridge Piano company. 

Another major structure shown is the Gilmore Coal Company -- the primary source for heating fuel and fuel to run steam engines at local factories. The complex of buildings adjacent to the railroad tracks, also included buildings for the storage and sale of animal feeds and other important bulk products.

And, directly adjacent to the Depot, is the building of the Railway Express Agency, the UPS of its era, that handled local delivery of items shipped to Franklin on the freight trains that brought the outside world to town.