The joy of Dexter Kalloo's model train magic

AIRCRAFT technician and train enthusiast Dexter Kalloo's childhood fascination with toy trains has been kept alive for over five decades.

Every year, Kalloo and his wife, Rampy Ramlakhan-Kalloo, build a Christmas village in their living room at their Diego Martin condominium.

Their home is also decorated with nutcrackers, snowmen, snow globes, blinking lights and more.

The display takes up about a quarter of his living room and features multiple electric model trains that light up, play music and chug through the Christmas Village.

Alongside the trains, there are dozens of other figurines and displays which all come together to tell a story of Christmas cheer.

Kalloo started his train collection when at five years old after his mother gave him his first electric train – a Christmas-themed Coca-Cola train. That train is still a part of his collection to this day. He has since added two Coca-Cola cars among others.

Before his mother passed in 2015, she was able to see some of the magic he had built. Kalloo said when she saw the set, she was surprised and said, "You still have that train?"

His train collection has expanded to nine, the Polar Express Train, the Christmas Express Train, the Frosty the Snowman Train, the Disney Mickey and Minnie Christmas Train, the Christmas Coca-Cola Train and the Orlando Monorail, Christmas Tram Car, Express Light, North Pole Central.

The Kalloos have built the entire display themselves, including constructing the sets, painting and even the supporting woodwork for the infrastructure.

The pair typically travel annually to see Christmas-related sights and to buy supplies for their display. Earlier this month they went to Las Vegas to see the Bellagio Hotel & Casino's Christmas display. While there he visited three times and said, "It was remarkable. Really very, very nice."

They had originally planned to visit the Koziar’s Christmas Village in Pennsylvania in the US in 2020 for their 20th wedding anniversary but were unable to do so because of the pandemic. They hope to visit soon.

The Christmas Village is not just for their own viewing. In the past, the Kalloos had opened their homes to visitors who wanted to witness the model train magic.

Kalloo said, "Every two or three days we get calls to come to view it."

But with the worrying crime rate, the display will not be open to the public.

This year, the Kalloos plans to keep their display up until Carnival before it is disassembled and put into storage.

Next Christmas they plan to build a snowy mountain scene with evergreen trees and even more houses set into the mountainside.