Tom Fedor/The Gazette A passenger train rumbles past a drive-in movie theater scene on the gigantic operating model train exhibit at the Roads And Rails Museum in Frederick on Friday afternoon.

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Tom Fedor/The Gazette Proprietor David Burroughs stands in the control area overlooking the gigantic operating model train exhibit at the Roads And Rails Museum in Frederick on Friday afternoon.
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Tom Fedor/The Gazette Proprietor David Burroughs stands in the control area overlooking the gigantic operating model train exhibit at the Roads And Rails Museum in Frederick on Friday afternoon.
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Tom Fedor/The Gazette Roads and Rails Museum visitor Landon Klein, 1, of Frederick, views the gigantic operating model train exhibit at the Roads And Rails Museum in Frederick on Friday afternoon.
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Tom Fedor/The Gazette A passenger train rumbles past a drive-in movie theater scene on the gigantic operating model train exhibit at the Roads And Rails Museum in Frederick on Friday afternoon.

Tom Fedor/The Gazette A passenger train rumbles past a drive-in movie theater scene on the gigantic operating model train exhibit at the Roads And Rails Museum in Frederick on Friday afternoon.

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Aliens are landing among crop circles, Graceland sits near a small western town and around the corner Dunder Mifflin towers over a scene from the television show “Lost.”

It’s not a wacky dream, but instead the world inside the Roads and Rails Museum, a Frederick business housing what David Burroughs calls one of the largest miniature world model train displays in the country.

The museum, that opened its doors at the beginning of the month, started around four years ago when Burroughs sold his computer company and planned to retire.

“I retired, and I was bored after like, five minutes,” he said. “I had money to play with and I decided to do this. People thought I was crazy, and of course, they were right.”

He had originally wanted to buy a barn in the [Frederick] county and store his collections to open to the public seasonally, but the idea evolved into a family business that includes sons David, John and Matt, along with family friend Bill Gardner.

But he’s been impressed at the flexibility of all involved.

“All of them have been able to do stuff that I never knew they could do before,” he said.

Son David has tackled electrical issues, others have built landscapes, buildings and scenes out of nothing. Some of the set up was already owned by Burroughs, but son Matt Burroughs, who quit a job in stock footage department for the Discovery Channel, said much of the landscape and towns were the result of their work over the past few years.

On Thursday afternoon, Matt Burroughs pushed a button on the outskirts of a display and a volcano roared to life, lights flashing. “There’s tons of little stuff like this,” he said.

His brother John Burroughs used to work in California doing set design.

“He’d make an ancient tunnel, they’d shoot it in five minutes, then tear it apart,” Matt Burroughs said. “So now he gets to build something where it will actually stay up for a long time.”

The museum opened July 2, but it was considered a soft opening, and a grand opening will happen in a few months when the “roads” portion of the museum is up and running.

David Burroughs said most of the automobiles are from the late 1950s and 1960s, including Kaisers, Hudsons, Studebackers and Packards.

He said he currently has around 12, but plans to have about 18 by the time of the grand opening.

“My favorite is the DeLorean,” Matt Burroughs said, referencing the iconic car from the “Back to the Future” films.

The cars will be displayed in a building across the museum’s parking lot, and future plans may link the two buildings if possible.

Also in the works is a “treasure hunt map” where kids would try to find dinosaur bones and a Redskins tow truck, or a town with only mini coopers trolling the streets.

“I just need to remember where everything is!” Matt Burroughs said.

Visitors Barry and Valerie Jackson said they were fans of the mini working rollercoaster. The couple from England was visiting relatives in Mount Airy and decided to come over after seeing a story on the museum in the newspaper.

“It’s a bit different,” Barry said.

“It’s very good,” Valerie said. “I would go around again.”

Carol and Bryan Smith, of central Pennsylvania, along with 8-year-old daughter Paige, were visiting a friend in Frederick and decided to come to the museum.

“You could come at 10 and stay until 5 and still not see everything,” Bryan Smith said.

They stopped at the Frederick Visitors Center beforehand. “The man there actually said we were the third party to ask about this museum today,” Carol Smith said.

The Roads and Rails Museum is located at 200 N. East St. in Frederick. Current ticket prices are $6 for adults 12 and older, children three to 12 are $4 and children three and under are free. Hours are 10 a.m. to 5 p.m. Wednesday to Friday, 10 a.m. to 7 p.m. on Saturday, 12 p.m. to 5 p.m. on Sunday and closed Monday and Tuesday. For more information, visit the museum’s website at www.roadsnrails.com.

acochrun@gazette.net