Depot museum diorama recreates Eagle River’s Railroad Street in 1910

When the Eagle River Historical Society opens the doors to its Chicago & North Western Depot Museum this Memorial Day weekend, visitors will once again be able to experience a diorama depicting Railroad Street in Eagle River as it appeared during the summer of 1910.

The diorama itself is not new to the museum, but its builder, Glen Johnson, is featured in the May 2026 issue of Model Railroader and recently stopped by the museum to discuss the years-long process of researching, designing and constructing the detailed miniature streetscape.

Johnson, who undertook the project as a volunteer for the historical society after retiring to Eagle River, began work on the diorama in 2017 and largely completed it in 2022 — though he noted he continued adding details even after the commemorative plaque was made.

“My wife and I wanted to get involved after we moved up here full time, so we attended a volunteer fair,” Johnson said. “Craig Moore and Karen Sailer were there representing the historical society. I asked, ‘Have you ever considered doing a diorama of the depot for the depot museum?’ And they jumped on it.”

The process

After presenting a proposed budget to the historical society’s board, Johnson got to work. The society decided the summer of 1910 would be the ideal period to depict, before the original depot was destroyed by fire. Stretching 18 feet long, the diorama traces Railroad Street from the depot to the river.

Every building in the diorama was “scratch-built” by Johnson, meaning each structure was constructed from raw materials rather than assembled from a kit. Extensive research was required to ensure accuracy, including the use of historic photographs and Sanborn fire maps for dimensions.

Johnson began by putting the photographs in chronological order, then created architectural drawings of each building, which he used to construct the models out of mat board and card stock. Because the photographs were black and white, however, determining the buildings’ original colors required additional research and a degree of educated guesswork.

“You have no idea what the original colors were,” he said. “The depot was the big one — I really wanted to get that color correct.”

Johnson said Bob Brownell, a former executive with the Chicago & North Western Railroad, helped him determine the depot’s original paint scheme, along with a mutual friend and fellow former executive whose brother was involved with the railroad’s historical society.

“They found records showing it was painted in two shades of red,” Johnson said. “You could tell from the photographs that there was a darker shade on the bottom and a lighter shade on the top.”

From there, Johnson filled in the gaps using both research and artistic interpretation.

“Bob always joked that Chicago & North Western stood for ‘cheap and nothing wasted,’” Johnson said. “So I figured the colors were probably something like caboose red and boxcar red because they would already have the paint available.”

For some buildings, Johnson consulted descendants of longtime Eagle River families. In other cases, he relied on physical evidence that still exists today. Former Eagle River Historical Society president Craig Moore, whose great-grandfather owned the Hotel Commercial, helped determine the building’s color.

“I asked Craig what color he wanted it to be since we had no way of knowing for sure, and he said red,” Johnson said.

Johnson said he also received permission from the owner of the bicycle shop building to scrape away layers of paint and compare the original color underneath.

For the remaining buildings, he used what he described as “artistic license” to choose colors that would still appear historically believable in black-and-white photographs.

After years of research and construction, the project finally came together section by section. Johnson built the diorama at his home in two-foot-by-six-foot segments before transporting and assembling them at the museum.

Finished product

Johnson is a lifelong model-building enthusiast whose great-grandfather was also a model builder. He received his first Lionel train set at age one, built his first layout in eighth grade and later constructed another with his son, but said the Railroad Street diorama is by far the largest and most complex project he has undertaken.

Although he admitted there were moments of frustration throughout the process, Johnson said he is proud of the finished model.

“I think it’s awesome because everybody can enjoy it,” Johnson said. “A lot of model railroads are in somebody’s basement, so the person who built it gets to see it, and maybe a club visits once in a while. But this is for everybody.”

Eagle River Historical Society Executive Director Vito Bortolotti said visitors’ reactions to the exhibit have been overwhelmingly positive, especially among children.

“Kids absolutely love it because it’s done so well and so professionally,” Bortolotti said. “Most of Railroad Street burned in 1934, and other sections were later torn down, so the diorama preserves a part of Eagle River people can no longer see in real life.”

While historic photographs help document that period, Bortolotti said the three-dimensional model gives visitors a much stronger sense of what the downtown once looked like.

“You can show people old pictures and they’ll say, ‘Oh, that’s fascinating,’” he said. “But when you build it to scale, people can really understand it in a different way.”

The Railroad Street diorama will again be on display when the Eagle River Historical Society opens the depot museum for the summer season on Saturday, May 23, from 11 a.m. to 3 p.m.

Free root beer floats will be served to celebrate the opening.

The depot museum is located at 116 S. Railroad St. in Eagle River. For more information, contact the historical society at 715-337-0811.