2 minute read
Princeton Heritage Meadows Alpaca
Trains, alpacas & love of history
Take one small alpaca ranch and add owners with big dreams, a love of trains and you too will understand the vision and joy of Princeton Heritage Meadows Alpaca & Railroad Ranch.
The Ferguson Family, including Hunter, his father, Jim, best friend Bryan Luke and partner Thomas have taken their farm and created spaces for the public to share their loves of trains along with alpacas, llamas and goats.
Hunter said his love of trains harkens back to his grandmother, who used to spin stories of how as a little girl, her favorite time of year was the arrival of the circus trains in her small Nebraska farm town. At the farm, Hunter and his team are creating a model train display, that will include models of locomotives that would have crossed through Princeton in the late 1800s.
“I’m tying in education and history to create a family-friendly experience,” Hunter said.
Along with the miniature trains, Hunter is proud to have a miniature steam train that visitors will be able to ride in the farm.
“I love history, I love models and old engines and I love the way people light up when they see these trains,” Hunter said.
The plans are to open the model trains and miniature train in the spring, but friends can find their own train model sets and more at the new retail center. Inside the store find model trains sure to please train hobbyists and sets perfect for the family.
Also, inside the store find alpaca fibers, spun yarn perfect for knitting your own scarves and sweaters. The fleece of an alpaca is lightweight, silky and is considered hypoallergenic and water resistant, Hunter said.
Hunter said he started the farm with pygmy goats, perfect for helping to trim grass. Realizing his small goats needed some protection, he discovered llamas made great herd protectors. And, soon after llamas, he added alpacas, which are smaller than a llama and their fleece is softer, more desirable for the fiber arts.
Step by step, Hunter and his family are excited to open their farm, share their loves and provide hard-tofind models for local train enthusiasts.
NOW OPEN! ON-SITE RETAIL SHOP!
Princeton Heritage Meadows Alpaca & Railroad Ranch just opened our on-site retail store on October 1st, 2022. Our shop will feature products made from the fleece of our own alpacas including but not limited to yarn, rugs and yoga mats. We are also an authorized Bachmann Trains USA and Broadway
Limited Imports retailing with a wide selection of model trains from both companies as well as some used and new/old stock models in all the popular scales such as N, HO, O and G scales. We will also have some of our animals available to interact with on a limited scale and timeframe for the remainder of our 2022 season which ends on December 12th .
Retail Store Hours-Wednesdays thru Sundays, 11am-5pm.
Much of our Farm Site is under construction/renovations. It will open in phases, starting in spring 2023, with the miniature Now Open! steam railroad. For more information, please call 815-915-1130. You may email us at
We look forward to seeing you! hunterfergusonphm@gmail.com or bryanlukephm@gmail.com and be sure to visit us on
