A & E

Patty Rogers towers over the farmhouse set in a rolling Western Pennsylvania hillside.

Gently, she plucks the granary from the fenced-in side yard and moves it to a more appropriate location behind the house.

"I'm not sure how that got there," said Rogers, 54, of Cecil as she gingerly steps back to the road, adjusting a tree on her way out.

It's all part of a day's work for Rogers, whose job revolves around the five looping railroad tracks and many tales of struggle, joy and, most of all, hard work set in the Carnegie Science Center's Miniature Railroad & Village.

"What made Pittsburgh -- this region, really -- what it is today was the rivers, the railroads and the steel industry," said Rogers, standing across from the replica Sharon Steel Mill which, as many mills were, is sandwiched between rails and river, giving it access to barges and trains. "And that's what we try to show here."

According to the science center, the model railroad that greets visitors on the second floor of the North Shore science museum holds the distinction of being the oldest in the country, if not the world.

That would be hard to prove because such records aren't tracked, said Brent Lambert, library director of the National Model Railroad Association in Chattanooga, Tenn., the largest nonprofit organization dedicated to development and promotion of model railroading. But with the Miniature Railroad & Village in its 89th year, it's certainly plausible, he said.

The science center's railroad got its start in the Brookville home of Charles Bowdish, about 100 miles northeast of Pittsburgh. In 1920, Bowdish assembled his model railroad and handcrafted village to entertain guests at a Christmas wedding.

"One of the guests who came -- this is my favorite story -- asked if he could bring some friends over to see it," Rogers said. "And 600 people visited."

Every year until 1954, Bowdish added to the display and people lined up outside his home to see it. But his house, on the appropriately named Creek Street, flooded one too many times and his insurance company no longer would insure him if he continued to allow such crowds. Bowdish gave the display to Buhl Planetarium and Institute of Popular Science in the North Side.

Rogers, an artist, was hired in 1991 to paint murals in the Carnegie Science Center, which was being built on the banks of the Ohio River to replace the institute. When she finished the mural, the center offered her a full-time position managing the model railroad. She has assumed responsibility for the USS Requin submarine, earning herself the title "coordinator of historic exhibits."

"She's super; she's a superstar," said Ann Metzger, co-director of the science center. "The staff and volunteers adore her. She's so motivating and very enthusiastic. It's contagious."

Though the railroad is confined to an 83- by 30-foot platform -- so sturdy Rogers boasts that 100 people could dance on it -- she and her team of part-time employees and volunteers add to it every year, debuting their creations in November. Rogers recently decided that Fallingwater, the Frank Lloyd Wright house built above a waterfall in Fayette County, would be this year's undertaking.

Crafting a display such as Forbes Field or the Allegheny Observatory requires ingenuity. Everything is handmade and inspiration often comes from common household items. The fans at Forbes Field are actually thousands of painted Q-tips. Spaghetti noodles and parsley are transformed into ivy. The hundreds of trees are really dried and painted wild hydrangeas.

For 14 years, Don Leech, 74, of Finleyville has fixed train engines for the model railroad, which he considers one of the best in existence.

"It's at the top," said Leech, who has crafted model railroads since childhood. "The detail, the historical facts behind it are unmatched."

One of the display's key elements is its height, standing about 2 1/2 feet off the ground, forcing adults to squat down to a child's height to see the 100 moving parts, right down to a cat's tail swishing out of the way just in time to dodge a rocking chair.

"We always say that's the best way to view it," Rogers said.

It was for Brooke Krally, 7, of Indiana Township, who visited the science center on a recent field trip with Hartwood Elementary School.

"It's so neat, all the stuff you can find," Krally said. "We found the horses and the popcorn-making and the lady rocking the baby."

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