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All aboard!
G-gauge train display set
Kim Stepinsky/For the Tribune-Review
The father and son are among a group of dedicated volunteers who keep the trains running for families that include a visit to at least one model railroad display as part of their holiday traditions.
Dean Liberty is president of McKeesport Model Railroad Club, one of the oldest clubs in the region. He says his club, which has existed "in one form or another" since 1950, has lost several members over the past year. Some have passed away, others have moved away and still others have lost interest. Membership has decreased from 24 last year to 16 this season.
"Our open house is what keeps us going," Liberty says. The club struggles to pay expenses to remain in its Walnut Street headquarters in McKeesport, he says.
The group's 40- by 80-foot layout is set in Western Pennsylvania in the 1950s. The Mon-Yough Valley is a fictional coal and steel hauling line that loosely depicts the path of the Baltimore & Ohio Railroad from Baltimore to Chicago.
Liberty says work is about 65 percent complete on Port McKee, the cityscape depicted on the layout. Buildings resembling McKeesport's old Liberty and Memorial theaters have been added, and mockups of the Daily News building and former Cox's Department Store are in place.
Another model train club that keeps chugging along is the 20-member Mid-Mon Valley Railroad Club, which holds its annual open house now through Jan. 6 in the New Eagle Borough Building.
Spokeswoman Susan Werner says this year's two-level layout spanning three rooms features new landscaping details. Its popular "camera train" that provides video as one of the trains travels the tracks is back again this year, she says.
In Greensburg, the Westmoreland Museum of American Art offers its Holiday Toy and Train Exhibition that includes a layout depicting Western Pennsylvania. Local landmarks depicted include Greensburg Train Station, Coffee Pot restaurant in Bedford and the George Westinghouse Bridge.
P.J. Zimmerlink, staff preparatory, says he has created several bridges inspired by prints found in the museum's artwork exhibition, "Born of Fire: The Valley of Work." The five-level, 28-foot-diameter display features four trains and a trolley.
"Everything is built to scale. I used the actual blueprints to create the train station and Coffee Pot," he says.
New this year at the Western Pennsylvania Model Railroad Museum in Richland is a model of the Freedom Train on loan to the museum from one of its members. Spokesman Bill Humphrey says another new addition is a working trolley in the Connellsville section of the layout.
"It took us 18 months to lay the girder rail and get the trolley running," he says.
An updated computerized system of digital command control keeps the trains on the right track. As many as 24 trains run on the museum's two floors, Humphrey says. The main display upstairs measures 4,000 square feet.
In Harmony, a toy railroad and layout that debuted last year at the Harmony Museum's Wagner House annex returns this season. The 5- by 8-foot layout features several handmade buildings by the late William Yobp of New Kensington.
The Garden Railroad at Phipps Conservatory and Botanical Gardens in Oakland, which has been absent during the Chihuly glass exhibit, has been set up outside the Desert Room. Weather permitting, the train display operates daily during the conservatory's holiday hours.
Holiday train displays
• Carnegie Science Center Miniature Railroad & Village: A hand-built scale model of Forbes Field is the featured new attraction in this large display, in its 88th year. Open 10 a.m.-9 p.m. Sundays-Fridays; 10 a.m.-7 p.m. Saturdays. Call for special holiday hours. Closed Dec. 16 and 25. General admission: $14; $10 for seniors and ages 3-12. 1 Allegheny Ave., North Shore. 412-237-3400.
• Good Zoo at Oglebay Resort Miniature Railroad and Village: Through Dec. 31. The layout depicts 20th-century Appalachia, including scale-model blast furnace, steel arch bridge, logging operation and coal mine. Open 10 a.m.-9 p.m. Sundays-Thursdays; 10 a.m.-10 p.m. Fridays-Saturdays; daily, 1-9 p.m. Dec. 25; 10 a.m.-5 p.m. Dec. 24 and 31. Zoo admission: $6.25; $5.25 for ages 3-12; free for age 2 and younger. Route 88 North, Wheeling, W.Va. 800-624-6988.
• Harmony Museum: A train layout and village scene donated to the museum by Ronald Eckstein of Forward Township includes handcrafted buildings by the late William Yobp of New Kensington. Open 1-4 p.m. Tuesdays-Sundays; closed Mondays and holidays. Museum admission: $5; $2 for children. Wagner House annex, Harmony Museum, Harmony. 724-452-7341.
• McKeesport Model Railroad Club: Through Dec. 23: 6-10 p.m. Fridays, 1-9 p.m. Saturdays, noon-6 p.m. Sundays. $4; $1 for children; group rates available. McKeesport Model Railroad Club, 2209 Walnut St., McKeesport. 412-664-5626.
• Mid-Mon Valley Railroad Club: Through Jan. 6. Noon-5 p.m. Saturdays-Sundays. Closed Dec. 24 and 31. Donations requested. New Eagle Borough Building, second floor, 159 Main St. (Route 88), New Eagle, Washington County. 724-379-8584.
• Pennsylvania Trolley Museum: Through Jan. 14. "Trolleys and Toy Trains." Lionel train exhibit features "You-Run-It" train layout and trolley rides. Open Friday-Sunday and Dec. 21-23, 26-30 and Jan. 5-6 and 12-14. 10 a.m.-4 p.m. weekdays, 11 a.m.-5 p.m. weekends. $7; $6 for age 62 and older; $4 for ages 3-15; free for age 2 and younger. Admission includes trolley rides, exhibits and museum store. Interstate 79 to Exit 41, Racetrack Road, Washington, Washington County. 724-228-9256.
• Phipps Conservatory and Botanical Gardens: Garden Railroad on exhibit outdoors, weather permitting, outside the Desert Room. 9:30 a.m.-5 p.m. and 6-10 p.m. daily. Daytime admission: $12.50; $11.50 for students and senior citizens; $7.50 for ages 2-18. Evening admission: $15 for all ages. Closed Dec. 25. Advance reservations are suggested because of the popularity of the Chihuly glass exhibit, which is included with admission. Schenley Park, Oakland. 412-622-6914.
• Western Pennsylvania Model Railroad Museum: Through Jan. 13. The 20th annual, 4,000-square-foot display includes scenes set in the 1950s from Pittsburgh, McKeesport, Ohiopyle and Cumberland, Md. On Friday evenings, "Steam at Twilight" features steam engines. 6-9 p.m. Fridays, 11 a.m.-5 p.m. Saturdays-Sundays, 11 a.m.-9 p.m. Dec. 28. Closed Dec. 24, 25 and Jan. 1. $6; $4 for age 12 and younger. Route 910 and Hardt Road, Richland. 724-444-6944.
• Westmoreland Museum of American Art: Through Jan. 13. "The Art of Toys: The Holiday Toy and Train Exhibition." Featuring a train layout that depicts landscape setting of Western Pennsylvania. 11 a.m.-5 p.m. Wednesdays-Sundays, 11 a.m.-9 p.m. Thursdays. Closed Mondays, Tuesdays and most holidays. $5; free for age 12 and younger and students with ID. 221 N. Main St., Greensburg. 724-837-1500.
