Garden Spot Village Model Railroad Club Announces Open House Dates
Popular display brings back treasured holiday memories for visitors of all ages.
NEW HOLLAND, Pa. — Oct. 30, 2009 — For anyone who ever woke up to find a toy train running around the base of the Christmas tree—and even for those who didn’t—a visit to the train room at Garden Spot Village is a special treat. Last year, more than 2,200 visitors came to the annual open house to enjoy the carefully crafted model railroad displays and watch the trains make their way through meticulously detailed landscapes.
“We spent hours building the city street scene that buries the Garden Spot Transit trolley tracks just like they were in real life,” said Harry Black, one of about 20 members of the Garden Spot Village Model Railroad Club. Club members, who all share the title “vice president”, donate their time, money and equipment to work on the trains for their own enjoyment and to entertain others.
Two different displays
In 2003, a resident donated the benchwork, or support structure, and track for an O-gauge model railroad. Club members wired the layout and control panel, built buildings and made scenery. They made mountains out of paper towels and plaster, and made trees from dried flowers. The display features a church cemetery, a hilltop picnic grove and waterfalls. Details include a “Handicapped Only” sign on a parking space and a horse tie rail with “road apples.”
In 2005, the club began work on an HO-gauge layout with more than 600 feet of main line track. In the switching yard, a turntable feeds a 12-stall engine roundhouse. Scenery work is still underway on several portions of the display, but the club has completed “Norm’s Landing,” a backwater area near a hillside coal strip mining operation complete with houses for the employees. Over the hill, a valley cradles a simple farm scene, where cows graze in a pasture.
New additions and an old favorite
Since last year’s open house, the club has completed a highly detailed German village, complete with HO-scale tulips planted in neat rows in the center of town and a large railroad station. Another new addition is the “Industrial Valley” grouping of manufacturing buildings off the main line.
“We’re working on a western town tourist attraction, residential homes on a wooded hill and a train yard with a large engine house,” said Black. Also in the works is a city providing a backdrop for Thomas the Tank Engine.
“Thomas was a big hit with the many children who visited us during the 2008 holiday open house sessions,” Black said. “Thanks to the high-tech skills of a gifted club member, Thomas is able to converse with the young children who visit him. We’re making a major effort to make this fun time even better for 2009.”
This year, the train room will be open to the general public on Saturdays, from Nov. 28 through Jan. 2, from 1:30 p.m. to 4 p.m. Admission is free; donations are accepted. For information and directions, call 717-355-6000.
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