A Lionel J3a Hudson locomotive steams through the Miniature Railroad & Village display at the Carnegie Science Center.

PITTSBURGH — Frank Lloyd Wright enthusiasts will instantly recognize the cantilevered balconies on the new miniature of Fallingwater recently added to the Miniature Railroad & Village display at the Carnegie Science Center.

Fallingwater is sometimes referred to as the most unusual home in the world.

Pittsburgh department store owner Edgar Kaufmann Sr. commissioned Wright to build the family's weekend home in 1936. The Kaufmann family's love of nature inspired the architect to envision a residence where they would not only be able to see nature, but actually live within it.

The legacy of the miniature display began nearly 90 years ago with a man named Charles Bowdish of Brookville. While serving in the Army in World War I, he developed heart problems and received an honorable discharge.

His first miniature railroad village debuted on Christmas Eve in 1920. The years following, his display grew until it occupied most of the second floor of the Bowdish home.The Boulle Planetarium adopted Bowdish's masterpiece and renamed it the Christmastown Railroad, first on display December 1954. Nearly 24,000 visited it there.After a redesign and reconstruction, a greatly enhanced and enlarged Miniature Railroad & Village debuted at Carnegie Science Center in 1992.The current display illustrates how people lived, worked and played in the Western Pennsylvania region during the 1880s to the 1930s, and it continues to grow and pay homage to the diverse history of the Pittsburgh area at the turn of the 20th century.Currently, the display features more than 250,000 handmade trees, 98 animations, and dozens of models including Forbes Field and the Sharon Steel Mill.Regular hours are 10 a.m. to 7 p.m. Fridays and Saturdays and from 10 a.m. to 5 p.m. Sundays through Thursdays; closed holidays. The center will be closed because of Steelers home games next door at Heinz Field on Sunday and Dec. 20 and 27.Admission is $14 for adults and $10 for seniors age 62 and older and children 3 to 12. Parking is $5. Omnimax films are extra. Call 412-237-3400 or visit www.carnegiesciencecenter.org.

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Work on the miniature version of Frank Lloyd Wright's Fallingwater has been completed, and the tiny replica has been placed in its new home in the Miniature Railroad & Village display at the Carnegie Science Center.

A scaled-down version of architect Frank Lloyd Wright's iconic Fallingwater is part of the Miniature Railroad & Village at the Carnegie Science Center. At right, Patty Rogers, curator of historic exhibits at the science center, constructs the tiny replica of Fallingwater.