Model train advancements speed toward authenticity at Gibsonia museum
GIBSONIA, Allegheny County — Even 87 years after it was founded, the Western Pennsylvania Model Railroad Museum and its members are still finding ways to make its annual display a more authentic experience for everyone.
While some of it comes from skilled craftsmanship or from layered networks connecting the locomotives to a rail system, the museum has continued to evolve in the way it recreates the landscapes of Western Pennsylvania and some of the trains that occupy it.
David Chess, one of the museum’s members, said his specialty has always been on the other side of the curtain. Instead of building models or helping set scenes, his focus is on the electronics that make them tick.
He got involved with the museum after another member and friend, Mark Sparrow, reached out and asked for repairs on a microcontroller. He explained that it was part of the museum’s digital command control — a system that connects all the models to one network.
“I was putting (the controllers) on, and then I came up here to see what the layout was like. The next thing you know, they got me to do some repair on the layout and Mark had paid for my application fee,” Chess said.
As an electrical engineer, he said he’s always been interested in similar microcontroller technology on his own. But the museum’s digital command control gave him the opportunity to better see what the technology is capable of.
“The more trains you have, the more you see the sophistication of the DCC and what it’s really doing, networking and doing a lot of different functions with a central computer,” Chess explained.
He said the digital command control has 29 total functions that gave the museum’s members a high degree of control over how the models operate. For example, he explained that how the museum connects cars has changed.
“The old system was to plow into it and hook onto the coupler — I always called that the ‘stab and grab method,’ Chess said. “Nowadays, we don’t do stab and grab. We just bring the train to real, true speeds like a real train would do it. We barely touch it, hook onto it, and pull away.”
While a central computer controls a majority of the moving trains in the exhibit, Chess is also able to use an app on his phone to connect into a network and operate any train.
Forrest Nace, another museum member, explained that the model trains require several stages of work done to them before they’re ready to be put on display, such as applying a weathered effect to the cars and making sure they are linked into the system.
“On the wheels, we have soldered a little resistor,” Nace said while showing the undercarriage on a model train car. “That way, if I put this out on the track, it’ll draw current. And then the computer knows there’s something on the track and registers it.”
He explained that the museum’s goal of authenticity goes beyond just the trains and the system that runs them and extends to the landscape itself. He explained that the model tries to recreate actual landmarks and buildings from each location.
“We actually do 3D printing here. So, we make sections of the buildings, and like the little gargoyles and all that. If we can’t buy it as a product, we’ll make it with a 3D printer,” Nace explained.
The museum’s annual holiday display is open until mid-January on Fridays from 6 to 9 p.m. and on Saturdays and Sundays from 11 a.m. to 5 p.m. Admission is $12 for adults and $6 for children under age 12.
More information about the museum can be found at wpmrm.org.
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Attendees of the 37th annual holiday train display check out a scale model train exhibit of railways in Western PA at the Western Pennsylvania Model Railroad Museum on Sunday, Nov. 30. Matthew Brown/Butler Eagle
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A model train rides along a railroad at the Western Pennsylvania Model Railroad Museum on Sunday, Nov. 30. Matthew Brown/Butler Eagle
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An interactive train model where visitors can run the trains by pushing buttons is on display on the first floor of the Western Pennsylvania Model Railroad Museum on Sunday, Nov. 30. Matthew Brown/Butler Eagle
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Museum member Forrest Nace pulls a box of model freight trains from a storage shelf at the Western Pennsylvania Model Railroad Museum on Sunday, Nov. 30. Matthew Brown/Butler Eagle
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Thomas the Tank Engine chugs along railroad tracks as part of an interactive train display on the first floor of the Western Pennsylvania Model Railroad Museum on Sunday, Nov. 30. Matthew Brown/Butler Eagle
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Gray Pongracz, center, speaks with a museum staffer about railway history at the Western Pennsylvania Model Railroad Museum on Sunday, Nov. 30. Matthew Brown/Butler Eagle
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A scale model exhibit of railways in Western PA is on display at the Western Pennsylvania Model Railroad Museum as part of their annual holiday showing on Sunday, Nov. 30. Matthew Brown/Butler Eagle
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An interactive train model where visitors can run the trains by pushing buttons is on display on the first floor of the Western Pennsylvania Model Railroad Museum on Sunday, Nov. 30. Matthew Brown/Butler Eagle
