Take it from a longtime member of the Western Pennsylvania Model Railroad Museum, model railroading can be as little or as much as a person wants it to be. The museum opens its holiday display this weekend.

The hobby can cost a little or a lot in time and money, said Bill Humphrey of the model railroad museum at 5507 Lakeside Drive, Gibsonia.

Following are some questions he suggested people consider before taking up the mantel of model railroad enthusiast.

- Do I want to be a model railroader or do I want to dabble in it?

- Who’s going to be playing with this, me or the kids?

- How much money do I want to spend?

- How big do I want the display to be?

“You can spend a lot of money … $5,000, $6,000, $10,000 and then suddenly think, ‘This isn’t what I want to do,’ ” Humphrey said. “This is why we ask these questions ahead of time.”

The Model Railroad Museum offers a six-week class, the next one starting Jan. 25, that discusses these topics, among others. The cost is $45 prepaid.

Humphrey cautioned the class is not for children. In fact, anyone under age 18 should be accompanied by an adult. “It’s very in-depth,” he said. “We go into what tools to use, and there are razor blades as part of those.”

Another question to consider is “How difficult is this train going to be to put on the track and stay on the track?

“The bigger trains are easier to put on the track and they stay on better,” Humphrey said. “But with smaller ones you can fit more in the same space.”

The Model Railroad Museum works from HO scale, which is 1/87th of full size. In scale size, the museum building, which the group built purposely to house the display, is one and a third miles long by two-thirds of a mile wide.

Each train runs 125 real miles each year, he said. He estimated that two million hours of work have gone into the display so far.

The museum also features railroad memorabilia and artifacts.

“We have a lot of stuff from the old Pullman Standard in Butler,” Humphrey said. “We’re trying to be good stewards of that.”

The Western Pennsylvania Model Railroad Museum’s 18th annual holiday show opens at 11 a.m. Saturday.

Hours are 6 to 9 p.m. Fridays and 11 a.m. to 5 p.m. Saturdays and Sundays, except Nov. 25 and Dec. 30, when the museum will have extended hours from 11 a.m. to 9 p.m.

Admission is $5 for adults and $3 for children younger than 12.

Call 724-444-6944 for more information.