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Model railroad tour will go inside homes in Latrobe, Derry, Ligonier areas [Tribune-Review, Greensburg, Pa.](Tribune-Review (Greensburg, PA) Via Acquire Media NewsEdge) Apr. 11--An entire world in miniature exists in Don and Doris Graff's attic. The Steelers play a football game while diners get a chipped ham sandwich at Isaly's. While some people fish in a pond in summertime, others sled down a snow-covered hill. A band plays in a gazebo as a gas jockey fills up a car at a Texaco station. All the while, passenger trains, freight trains and trolleys pass by on 18 tracks. "This is what happens when you get tired of a train running a circle around the Christmas tree," Dick Flock of Greensburg said while surveying the Graffs' model railroad display. Flock heads the committee putting together the first-ever Model Railroad Home Tour sponsored by The Ligonier Valley Rail Road Association. The event, scheduled for April 25, will enable people to view six model railroad layouts in the Latrobe, Derry and Ligonier areas. Flock said the association, which preserves the history of the Ligonier Valley Rail Road, decided to hold the event to garner more attention to the work it does as well as to raise money. "It captures the interest of people, and there are a lot of model railroaders in the area," said Flock, adding that a recent model train show in Hempfield drew more than 6,000 people in a weekend. The association has been hard at work for several years refurbishing the 119-year-old Darlington Station in Ligonier Township and turning it into a museum. A grand opening for the station is tentatively scheduled for midsummer. The association hopes to hold the event annually, with plans to tour homes in the Greensburg and North Huntingdon areas next year, Flock said. Tour participants will find train displays that fill both sides of the Graffs' Derry Township attic. Don Graff said he received his first Lionel train set in 1952. He and his wife have always loved and had trains in the house, but it wasn't until 1990 that they started seriously collecting. "After my children were raised, I was able to buy more trains," Don Graff said. His favorite piece is the Toonerville Trolley, a moving replica of the trolley that appeared in the "Toonerville Folks" comic strip, which ran in newspapers from 1908 to 1955. "First time I saw it, I sort of fell in love with it," Don Graff said. The Graffs find their train interests complement each other. "I love working on things," Don Graff said. "I love to tear things apart and put them back together." Doris Graff loves putting together the scenery, which permeates every inch of the layout. "She does all the other stuff. I just do trains and wiring," Don Graff said. He said members of Latrobe United Presbyterian Church, where he is pastor, and others have come to see the train display in the past, but this is the first time he's opened it to the public. "My wife likes to show her work," he said. Tour participants will get a diverse view of model railroad layouts. At the Penn-Ligonier Railroad Club, they'll get to see a classic layout from the 1950s. The club, located in Latrobe, has been reinvigorated thanks to the upcoming home tour. Two years ago, because of failing health, Russ Lowden, 83, had to shut down the club his father-in-law started in 1937. But since November, he's gotten help from volunteers who are working to put the layout back together. "We're trying to get it back in working condition again," Lowden said. Visitors will see a different type of railroad layout at the club. The landscape is more realistic, with a gritty industrial feel to it. Trains travel through a tunnel, past coal towns and a sawmill, and rest in an expansive rail yard. "The concern here is to create what really existed on the railroad," Flock said. |