Train Gang prepares for holiday visitors
Katie Anderson/Observer-Reporter
A model train passes by a circus, as part of The Train Gang’s display at Washington Crown Center.
Katie Anderson/Observer-Reporter
On left, Terry Ames and Sam Bear, members of The Train Gang, look over the club’s model train display in Washington Crown Center.
This fire scene is part of The Train Gang’s interactive model train display at Washington Crown Center.
Katie Anderson/ Observer- Reporter
On left, Joe Jack, member of The Train Gang, looks over a model train display in Washington Crown Center.
Katie Anderson/Observer- Reporter
For so many, the first joyful greeting heard each Christmas morning was the whistle of the model train set that chugged in circles around the Christmas tree.
“Way back when, everybody had a circular track around the tree,” said Joe Jack, a member of Washington County’s Train Gang. “The trains were in every little town across the country-the railroads were a way of life. It was just a novelty back then to put it under your tree as an attraction.”
The train tradition greatly faded over the years for many households, but for those who like to stroll down memory lane or keep the tradition going for younger generations, the Train Gang will have its display up over the holidays.
“We’re a group of guys who refused to grow up,” he said. “We’ve been playing with these trains since we were kids, and we grew up with this hobby.”
Trains weren’t only a hobby for Jack, since he worked for a rail company in Beaver County for decades. It used to be Penn Central, he said, but is now known as Norfolk Southern Railway.
“I worked for the real railroad for 30-some years,” he said. “They used to tease me, ‘what’s wrong with you, don’t you get enough of the real thing?'”
The model train club has been set up in Washington Crown Center for the past five years, Jack said. The mall donated the space to the group with the understanding that they would be an attraction for customers, especially around the holidays.
With 19 model trains running through nine different villages, the Train Gang has something for everyone in its interactive display. The display includes a Christmas village, coal mine village, space station and some replications of Washington’s own landmarks, like Shorty’s Hot dogs, Washington Hospital and the Observer-Reporter.
The display has buttons for children to operate the trains, and the group incorporated superhero action figures into some of the town setups for dramatic effect.
“Even the little kids – the crumb-crunchers as I call them – have things they can relate to,” Jack said. “Our imaginations are how we make all of this in here. It’s intended to be a little bit of Christmas magic that we created.”
Terry Ames, one of the 20 members of the group, said it took him two months to lay it all out the way it’s set up now. He said he loves to show off the collection around the holidays, especially to youngsters.
“It’s really refreshing because we’re all older, but the kids come in and their eyes light up,” he said. “Everybody seems to like it.”
Sam Bear, the club’s treasurer, said he started collecting model trains 66 years ago, when he was a young child.
“It gives you a lot of opportunities to learn,” he said. “I certainly don’t have room for all of this at my home, so this allows us to bring something here for a larger scale that the public and enjoy too.”
The group asks visitors to make a donation, which the Train Gang then gives to local charities. Last year, the group had more than 10,000 people stop in to see the display, and it was able to donate to 12 different charity organizations.
This year, the Train Gang’s display opened to the public Thursday, the day Santa arrived at the mall. It will also be open 2 to 8 p.m. Black Friday, and starting Nov. 30, the display’s hours will be 2 to 8 p.m. Tuesday through Saturday and noon to 5 p.m. Sundays.