Model train groups create displays in comprehensive show at Monroeville Convention Center
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Young Milagros Lazaro unloaded pieces of lumber, cut wood, dumped fake coal ash and let sirens blow, all with the push of a button.
The Derry girl did all that and more under the watchful eye of her mother, Alicia Lazaro, and members of a model railroad club called the Pittsburgh S-Gaugers.
The Lazaros were among the thousands of visitors at the Monroeville Convention Center for Greenberg’s Great Train & Toy Show July 23-24.
The S-Gaugers had one of the most interactive displays at the convention with more than eight different actions.
Milagros scrambled around the attraction to ensure she had an opportunity to engage in all of them.
“She wants to touch everything,” her mother said. “It’s fun to actually be able to do stuff after covid.
“We live right in front of the train station with all the tracks, and she watches them all the time go by. She likes the trains. Derry used to have a whole bunch. It used to be a railroad community, they said. We have the Railroad Days in September. She really liked it.
”So when I heard about this,” Alicia said about the train show, “I was, like, ‘Oh, let’s go see what that’s about.’”
Derry Railroad Days is an annual celebration of the railroading heritage of Derry. A festival and parade is scheduled for Sept. 17-18.
About 3,000 people were estimated to have visited the convention center for the show.
“These train shows are a great opportunity to interact with the families and interact with the kids,” said Roger Schneider of Murrysville, secretary for the Pittsburgh S-Gaugers.
Other model train groups on hand included the Pittsburgh Independent Hi-Railers and the Keystone Division Fre-Mo Group. There were also historical displays of the Pittsburgh & West Virginia Railway.
Pittsburgh Independent Hi-Railers featured some of the larger trains at the show. They had O-Gauge, O-27 and O-Scale, with each type requiring a three-rail track to power the trains. They had engines that let out small puffs of smoke.
“We’ve been here every show since I can remember,” said member Andy Hummell of North Huntingdon. “Our largest setup of the year is at Kennywood for Holiday Lights. We take over the entire arcade building.”
About 100 vendors participated in the show. They had everything from parts and accessories to engines and cabs. Others had models of buildings and various pieces used to set a scene.
There was a test track so people could check their purchases prior to leaving.
It was the first train show that sold out of vendor space since the pandemic. Show manager Neal Carnaby said he was not surprised at the turnout.
“You’ve got a fairly high population density, but also this whole area was heavily influenced by the railroads (such as) Pittsburgh, Altoona,” Carnaby said. “Pittsburgh, with steel, was a heavy railroad customer because everything to make steel and everything shipped out was by rail. Coal mining was also huge for railroads, so very much a heavy railroad town.”
Carnaby has been involved with the hobby for more than 50 years.
He said part of the appeal is the ability to put out a 100-car train with some of the smaller scale models, along with re-creating scenes and making entire towns and landscapes for the trains to roll through.
“There’s all sorts of ways you can go with it as a hobby,” he said.
Greenberg’s Great Train & Toy Show returns to Monroeville Nov. 5-6 and Jan. 7-8.
More information is about convention center events is available at monroevilleconventioncenter.com.