Model Building Anyone? The Miniature Railroad and Village at the Carnegie Science Center in Pittsburgh PA

Here in lovely south western Pennsylvania we have quite a few attractions for visitors. One of those is the Carnegie Science Center. I know, you ask what does this have to do with hobbies? Well, in the science center they have a model railroad that would knock your socks off. Even if you are not a train enthusiast and the O gauge locomotives don't thrill you, the sheer magnitude of the layout and amount of models built is unbelievable.

Here's a plethora of photos to show you what we mean....

This is looking down the length, forests, rolling hills, rivers, beautiful stuff!

 The Miniature Railroad & Village features 105 animated scenes that shows how people lived, worked, and played in our area spanning the 1880s to the late 1930s.

Things like beating rugs and chopping wood...

 Swinging and fetching water from the well...

 Hoeing in the garden...

and even a moving shooting gallery.

Other favorite models include, architect Frank Loyd Wright's Fallingwater

Pittsburgh baseball in the early days at Forbes Field

Punxsutawney Phil at Gobbler's Knob! He even moves in and out of his groundhog house looking for his shadow.

An old amusement park that was torn down in the name of progress called Luna Park

All the rides spin in one way or another, the roller coaster even works!

Sharon Steel Mill

Drakes Well, the first oil well in the United States

The Miniature Railroad also features over  250,000 trees, 85 automobiles, 1 Incline (Monongahela Incline), 60 trucks, 22 horse-drawn vehicles...

14 aircraft, mostly at Roger's Field. The hot air balloon even rises above the layout only to descend once again.

A replica of the historic Manchester-Farms is the latest addition to this extraordinary display.

Here's the back half of the farm

And the brick works with river in the background. The boats do move along the waterways. There are trains below the rivers that move slowly and have large magnets attached to the tops. The boats have corresponding magnets in their bottoms.

Nice engine house and turntable,. There was a mechanic welding on the engine in the third stall. You'd see the light flash every few seconds.

Excellent details like the man on the ladder painting his house guy mowing his grass on the left.

 The layout even fades from day....

... to night!

 and there is so much more...

Waiting at the station...

If you get a chance to visit, look for all the little hidden features like the lady rocking her baby to sleep in one of the houses, a couple dancing in a second floor window and a hunter chased up a tree!

I hope this inspires you to build!

Lastly, we'll leave you with the guy in the outhouse whose door keeps falling open!
He does keep closing it!

Have a great battle!
The Old Crow