www.trainweb.org/pgrs

Established 1994

Pittsburgh Garden Railway Society

PO Box 302
Charleroi, PA 15022

May 2009 Newsletter
(2009-2)

Greenberg Show Corner Calendar
   
ECLSTS I've Been "Cook'n" on the Railroad
Children's Hospital Project Tech Tips
May Meeting Video of the Month
   

Financial Report (password required)

Membership Roster (password required)

 

The following is a copy of the information being provided to Children’s hospital of Pittsburgh regarding PGRS’ involvement with the Hospital.  The pictures below show the building of the layout.

The Pittsburgh Garden Railway Society is a family oriented group of people who enjoy activities associated with garden railroading, gardening, creating outdoor model train layouts, running trains, and sharing our ideas and knowledge with others.

The organization was founded in the fall of 1994.  And yes, we do run our trains outside, sometimes even in the snow.

PGRS first built a “G-scale” railroad for the patients of the Children’s Hospital of Pittsburgh in the fall of 1998.  That layout was modified and updated and remained in operation until the closing of the Oakland campus.  Computer monitoring of the Oakland layout revealed the display was activated on average a hundred times a day at all hours of the day and night.  The heavy use necessitated replacing the brass track several times over its years of operation.  This layout had a circus theme with a single loop of track and recorded music that played as the circus train ran. 

In addition to building the permanent display, PGRS has also set up a temporary Christmas display at the hospital.

The new layout at the Lawrenceville Campus of Children’s Hospital of Pittsburgh is nearly twice the size of the old layout.  It features a larger loop of track with a Heartland “2-4-4 Princess” locomotive and coaches.  There is also a “point to point” track for a replica of Mr. Rodgers Trolley built by one of our members.  The trolley trestle constructed by another one of our members contains a thousand pieces of wood.  Multiple themes, a circus, a playground, and a zoo are presented using Playmobil characters and models.  The display has a number of custom animations including a merry-go-round, an elephant, and prairie dogs.  Each of these has individual sound recordings that are activated with the animation.  In addition to the electronic enhancement, this layout uses stainless steel track which will delay the necessity of replacing the rails.

Approximately 40 members volunteered over 700 hours of time to complete this display.

For more information on the Pittsburgh Garden Railway Society please visit our web site:  http://pittsburghgardentrains.com/

The Pittsburgh Garden Railway Society members are very pleased to have once again had the opportunity to brighten the lives of the children who use the Children’s Hospital of Pittsburgh.