Travels With The Post

Schwenkfelder Trains Exhibit Leaves Its Station Saturday

Toot, Toot! Toy Trains Arrive for Schwenkfelder Exhibit

PENNSBURG PA – This weekend (Saturday and Sunday, Sept. 7-8, 2024) should delight model railroading enthusiasts. That’s when American Flyer “S-gauge” toy trains go on display at the Schwenkfelder Library & Heritage Center, 105 Seminary St.

The “Toy Trains In Motion” group, an independent charitable organization founded a quarter-century ago, will install its portable train layout at the heritage center. Its detailed trains are intended to complement the center’s current exhibit, “Next Stop, Pennsburg: A History of Model Trains.”

Toot, Toot! Toy Trains Arrive for Schwenkfelder Exhibit
Glenn Stinson, a toy train collector himself, is the exhibit’s guest curator

The layout will be available for free public viewing during the center’s operating hours: Saturday from 10 a.m. to 4 p.m., and Sunday from 1-4 p.m. Additionally, in its Education Room, the center will launch its first “Brick Building Challenge” of the fall. Also an exhibit-related program, the challenge goal is to have visitors create a town around a brick-built railway.

Another toy train layout is scheduled at the center for Oct. 5-6, also for free viewing.

The trains’ equipment may surprise visitors

“Toy Trains In Motion” was established to promote and educate the public about S-gauge (1/64 scale) model railroading, representative Mike Ramsey says, in addition to also supporting other non-profit groups. Its layout looks small – only 9×6 feet in size – “but it’s action-packed,” he adds.

Visitors have opportunities to interact with the trains, according to Ramsey. They can see, and occasionally work with, train equipment like a crane, a saw mill, and a barrel loader. The train even pulls “rocket cars” that are likely to surprise more than a few Schwenkfelder guests, he notes.

Over the years, crowds of people have watched “Toy Trains In Motion” trains pass down the tracks as they ignite their imaginations.

The heritage center is the regional history center for the Upper Perkiomen Valley. Admission to visit its exhibits or conduct research in its library also is free.

Photos provided to Travels With The Post by the Schwenkfelder Library & Heritage Center