It is a labor of love for Peachtree City residents Denny and Paulette Durst that began nine years ago. The couple on Nov. 22 held their eighth open house and welcomed nearly 200 visitors to experience their expansive HO-scale model display that includes six trains running on hundreds of feet of track and features a realistic rendering of the sights around the Pittsburgh area half a century ago.
“I grew up in Pittsburgh and had trains as a kid. I would set them up and take them down,” Denny said. “I thought one day I could try it again. I retired and thought I’d mess around with it.”
The layout began in one room in the basement nine years ago and, over the years, has expanded to cover all the rooms in the basement and includes four separate layouts with tunnels linking the rooms. Taken as a whole, the project has turned the basement into one continuous layout.
As the saying goes, “You have to see it to believe it.” And there is plenty to see.
(Above at right, wonderland by rail — Seven-year-old Peachtree City resident Caidan Reaves explores the meticulous work that went into the massive layout of HO-scale trains and the accompanying buildings and scenery on annual display at the home of Denny and Paulette Durst in Peachtree City. Photo/Ben Nelms.)
The large display area includes more than 400 feet of main line track and several hundred additional feet of sidings, passings and rail yards, Denny explained.
The trains travel 50 miles per hour on the HO-scale and require four minutes to traverse the course of the entire layout which has six trains running simultaneously.
The authentic buildings, landscaping and scenery are modeled on Pittsburgh and western Pennsylvania from the years 1946-1966. The detail in the buildings, roadways, foliage and even in the smallest items such as signal arms at railroad crossings are all handmade, functional and exquisite.
Some of the buildings are replicas of Pittsburgh companies such as Clark and Heinz while others display examples of steel mills, train depots and, of course, the countryside. With only a small amount of imagination needed, the countryside along the tracks comes alive with rolling hills, trees and shrubs and with foothills and cloud-filled skies off in the distance.
“This is our biggest year,” Denny said of the nearly 200 visitors on Nov. 22.
Durst is a member of the Piedmont Division of the National Model Railroad Association. His display is one of nearly 80 exhibits to be featured in an open house.
Below, Denny and Paulette Durst take a minute to survey their handiwork at the Nov. 22 showing of their massive HO-scale model train exhibit where the couple received nearly 200 visitors at the Peachtree City home. Construction on the effort that now includes hundreds of feet of track, six trains and realistic renderings of the Pittsburgh, Penn. area from nearly half a century ago. Photo/Ben Nelms.
