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Written by Wayne Laepple
SHAMOKIN RAILROAD LAYOUT CARRIES VISITORS TO THE PAST
THE COAL TOWN OF SHAMOKIN IS THE HOME OF A SURPRISING HISTORICAL DISPLAY. At the top of a long, dimly lit stairway at 210 Independence St. is the home of the Lower Anthracite Model Railroad Club, which operates the Shamokin Valley Lines. Now this is no little train careening around a loop of track. Rather, it is an accurate depiction of the two railroads that followed the valley of Shamokin Creek from the Susquehanna River to Mount Carmel, during the mid-1950s, the period of transition from steam to diesel locomotives.
Over a quarter-century of construction and modification, the layout in the social room of the former American Legion building has grown to include more than 1,300 feet of track and 151 switches, as well as countless buildings. "About 60 percent of the people who come to see the layout aren't interested in trains," club president Tony Wasilewski said. "They come to see historical buildings, places that don't exist any more."
Wasilewski says he often sees older folks pointing out stores, churches, coal breakers, mills and other structures to their children and grandchildren. Wasilewski, president of the club for 25 years, and Richard Schetroma built many of the highly detailed structures on the layout. They used historical photographs to get the details of the buildings just right. "Tony taught me to go out and take pictures," Schetroma said. "I use a special card stock material, and cut away everything that doesn't look like the building." In recent years, he continued, he has learned to scan a photograph into his computer, then print the photo on special stock. He could then cut and fold the stock as a precise model of a structure.
"It makes you really feel good when you see people showing the younger generation what was here once," Wasilewski said.
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