Western Pennsylvania Model Railroad Museum

Western Pennsylvania Model Railroad Museum is located in Gibsonia, Richland Township, Pennsylvania, at the intersection of Rt. 910 and Hardt Rd. It promotes model railroading and aims to preserve the railroad history of western Pennsylvania.

With the start of any rail journey, passengers walk up to the train station and buy a ticket, and the Railroad Journey in Miniature is no different. The ticket booth is modeled after a typical station that would have been seen in almost every town in America in the 1950s.

Inside is the library, where museum specialists maintain a vast collection of railroad-related videos, books, and magazines for reference and recreation. The oldest material dates back to the early 1930s.

The second floor of the Museum features the main attraction: The Mon-Valley System (M-V), a fictitious railroad based in western Pennsylvania. Using pieces of the Western Maryland, the Baltimore and Ohio, and the Pittsburgh and Lake Erie railroads, it exhibits a composite of typical railroading in the western Pennsylvania region. Theoretically, the railroad should run from Chicago to New York, but there is only a model of the section between Pittsburgh and Cumberland, Maryland.

When you visit the Western Pennsylvania Model Railroad Museum, the tour begins in Pittsburgh and moves to Cumberland. In addition, the Museum features a standard O gauge display, commonly known as Lionel, which provides a general representation of model trains. Children can help operate the trains by pressing buttons around the display that is complete with multiple levels, switches, and crossing signals.