Opening Saturday, November 12, 2016, the University Museum will unveil its next exhibit, Holiday Wheels and Thrills: A Model Train
Display. The exhibit, which also features locally created quilts, will be open
through December 10, and admission is free.
In support of enhancing community spirit during Indiana
County’s Bicentennial Holiday Season, the Indiana Area Model Train Collectors, part
of the Train Collectors Association, and members of the Plumcreek Country
Stitchers Quilt Guild are coming together to present a working model train
display and holiday quilt exhibit at the IUP University Museum.
The exhibit will include six operating train layouts and
a number of stationary exhibits depicting model railroading evolution from the
early 1900s to the present day. In addition, the work of the Plumcreek Country
Stitchers Quilt Guild will grace the walls of the Museum along with holiday
trees, decorations, and toys.
Organizer Tom Ott explains, “Part of the fun while visiting
the display will be to see if you can locate models similar to those you, your
parents, or grandparents owned or displayed when you were a child, and for young
and old alike to re-experience the fun of model railroading during the holiday
season.”
Children will enjoy the
“All Aboard” call of Tom Hanks as
the Polar Express pulls out for another run to the North Pole and the unique
pastel shades of the Pink Girl’s Train traveling down the rails. All will enjoy
with the steam, diesel, and yard sounds of the modern age models while
revisiting a by-gone era as the steam locomotives whistle and chug down the
track mixing with the horn blasts of the early diesel engines.
Exhibits will also include a variety of vintage and
modern day displays, including Pre-War Standard and “O” Gauge; Post-War “O” and
“S” Gauge; Modern “G” (Garden) Scale, “O” Scale, “S” Scale; “HO” Scale, “N” Scale, and “Z” Scale. Members
of the Model Train Collectors will be on hand during Museum hours to power up
the model trains.
A free public reception will be held Saturday, November
12, from 6:00 to 8:30 p.m. in the University Museum, located on the first floor of
Sutton Hall. In addition to viewing the exhibit and enjoying refreshments, guests
can sing along to train-themed songs with musician Alan Luckey. Luckey will
also be in the museum each Thursday for the duration of the exhibition from
5:30 to 7:30 p.m.
Regular museum hours are Tuesday, Wednesday, Friday 2:00–6:30 p.m.; Thursday noon–7:30 p.m.; and Saturday noon–4:00 p.m. The Museum is
closed on Sundays and Mondays and November
21–26 for the Thanksgiving holiday.
This
exhibition is supported, in part, by the Student Cooperative Association. The
University Museum receives state arts funding support from a grant from the Pennsylvania
Council on the Arts through the Pennsylvania Rural Arts Alliance.
For more information on this and other related events or
to schedule a tour, please contact Leslie Kluchurosky at leslie.kluchurosky@iup.edu
or 724-357-2397.