Mechanicsburg, PA—The onlookers watch as the train rolls into the station with smoke puffing from atop its stack, the whistle announcing its arrival. The crowd presses forward as the train rolls into the depot. But this crowd is not made up of passengers, these are residents of Bethany Village who are on hand to watch the two new model trains make their run.

“We recently set up the two N-gauge trains in the East Breezeway in a long glass cabinet that we built,” explains Bishop Charles McNutt, head of Bethany Village’s 45-member model train club. “Simply push the button, the lights come on and the trains come to life and run for three minutes and then shut off.”

This train is the fourth in a series of elaborate models set up throughout the community for the residents and visitors to enjoy. Bishop McNutt is the founder of Bethany Village’s model railroad club, and has led it since its inception.

“I’ve loved model trains since I was a kid and enjoyed running them with my own children,” says Bishop McNutt. “In 1995 I was retiring from the Episcopal Church and they knew about my passion for model trains and gave me a track and train as a gift. My son built me a table to set it up on, and when I came to Bethany Village, they ensured there would be space to run it.”

“Bethany Village helped ensure that Charlie’s passion for trains could continue when he moved into our community,” says Melissa Hadley, executive director of Bethany Village. “Part of our commitment to our residents is that we help them to live life their way. So when our management was approached with idea for a model train club several years ago, they worked with Charlie and resident club members to find space for their passion.”

That first train was proudly displayed in 2004 on the second floor of the new Bethany Village West apartment building, and in 2006, the club added a second train on the third floor. In 2007, the club received a gift of a train and track, along with $3,000 for maintenance from a resident whose husband was a train enthusiast and had recently passed away. This third train was set up outside in the garden. The garden train runs from May to October, and last year was one of two garden trains included in the Mechanicsburg Museum Garden Tour.

A Bethany Village resident landscape architect designed the initial layout and landscape of the garden train. Ditches were dug and filled with rocks so the tracks could be laid on top with train ties, just like a real train. Bethany Village residents also built the train barn, several buildings and a platform by the pond through the use of the community’s woodworking shop. Three trains run as part of the garden model.

“We have a conductor who manages the crowd that comes to watch, sometimes up to 25 people, and an engineer who runs the trains at designated times,” explains Bishop McNutt. “We do some of the work ourselves, and some of it we hire out. We have a resident who is a former Bell Telephone employee and he did the electrical setup. This takes a lot of volunteer hours and it’s a true group effort to keep all these trains running. We work on them all year.”

The model train club also received a $10,000 donation from the same resident who donated the garden train, along with a $5,000 anonymous gift. Bishop McNutt says they have turned that money into an “endowment” that they will try and grow and use to keep Bethany Village’s passion for model trains chugging along.