You may remember a story I did a couple of years ago about a model railroad that was constructed outdoors. That railroad was amazing. Well, the owner of that display contacted me and said there is another model railroad in the area that I should definitely see. Am I going? You bet I am!

I've arrived at the home of Al Notarione in Harborcreek. I turn left at the bottom of the basement stairs and what do I see?   A model railroad in HO scale dedicated to the Pennsylvania Railroad. It's a beautiful display. The trains travel through breathtaking scenery. There's a train at the bottom of a steep Pennsylvania mountainside. There's a Horseshoe Curve surrounded by blue sky and green summer foliage. There's even a lake and a stream made from an acrylic resin. It looks like genuine H2O, but it's not. The detail in the town is incredible from the coal yard, to the lumber yard, to the wires on the utility poles, to the birds sitting on rooftops. This layout is so impressive that Model Railroader magazine did a story on it, not once but twice.

"Well it makes your chest pump out a little you know,” says Al. “It was nice. They spent a whole day here twice. Two different times."

On the other side of the basement is another model railroad layout. It's in O-gauge scale. It’s much larger than the HO scale. There's a lot of action taking place in this display and not just with the locomotives and rail cars. The display includes a miniature high-lift unloading planks of lumber.

Al started building the HO display in the 1960s. He was so much into model railroading that when he had this house built in Harborcreek for him and his wife in 1976, he made sure the basement was specially configured to accommodate his railroads.

"I had 8-foot ceilings put in the basement. No posts. Extra electrical currents and everything. So I had it custom made for that,” says Al.

Al received his first model railroad layout when he was five years old. He and his father used to go to the Erie docks and watch the Pennsylvania Railroad trains being loaded and unloaded. It's no surprise he ended up working at GE drafting and designing locomotives. Photographs of those magnificent rail vehicles, built in Erie, hang on the walls above his model trains.

Here's an example of Al's imagination and dedication to detail. When he completed his Pennsylvania Railroad layout, he connected the final section of track with a tiny spike made of gold. A small monument marks the location of that golden spike. 20 people attended the Golden Spike Ceremony.