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Penn Hills Train Display Ending

PENN HILLS (KDKA) - Generations of visitors have brightened their holiday season with visits to the Penn Hills model railroad display.

The table top railroad has brightened the holiday season for residents and friends for thirty years.

The seasonal tradition began when a handful of police officers installed a couple of trains in the shooting range, in the basement of the Municipal Building. And it just kept growing.

Police records keeper Phil Pusateri has been here from the beginning. He says area businesses helped keep the railroad on track.

"They donate enough money to put an ad on a box car or an engine or a building," he says. "We have buildings with their names on it also. And that's one of our fundraisers for the train display."

Those donations, plus a dollar from each visitor, enabled Penn Hills police to contribute thousands of dollars to local charities.

The Municipal Building train display has been a tradition for thousands of children, and their chiildren's children. But his year will be the last.

"A lot of the people that used to be really involved have retired or have health inssues," Pusateri explains. "And it's just too much for the people who try to build this to maintain it for the two months that it takes."

A memorial tree bears the names of those who worked on the train display, but have since passed away. After January 3, everything on the table will be taken by the owners, or sold for charity. The Penn Hills model railroad is nearing the end of the line.

"Just to see the look on a kid's face, that's what it's all about, for the kids," Pusateri says. "It's going to be hard. We're going to miss that."

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