DANVILLE — An hour-long documentary created by WVIA-TV will feature the nationally recognized Saturday Trains free model-railroad program in Danville.
The documentary, "Our Town: Danville," at 8 p.m. Tuesday will show local children running steam and diesel model trains on the display's 22-foot-long layout at Christ Memorial Episcopal Church at the corner of Pine and East Market streets in Danville.
"This is one of nearly a score of individual segments that Danville residents thought represented the 'Best of the Best' things in Danville," said Lisa Massarella, who produced the documentary, the first in a series that WVIA-TV plans on Pennsylvania towns.
Since 2005 more than 3,000 children and adults have visited the Saturday morning program and run its O-Gauge model-railroad trains, delighting in the whistles and horns, the flashing red signals, the crossing gates, the puffing steam engines, the unloading mail car and log car, and the miniature watchman who runs out of his shanty, swinging his red lantern whenever a train comes rushing by. The hands-on display has been recognized for its service to children by the national magazine Classic Toy Trains.
The full-size model railroad display, open from 10 a.m. to noon, every Saturday, includes snow-covered mountains, trees, three tunnels, a ski slope, two villages and two frozen lakes with ice skaters. The program also has a library of donated model railroading books, magazines, and model train catalogs that visitors can glance over while their children and grandchildren run the trains, as well as entertaining videos of local trains running up and down the Susquehanna Valley in the 1930s and 1940s.
The WVIA-TV documentary also tells the engrossing and poignant story of the Episcopal Church's unusual Tiffany-style stained glass altar window, which includes a World War II airplane.
In 1948, only three years after the war, the church had a terrible fire.
Flames leaped more than 200 feet into the air, leaving only the stone walls standing. When the congregation decided to rebuild, members donated new stained-glass windows and other things. The Oscar Dietz family gave the altar window, "Jesus the Good Shepherd," in memory of their son, Sharpless Dietz, whose aircraft was shot down over France. The window includes the silhouette of the plane on its last mission.
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Documentary features model railroad
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