Employees at a South Greensburg dental office have brought a traditional holiday train display back to life after more than 12 years in storage.

The 144-square-foot layout at the office of Dr. Samuel Scardina features multiple trains chugging around village scenes and through a tunnel headed beneath a ski slope.

The display stands 4 feet off the ground, enthralling visitors and providing patients a distraction before they enter the dentist’s chair.

Dental assistant Kristin Stulbarg and front-desk worker Tawnya Buczak created the display as a Christmas gift for Scardina. Scardina’s nephew, Todd Centofanto, also assisted in the project.

Stulbarg and Buczak worked on their own time during evenings and weekends to bring the scenes to life. Rather than sketching a layout, the pair built the display organically between mid-November and early December

Model train business booming

Scardina is among thousands of enthusiasts in a global model train industry.

Mike Niedzalkowski, owner of Niedzalkowski’s Train Shop in Jeannette, said he is seeing that growth on a local level.

Despite price increases caused by import tariffs, Niedzalkowski said store traffic is significantly up this year.

Customers are buying locomotives, railroad cars, train sets and scenery from his shop, which has been in business for nearly 50 years.

Lifelong love of trains

Scardina’s love of the hobby began as a child in Scottdale.

While sets range in size from the tiny Z scale to the large O scale, Scardina’s father used the HO scale, which remains the most popular size today.

Scardina initially set up a smaller office display on the floor in 1988, but its position made it vulnerable to inquisitive children.

In 1993, he moved the layout onto a platform designed by Greensburg architect Barry Morris. The platform is strong enough for builders to walk on and high enough for someone to crawl underneath to connect wiring for lights and transformers.

For this year’s setup, Stulbarg worked atop the platform while Buczak handled the wiring below.

Display has various themes

The trains feature a distinctive local flavor, including a locomotive pulling a Pittsburgh Steelers freight car and several coal-laden cars reminiscent of those Scardina saw in Scottdale during the 1950s and 1960s.

A transformer operated via a cellphone app powers locomotives pulling Norfolk & Southern and Chesapeake & Ohio rail cars.

The display includes a countryside scene, a farm, a winery and a football stadium. The stadium scene depicts Steelers linebacker T.J. Watt rushing an opponent’s quarterback.

The community also features a radio station, a television station, a winery and the Lindland Country Club. A trolley car sits on a separate track, while moving skiers travel up and down a snow-covered mountain.

A new housing development symbolizes a home Scardina and his wife, Laurie, are building in Hempfield.

The layout also features a “Blue Comet” train, an homage to a 2007 “Sopranos” episode of the same name.

Scardina said the collection is worth thousands of dollars, though Buczak noted the display does not include his entire inventory.

“There’s more downstairs,” Buczak said. “It grows every year.”

“It’s going to be a never-ending project,” Stulbarg said.