Carnegie Science Center Miniature Railroad and Village, Pennsylvania

The Carnegie Science Center in Pittsburgh, Pennsylvania, has a notable model railroad layout. This O scale layout, called the Miniature Railroad and Village, was started in 1920 by a WWI vet named Charles Bowdish.  It includes dozens of Western Pennsylvania landmarks, including Frank Lloyd Wright’s Fallingwater house, Gobbler’s Knob (where Punxsutawney Phil the groundhog makes his annual spring prediction February 2), and the Buhl Planetarium–which housed the layout from 1954 until it was moved to its current home at the Carnegie Science Center in 1992. The layout, which sits on a 83 by 30 foot platform, includes many animated features, as well as lighting that transitions the scene from day to night.