Family Donates Train Layout
Edward Pytlak spent years building a model train layout in the basement of his home in Tarrs. By the time it was finished, it measured 18 by 11 feet and recreated a town, farm area and mountains.
“He was always so happy when people came over to the house and would go downstairs and look at the trains and what all he had done,” said his sister, Joanne Vella of Mount Pleasant. “He enjoyed his train layout so much that he wanted other people to enjoy it, too.”
After he passed away last September, instead of Vella selling his extensive collection of trains and the layout, she wanted to donate it to a nonprofit that would put it on public display.
The Scottdale Historical Society accepted the donation, recently dismantled it and removed it from the basement, and is planning how to set it up again on a smaller scale. It will be in a ground-floor room at the society headquarters at the Loucks Homestead at 527 N. Chestnut St.
“When a family friend reached out to me that they were looking for someone to take the train display, the society members discussed it, and we were just thrilled,” said Tom Zwierzelewski, a member of the executive board. “We saw this as a great opportunity to share it with the community.”
Pytlak, who was 64 when he died, developed diabetes when he was 16 and eventually needed a kidney transplant.
“He got better after the transplant but never really solved the problem of having diabetes,” Vella said. “He developed neuropathy of the feet and some loss of vision. It was amazing to me that he could do all of this with the train layout with such bad eyesight. He started out with his first layout in our sister Karen’s basement. He was using ceramic houses before he did this on a major scale in his basement.”
Her brother had an interest in trains ever since early childhood.
“We grew up in Tarrs and there was a train track right up the street,” Vella said. “Then every Christmas our dad would make a platform and would have a single train that ran around under the tree.”
Pytlak built his layout with a theme from the 1950s and 1960s, complete with trains, vehicles and a Texaco gas station from that era.
The O gauge trains ran past a lake and a farm with animals. a grain tower and a barn painted with “Chew Mail Pouch Tobacco.” Tracks led through a tunnel in the hillside, then made their way into a make-believe town. Water towers dot the landscape and a couple of airplanes were suspended overhead in the backdrop of a blue sky and puffy clouds painted on the walls.
There’s a residential neighborhood and downtown streets where Pytlak had a lot of fun naming the businesses, like Easy Eddie’s used cars, Boyer’s Billiards, Deuce’s Bike Shop, Don’s Barbershop, Puter’s Pizza (named after a friend), Clemenza’s Bakery and Deli, Harrison’s Hardware and Wayne Feed, which was an actual business in the area. And of course, there’s a train station.
Other buildings include a general store, motorcycle shop, and a symbol of a tooth is on Dr. Bob’s dental service. That’s named after Pytlak’s good friend, Bob Clark of Rostraver, a retired dentist who painted many of the buildings and structures for the layout. Donata’s Donuts shop is named after Clark’s wife.
“Ed would buy buildings and because his vision was failing, he’d ask me to paint them,” he said. “I really enjoy doing stuff like that, and I didn’t try to make everything in town look perfect. There’s graffiti on a building, and I put rust on a water tower because I wanted them to look realistic.”
The layout looks familiar, not just because the town and landscape are typical of the region.
“The buildings are tributes to the buildings and industries in Scottdale, and of actual buildings in the valley between Scottdale and Everson,” said Zwierzelewski, who helped dismantle and transport the layout.
It took considerable time and planning to take everything apart. Buildings, cars, people and tracks had to be removed, and the layout had to be cut into pieces.
“You couldn’t just pick it up and move it,” Clark said.
Zwierzelewski noted that the footprint will have to be scaled down to fit the space available at the Loucks Homestead. Volunteers and local train enthusiasts are helping rebuild and set it all up.
“It’s a work in progress and we don’t have a date yet when it will be ready for public viewing,” he said. “When it’s ready, we’ll announce a ribbon cutting and open house, and there will be a plaque noting that it was donated by Eddie.”
There are plans to feature the trains at holidays and other community events.
Pytlak enjoyed sharing the layout with visitors to his home.
“He loved to have people come and see it,” Clark said. “If he knew someone who had little kids, he would tell them to bring them over. He was an all-around great guy.”
Soon many more people will be able to see Pytlak’s legacy.
“It will bring joy to a lot of people, like it brought joy to my brother,” Vella said.
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