Film of the Westchester Model Club, Inc.'s Model Railroad in the Pelham Manor Depot Before its Demolition

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During the 1920s, six men in New Rochelle whose spouses objected to their model train sets taking up too much space formed the Westchester Model Club.They pooled their equipment in one of their member's attics, but soon ran out of space.  They moved to a loft but, once again, ran out of space.  In 1934, a tremendous opportunity presented itself.  With the end of passenger service on the New Haven Branch Line that passed through Pelham Manor, the beautiful Pelham Manor Depot designed by noted architect Cass Gilbert sat unused.  The Club leased the space.  It designed and built one of the nation's largest and most famous model railroads centered around a miniature Pelham Manor Depot station identical to the structure within which the Club was housed.  The Club remained in the station house until shortly before the structure was torn down to make way for I-95 during the 1950s. 

Many articles appeared in print publications throughout the nation as the club became more famous.  Significantly, a film of the model railroad was created.  The film seems to have been created in the early 1950s.  Sterling Films released thea film entitled "Model Railroad", an S. J. Turell Production written by Norman Ober and narrated by Carl King.  The film was directed by Emil E. Brodbeck with the cooperation of the Westchester Model Club, Inc., Pelham Manor, New York.  The movie is available as part of the Prelinger Archives founded in 1983 by Rick Prelinger.  In 2002, the Library of Congress, Motion Picture, Broadcasting and Recorded Sound Division acquired the 60,000 films that then existed in the archive.  Various of the archive films including the film "Model Railroad" are offered by Rick Prelinger and The Internet Archive to all for free downloading and reuse and for the creation of derivative works. 

The image below, from the film, shows the model of the Pelham Manor Depot.

The film may be accessed immediately below by clicking on image to begin the film in MPEG4 format.  Please wait a moment for the file to load before it begins.

Please Visit the Historic Pelham Web Site
Located at http://www.historicpelham.com/.
Please Click Here for Index to All Blog Postings.