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The Builders Depot

Layouts - Construction and Operations

Merchants Square Model Railroad

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wks
Big Boy

Status: offline

Posted - January 19 2024 : 1:31:27 PM

Unfortunately this model train exhibit and club layout is dismantled.

High costs and smaller crowds at the location doomed the layout.

Still it was nice to see when it was there.

I never saw the layout. I visited the small mall with Frank last February after it closed.

https://www.lehighvalleylive.com/news/2022/03/the-trains-have-stopped-at-1-of-lehigh-valleys-last-hidden-treasures-for-young-kids-commentary.html

Country:

USA ~ Posts: 5913 ~ Member Since: February 12 2014 ~ Last Visit: May 06 2024

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wks
Big Boy

Status: offline

Posted - January 19 2024 : 1:35:39 PM

Excerpts from the article posted about the club layout closure.

By Nick Falsone

"If I knew it was going to be our last time there, I would’ve told my older son the Pokemon cards can wait.

But the model train exhibit at Allentown’s Merchants Square Mall seemed immune to the technological changes that doomed other Lehigh Valley venues.

Offering a form of childhood entertainment that predated the iPhone, Nintendo Switch and Netflix’s vast library of on-demand cartoons.

The owners on Thursday announced the exhibit would be closing permanently due to a lack of patronage over the last two years.

The Merchants Square Mall is literally on the other side of the tracks off the commercial strip of Allentown’s Lehigh Street.

It is in a light-industrial area that may seem less than ideal for a shopping mall.

The exhibit is in a cavernous room down a hallway on the second floor of the mall.

A ticket booth that only accepts cash sits opposite the entrance in the hallway.

Velvet ropes line the threshold giving a theatrical sensibility to the whole affair.

It is in fact a show with starting times almost every half hour on weekend afternoons.

The train display syncs lights with music.

If you’re lucky you will catch a day when one of the first songs played is Billy Joel’s Allentown.

At one point the room darkens and flashing lights on the ceiling mimic lightning as the soundtrack flips to the noise of hard rain and thunder.

The level of detail given to the landscape and towns deserve top billing.

Tracks on several levels including a subway system carry the trains through tunnels and past Americana.

An amusement park department stores pizza shops pharmacies and all the other staples of society are there in the exhibit

It is an extravaganza.

We left the exhibit early to procure Pokemon cards on our last visit several months ago.

It seemed like such an inconsequential decision but I am regretting it after learning of the closure.

There are others who will miss it more.

The exhibit’s Facebook page boasted 8,400 followers and the post on the closure was nearing 100 comments as of Friday.

That afternoon many express sadness over the news.

For those looking for a keepsake the exhibit is selling off everything.

Staff will be available at the mall to answer questions about sales from 11 a.m. to 3 p.m. Saturday.

The mall’s address is 1901 South 12th Street Allentown."

I believe some of you went there before or after the train show years ago.

I wonder if that layout is in storage to be rebuilt some day.

Country:

USA ~ Posts: 5913 ~ Member Since: February 12 2014 ~ Last Visit: May 06 2024

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wks
Big Boy

Status: offline

Posted - January 19 2024 : 1:38:13 PM

At least there are YouTube videos of that layout.

Country:

USA ~ Posts: 5913 ~ Member Since: February 12 2014 ~ Last Visit: May 06 2024

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thesiding
Big Boy

Status: offline

Posted - January 19 2024 : 1:39:02 PM

I bought some things from their closeout auction ALL the merchants in the building had to leave before Springs end Had I KNOWN about this place sooner might have gone to their meets which were frequent Still have dicast cars from the O Gauge layout and a display rack from their "shop"

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USA ~ Posts: 1063 ~ Member Since: August 19 2011 ~ Last Visit: May 05 2024

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wks
Big Boy