In 1935, the Reading Eagle published an article on Laurence Gieringer and his extensive model train setup, which was set up each Christmas for his children.
This was no ordinary train set. Gieringer had been crafting the pieces of this set since he was a teenager, and it had grown in size and popularity.
So Gieringer decided to make the trains a year-round venture, eventually moving in 1941 into a large building near Route 22, which today is I-78 in the Bercks county hamlet of Shartlesville (near Hamburg).
The building, and the train set are both still there, still operated by the Gieringer family, and has entertained generations of visitors ever since.
Visitors enter through a gift shop, stocked with a variety of train-related items, cedar boxes and hex signs. The layout is behind the shop, entered through a door that reminds one of entering an old movie theater. Once inside, the smell of your grandparent's basement washes over you, and the scene in front of you is a pageant of lights and motion.
The layout is about the size of half a football field, and features O-guage trains and 3/8"-foot scale buildings and accessories that have been added through the decades. The dozens of trains than run in the layout range from antique tin trolleys to modern plastic engines; all are are in
excellent condition and working. In addition, many electro-mechanical features dot the layout, from a working merry-go-round and a musical hurdy-gurdy to miniature 'steam engines' and figures dancing in a barn.


Visitors can control many of these features as they circle the layout by pressing the many buttons situated on the edges.


Other features include working fountains, a waterfall and a canal complete with a working mill-wheel.
If you stay long enough, the lights will dim and you will be treated to a 'night pageant' of the layout backed up by a recording of 'God Bless America' and a slide show featuring images of Jesus and various American vistas.
Roadside America captures a time when this country's industrial might made anything seem possible, that any kid's dream could turn into something big. A sign on a model of Henry Ford's first shop advises parents to tell their kids about his story - he was a hobbyist.
And indeed that is Laurence Gieringer's story, a boy who turned his hobby into an attraction that still inspires awe.

Roadside America is open daily September through June 10 am -5 pm, and weekends 10 am until 6pm. In summer the hours are daily 9 am - 6:30 pm, and weekends 9 am - 7 pm. They are closed Christmas Day. Entrance fees are $6 for adults and $3 for children 6-11. 5 and under is free.
They are located off of I-78 at the Shartlesville (exit 23), adjacent to the highway. Shartlesville is near the town of Hamburg, and six miles west of Cabela's Outfitters on I-78. For info: 610-488-6241.