A model of the Sayre railroad station and a new exhibit on “Sayre at 125” will be featured at Saturday’s opening of the Sayre Historical Society.
A new exhibit and two re-tooled model train layouts will highlight opening day at the Sayre Historical Society on Saturday, April 2.
Admission is free and the hours are 10 to 4 p.m. The museum is also open on Wednesdays from 5 to 7 p.m. The museum is located in the historic Lehigh Valley Railroad Passenger Station in downtown Sayre.
The newest exhibit revisits the past 125 years of Sayre history, marking the 125th anniversary of the incorporation of Sayre as a borough. Twenty-eight display boards cover the events, both large and small, that helped define the borough.
Among the events are the incorporation of Sayre on January 27, 1891, the new railroad shops in 1904, Keystone Park, World War II, the Valley War Memorial Swimming Pool, Rose Bowl hero Tom Worthington, Guthrie One, the Sayre Centennial, and many others.
The exhibit is located in the museum’s second-floor Rotating Exhibit Room and will run until Sept. 1. The museum is elevator-equipped and handicap-accessible.
Along with the new rotating exhibit, several new items have been placed on display in the museum’s two display rooms as well as four enlarged vintage photographs of employees working at the Sayre Shops. These photographs from 1924 feature various pneumatic tools manufactured by Ingersoll-Rand and are on display in the second floor hallway gallery.
The museum’s two HO-scale model train layouts have been upgraded through the efforts of two experienced Valley modelers. John Reynolds of Waverly and Aaron Dickson of Athens spent several weeks updating the Charles Dixon layout located in the old baggage room of the railroad station. Using expert weathering techniques and adding scenic elements like trees, vehicles and scale model figures, the volunteer modelers also upgraded the museum’s rolling stock and motive power on the layout. The upgrades were made possible by a generous donation from the Sayre American Legion Post 283.
On the museum’s other layout, a scene of downtown Sayre designed by Donald (Buckshot) Murray, the modeling duo added trees, benches and scale figures to the Desmond Street Park. Anyone who enjoys the art of model railroading will delight in the incredible detail on the two model train layouts at the museum.
The Burkhart Gift Shop will offer a variety of Sayre-related souvenir items as well as past copies of the Sayre Quarterly, books on Sayre history, postcards, hats and more.
The Sayre Historical Society is a member-supported, non-profit historic preservation organization staffed by volunteers and a recipient of United Way funding.
The Sayre museum received the 2015 Clement F. Heverly Outstanding Service Award presented by the Bradford County Historical Society.
