Tracks into History
- Sue Hand
- Mar 15
- 3 min read
Sun streamed through the windows as Ray, Ken, Wayne, and several others moved around the vast area. Members of the Back Mountain Railroad Club meet at their Clubhouse every Tuesday and Thursday morning to work on layouts, build, paint, clean, and perform other necessary chores. It's a relaxed and friendly atmosphere, an inspiring example of friendship InSide the Back Mountain.
In 2014, St. Paul’s Lutheran Church was organizing “focus” groups. While undergoing his first regimen of chemotherapy treatments, Ray Mancke mentioned to his good friend Joe Hardisky, “when I make it through this whole thing, I'm going to start a railroad group.” Joe was immediately on board! Their first meeting was held at St. Paul’s January 2015 with about seven people. The group grew rapidly, added community members, and moved to Twin Stacks where they had room to build a train layout. After seven years, due to a heavy rainfall which created a flood in the rear of the building, the club was forced to move. Charter member Joe Hardisky located the Club’s new home, Tracks on the Hill, at the Dallas United Methodist Church’s Educational Building, where they have flourished since December 2023.
Ray Mancke, Club Founder and President, has been hooked on railroading since the age of four when he rode in the cab of a small electrically powered industrial locomotive. Now in his 70s, Ray once dreamed of working for the railroad. Instead, his career entailed purchasing, materials management, and logistics.
Club Secretary Ken Kertesz was a full-time locomotive engineer for almost 50 years. After leaving college, Ken felt no firm career direction. Between jobs, he noticed a switch crew working, approached them, and inquired about employment. Directed to a certain location, Ken applied. Told to expect a call in three weeks, he decided that if he didn’t hear anything, he would enlist in the Navy. Three weeks and one day later, Ken was in the shower preparing to visit the Naval Recruiter. The phone rang! The railroad was calling! Ken began employment that afternoon and for the next five decades worked for the Lehigh Valley Railroad, the Delaware and Hudson, Canadian Pacific, and Norfolk Southern.
Board member Wayne Williams has been a train collector for years. As a child, Wayne and his brother found their dad’s old standard gauge train in the attic and set it up. One day their mom caught them running it and was appalled as she saw it sparking! Fearing her young sons would burn their house down, she donated that train to the Methodists for their rummage sale! But Wayne still has the first train he owned at the age of ten.
Their brochure states, “the Back Mountain Railroad Club is a community minded 501(c)(3) nonprofit foundation with the goal of promoting and educating people of all ages about the fun of railroading and model railroading.” Today they boast about 50 members of all ages. An open house is held four times each year where visitors may view their Historic Layout of the former Lehigh Valley Railroad as it traveled InSide the Back Mountain as well as almost 5,000 feet of track where state of the art electronic controls enable up to six individual trains to run simultaneously. They offer a lending library of all things railroading and a train store specializing in new and used trains, track, transformers, accessories, and collectibles. Their motto is “Everything from G to Z” which train buffs immediately understand! One of the first layouts a visitor to the Clubhouse encounters is a Z-scale layout built by Myron Pitcavage, a former shop teacher at West Side Voc-Tech. Additional layouts in the works include the Tunkhannock Creek Viaduct and the Starrucca Viaduct.
I first viewed their scratch-built historic layout at Misericordia University's “Ties That Bind” exhibit during the summer of 2023. At a later open house event, I received permission to sketch and photograph parts of the layout, attempting to capture the essence of their artistry while translating it into my own. These layout illustrations were a challenge for me! But I loved learning about the days of railroads InSide the Back Mountain.
My time spent with members of the Back Mountain Railroad Club has been an encouragement. There’s Ray Mancke’s vision, hard work, and inspiring example as a four-time cancer survivor who continues to serve. There’s the dedication, passion, and community spirit of so many others!
Don't miss their Spring Open House. Look for the crossbuck sign at the entrance! Perhaps my favorite item in their collection is a sign located outside the Clubhouse facing Lake Street: “TRAIN COLLECTOR PARKING ONLY! All others will be towed and sold for scrap.”
This article originally appeared in the March 2025 publication of InSide the Back Mountain.