HARLANSBURG, Pa. -- If your hobbies center around planes, trains and automobiles, then the

HARLANSBURG, Pa. -- If your hobbies center around planes, trains and automobiles, then the Harlansburg Station Museum of Transportation is right up your alley.
Museum owner and retired airline pilot Don Barnes is a longtime collector of things that fly, chug and race, and he has filled every nook and cranny of his establishment with rare and curious artifacts acquired at various auctions.
And when I say rare and curious, I mean rare and curious.
Planes, trains and automobiles are just the beginning.
The museum's unique mishmash includes everything from bus ticket booths, to old gas pumps, to horse-drawn wagons, to World War I flying gear.
Model boats and airplanes crowd display cases, a stagecoach strongbox is tucked away in a corner, and a mannequin operates a switchboard that was once used in a hotel that serviced passengers on the Sante Fe Railroad.
Yes indeed, there's a little bit of everything.
To keep visitors on track, each section of the museum has a different theme.
There's a nautical section, a section devoted to the history of aviation, a bus section and of course, a railroad section.
Real railroad carsgive a taste of past
Much of the railroad section of the museum is, appropriately, housed in two authentic train passenger cars.
Parked outdoors on the grass and gleaming under the noonday sun, these silver-sided passenger cars are what will first catch your eye as you drive into Harlansburg center, which is located at routes 19 and 108.
Although both of the museum's silver passenger cars bear the word "Pennsylvania," each car originally rolled the tracks of the Sante Fe Railroad.
As you step into their close, musty interiors, you'll get the sense of what it must have been like to travel by train across the dusty deserts and beyond.
The passenger cars are packed with various railroad paraphernalia, including railroad tools such as brakeman's bats (used both as tools and as weapons to ward off hobos) and levers to pull out railroad spikes.
In the rear of one of the passenger cars is a sprawling, meticulously crafted model train layout that Barnes is still in the process of completing.
Against the backdrop of a miniature city skyline, toy trains snake and whistle through coal yards and crowded neighborhoods.
Barnes is also in the process of restoring two more real life train passenger cars that will one day be open to museum visitors.
These maroon-colored cars are parked neck and neck with the previously mentioned silver-sided cars at Barnes' outdoor replica train station.
High platform allowseasy access to cars
Barnes built the replica train station with a high platform so museum visitors could step easily onto the railroad cars without having to climb stairs.
The roofed platform is home to baggage wagons, an old mail buggy and various railroad crossing signs.
If you like to collect things as much as Barnes does, you'll be pleased to learn that the Harlansburg Station Museum of Transportation also features a gift shop crammed with toys, books, hobby supplies, posters and magazines.
Museum hours are 10 a.m. to 5 p.m. Saturday and noon to 5 p.m. Sunday during March, April, May, November and December.
Summer and fall hours are 10 a.m. to 5 p.m. Tuesday through Saturday and noon to 5 p.m. Sunday during June, July, August, September and October.
The museum is open by appointment during January and February, and groups are welcome.
Museum exhibits change every three years.
For more information call (724) 652-9002 or e-mail Don Barnes at Museum@Adelphia.net
Other attractionsare a short drive away
While you're in the neighborhood, why not check out a few of the many other nearby attractions?
The Harlansburg Station Museum of Transportation is a short distance from Moraine State Park, McConnell's Mill State Park, Wendell August Forge, Living Treasures Animal Park, the Grove City Outlet Mall and the shops at Volant.
First-rate dining establishments such as Rachel's Roadhouse, the Iron Bridge Inn and the Springfield Grille are only about 10 minutes away.