By GREGORY ZELLER //
There’s a new Long Island railroad in town.
The town is the Village of Old Westbury and the railroad is the Great Pine Railway, summertime centerpiece of Old Westbury Gardens, 200 acres of landscaped grounds, woodlands and ponds gracing the Nassau County community.
Winding through the gardens’ pinetum, the multi-track G gauge display (1:24 scale) includes more than 220 feet of brass rails and a host of recognizable Long Island landmarks, all crafted by hand – including famous Gold Coast mansions and the Westbury House, the historic manor at the heart of Old Westbury Gardens.
The model railroad was designed and assembled by LS Creative, a circa-2004 Merrick-based arthouse specializing in themed-event productions and installations. The Great Pine Railway took about four days to install but six months to conceive and create, according to LS Creative founder and owner Leslie Salka, who noted a painstaking process of mapping and model-building.
Salka worked with her husband, Craig Romano, on the design and installation – a somewhat personal mission, as it turned out. While the creative couple is far from “super-fanatics,” they do share an interest in trains both big and small, according to Salka, who referenced a trip to Norfolk’s Virginia Museum of Transportation for a spin on the famed 611 Steam Locomotive, among other train-related pursuits.
Leslie Salka: All aboard.
“I used to play with model trains as a kid, but as an adult, it can take on a whole new adventure,” Salka told Innovate LI. “There are many people out there who know a whole lot more about it than us.
“But it’s a lot of fun, to build models in the big gardens and create a draw for the kids, and for adults as well.”
Choosing the iconic landmarks to be modeled and placed along the Great Pine Railway was a specific challenge. Salka and her husband worked closely with Old Westbury Gardens management during the selection process, carefully vetting what might be done through the lens of what could be done.
“We went back and forth about a few,” Salka noted. “Some of these mansions are tremendous structures – we had to decide on how to truncate, what elevations to go with.
“We went back through historic photos to find a few of the most iconic images,” she added. “And we came up with visuals that folks would recognize.”
Making the final cut along with the Westbury House were the portion of Oheka Castle facing the Huntington hotspot’s formal gardens; a side view of The Hempstead House, including the Sands Point landmark’s famous turrets and large windows; and the Vanderbilt Mansion in Hyde Park – including its archetypal clock tower, an architectural masterwork that deserved an extra-special touch, according to Salka.
“We found an illuminated view (of the Vanderbilt Mansion), and I chose to do that one in seashells,” the artist said. “The architecture is quite eclectic, let’s say, with a lot of different aesthetics … I wanted to capture that.”
The big house: The Great Pine Railway rolls past a 1:24 model of the Westbury House.
Also lining the Great Pine Railway are a recreated Westbury Station and other “original Long Island Rail Road stops from when the railroad was first formed,” along with what Salka called “typical model railway pieces” – bridges, trestles, signals, the works.
Behind the speeding locomotive and tender, meanwhile, are a train of passenger and freight cars adorned with Long Island references, including the names of regional villages and hamlets, all adding to the Island flavor.
Capturing the Long Island essence was one of many challenges to creating the Great Pine Railway, which is slated to chug around Old Westbury Gardens through Sept. 6 – but in the end, the ambitious modeling proved well worth the effort, according to Salka.
“This was certainly more of a long-term project,” she noted. “It takes a longer amount of time to research and curate the pieces (than to assemble it) … you have to find detailed items of a particular vintage and antique pieces that need to be just right.
“But each project that we do is unique,” Salka added. “That’s really the fun for me.”
