Lebanon family keeps 80-year Christmas train tradition alive

A Donmoyer family tradition that spans eight decades is continuing this holiday season.

For the past 80 or so years, either Clair Donmoyer or son Terry has erected a train set for the holiday season in the family home in Lebanon city.

But this isn’t just any ordinary train set that runs in circles around the Christmas tree. 

The two-train system includes a full city landscape covering a large portion of the family living room. LebTown spoke with three of the six Donmoyer siblings, Terry, Tammy and Penny, about their ongoing family tradition.

“It runs 12-feet long by 4-feet deep,” said Terry, adding that it used to have a longer length. “The (train) project starts Nov. 1 and it takes two and a half weeks to set it up.” 

There are two segments of the train project that take the lion’s share of time. A separate project is finding the largest tree possible and setting it up in the living room, which is the sole responsibility of Terry. 

“It takes time to plan the design,” said Terry, noting when asked that the landscape design is different each year. “And then the longest part is wiring. I use little tiny telephone wires to light it.” 

The display is quite colorful since railroad crossings and other lights illuminate the city landscape, which includes some businesses like a farm produce stand, a new addition this year, with a Lionel freight train running on the lower track and an Amtrak passenger train that sits above the city and uses a separate raised track.

The living room wall contains a large photo that Terry had made from a file at the Lebanon County Historical Society showing Lebanon’s Philadelphia & Reading Railroad train station in what Terry believes to be the early 1900s. 

Read More: Let’s take a look at Lebanon’s historic Philadelphia & Reading Railroad Station

In the picture, a large train engine and cars sit to the left while passengers stand between the train and the train station. A pickup is seen in the scene as is a cart powered by horses that are attached to it.

“I went up to the historical society, I got a disc and then I took it to a printer and they printed that up. Okay. I had two of them. One is of the old Lebanon train station over here where the Lebanon Building Supply was,” Terry said.

What’s poignant about the train set that sits on a raised platform is that their father’s full-time job was with the Reading Railroad for most of his adult life.

“He laid rail tracks,” Terry said, adding when asked that Clair rarely spoke about his job to his children. “He cleaned the switches off, rails, you know. He worked for them right up to retirement.” 

Penny said she remembers her father setting up the train and running it during the Christmas holiday. “Just nostalgia, you know, just remembering your childhood, and the nostalgia it brings,” Penny said.

The train project took a giant leap in size when Terry took it over. He said he had moved back to his childhood home when he had an idea to build the set.

“When we moved here, I asked my mom where the old train was that dad used to have. And when she told me where they were, they were hidden back in a wall. And that just got me started doing them,” Terry said, adding that he’s been doing it for about 50 years. “That was many, many years ago. 

Terry said there’s around 12 different train sets in the family’s possession. 

“There’s one brand new one down there in the box yet,” said Penny. “That’s when Mick was working up the Hershey yet and that was many years ago. That’s probably 50 years old.” 

Christmas is a special time of the year for generations of the Donmoyer family that have lived in the same home since 1906. On Christmas Eve and Christmas Day, the large family gathers in their parents home to celebrate the season. Terry and one of the sisters currently live in their parent’s home, and Tammy lives next door in the attached row home located north of the current Norfolk Southern train system.

“We have about 30 or so family member drop in over the holidays,” Tammy said. “People come and go but everyone still comes to mam’s and pap’s house.”

While the children and grandchildren marvel, as most children do, at model trains, the set-up is a work of art that anyone can appreciate. A tunnel that Terry made 15 years ago runs along the backside of the display with the freight train going through the tunnel and the passenger train running on the top. 

And then there’s the bridge that the passenger train crosses. “The bridge is handmade and each piece (of it) was built separately,” said Terry.  

LebTown asked the family what Clair would have thought of the set that at one point was larger, and nearly going out of the front door. He did get to enjoy a smaller version of it in the late 1980s prior to his passing the following March, the family said.

“That’s hard to say (about the large set), you know, I really don’t know but I think you would like it. He really loved Christmas,” Terry said.

“It warms my heart. If my father would see this, he’d be totally amazed. I could probably cry,” said Tammy.

The family wants to share their family tradition with the community this year. They are sponsoring an invite-only showing for a limited number of people this Sunday between 4:30 and 7 p.m.

Anyone interested in seeing the display and sharing in the Donmoyer Christmas spirit is asked to contact Tammy Donmoyer or Penny Donmoyer on Facebook Messenger. 

The trains will run and the massive Christmas tree that sits nearby will be lit while the family serves hot chocolate and cookies to those who attend with Christmas music being played in the background.

“It is about honoring him,” said Terry. While he got it started, I just kept it going. And added a lot of other stuff to it. He just never really got the chance to see it mature to this level.”