Years ago I acquired a large stack of model railroad magazines at the Lambertville. It turned out six of the magazines contained information about the Alexander Railroad Museum, a well known former Bucks County PA landmark located just outside Yardley Borough. Edwin P. Alexander (1905 - 1981) was "one of the founding fathers of model railroading in North America."  Now, in August 2010 I find a curious set of  77 postal cards at the WC4 postcard club, penned with tiny handwritten script so small that up to 300 words could be contained on a single card, and providing a long narrative by a "railroad track inspector" during a six month period of WWII. My knowledge of model railroading is limited to having a lifelong buddy who had a huge setup in his attic. But reading this track inspector's narrative has so stimulated my interest that I decided to add information about the Alexander Railroad Museum to my Linford R. Craven Yardley site. Later on I hope to figure out a way of presenting the track inspector's narrative.

Edwin P. Alexander  (1905-1981):  Model Railroader, Model Builder, Manufacturer, Author
Courtesy of:   "O Scale News" magazine   "Model Railroad Related Information" 

"PIONEER MODELING - if any description of Edwin P. Alexander's modeling is appropriate, this is it. Builder of the first American-prototype HO locomotive; operator of the first known portable HO layout in the U.S.; contributor to Vol. I, No. I, of The Model Craftsman; manufacturer and accomplished Civil War-era modeler: These and other accomplishments certainly place him among the founding fathers of model railroading in North America..."

"More than four decades separate these early models from his current work... During the intervening years, Ed built O scale exhibition railroads for the C&O (for the 1933 Century of Progress Exposition in Chicago), PRR, NYC and other lines. He also appeared in experimental television programming in 1939... found time to author several books including one on the Pennsylvania Railroad, his employer, open a museum of toy and scale trains, and start a manufacturing firm specializing in vintage model items..."

The above quotations were selected from pgs 90-91 of  Railroad Model Craftsman Magazine, December 1977

1948 Advertisement - Model Railroad Magazine, Jan '48
     Edwin P. Alexander, Box 528, Yardley, Pa.

1954 Advertisement - Railroad Model Craftsman Magazine, Mar '54
     Edwin P. Alexander, Box 528, Yardley, PA.

1964 Feature Article (Magazine Cover)  -  Railroad Model Craftsman Magazine, Nov '64
    Alexander RR Museum - Outdoor live steam railroad operating on the right of way of the one time Trenton-New Hope trolley

1964 Feature Article (Selected Photographs)  -   Railroad Model Craftsman Magazine, Nov '64
    Alexander RR Museum  -  Teenagers inspect engine, while younger children wait for ride