Brothers chart a Christmas train set through a 14-year tradition
Cranberry Township resident Robert Karlik received his first train set from his older brothers 72 years ago.
Now, three of his grandchildren keep the same holiday tradition by bringing a train set alive in their Cranberry Township home for friends and family — and on their YouTube channel for the rest of the world to see.
Karlik’s grandchildren — Lance, 26, Josh, 24, and Bradley, 22, Hahn of Cranberry Township — marked their 14th year of collaboratively setting up the display this December, which comes a month before Karlik’s birthday in January. Karlik will be 90.
“Every family has their own holiday tradition,” Lance Hahn said. “For us it just happens to be trains and the ... houses and the carnival display. And over the past couple of years, it’s just gotten bigger and bigger.”
This 6-foot-by-8-foot display features O-Gauge trains by Lionel and an assortment of carnival rides and scenery in the Hahns’ kitchen. The carnival landscape includes a Ferris wheel, a funhouse, a tilt-a-whirl, a merry-go-round, bumper cars, a pendulum ride, a rainbow ride and a chair swing ride — along with the masses of Christmas merrymakers exploring them.
“We’ve shared it over the years ... so family and friends from afar can see it and share the joy with us,” Lance Hahn said. “And we just wanted to do something to bring the holiday cheer to other people, and to share our tradition with others, and hopefully inspire other people to continue to create their own holiday traditions.”
Karlik is a big hobbyist with trains and operates a year-round display in his own basement, Lance said. He has eight grandchildren, including two who live in Beaver County and operate their own grandfather-inspired, holiday display there, too.
The Hahn brothers manage a YouTube channel called “Trainjunkies,” where visitors can gain detailed glimpses of their train set and the many additions that have become part of it.
The channel features video clips organized by Christmas season and by item, such as a reindeer ride, a shooting star ride and a snowflake drop ride.
The platform helps expand the tradition beyond the Hahn brothers’ own family, Lance Hahn said. The brothers started the channel in 2010.
“Even if it’s not trains, it has something that they can take with them. So that’s really what our goal was with it, and we just love doing it every year,” Hahn said.
The Hahn brothers hope to inspire more families to create their own holiday traditions and just maybe, build a railroad empire of their own.
The Hahn brothers began their holiday display in 2008 when their house was featured during the 2008 Cranberry Women’s Club Holiday House Tour. The display, which was a highlight of the event, became a huge hit, and has inspired family and friends to come back year after year to see the collection, Lance Hahn said.
“We just really enjoyed the sights and sounds of the different animation,” Lance said. “We weren’t trying to base it off of like historical accuracy or anything. We just wanted something that featured actions and things that we thought people would enjoy.”
