Misericordia art exhibit to focus on railroading in NEPA
Jun. 18—DALLAS — For most railfans the love of trains begins early and runs deep.
For Oren B. Helbok, that love began in his native Bronx, N.Y.
"My parents would take me down to the Hudson River in our neighborhood to have picnic suppers. We'd sit on the platform of the train station at Riverdale, or we'd go out on the rocks on the river," Helbok recalled.
"But I was not watching the river," he said. "I was watching the trains."
Watching quickly turned to documenting, often on road trips with his dad, John E. Helbok.
"My father handed me a camera when I was six," Helbok said. "That was in the spring of 1972."
The eager six-year-old grew into an experienced artist whose railroad photography — particularly of steam locomotives — has drawn acclaim for its stunning and sensitive depiction not just of the machines, but of the landscapes they traverse and the people who make them work. He has photographed railroads from approximately coast to coast as well as in Canada and Great Britain.
Photos by Bloomsburg-based Helbok are part of a mixed-media exhibition that opens this week at Misericordia University's Pauly Friedman Art Gallery.
"The Ties That Bind: Railroading in NEPA" explores the history of trains in the region through photography, paintings, and a working HO scale model railroad layout — depicting the Back Mountain as it looked in the 1930s and '40s — on loan from the Back Mountain Model Railroad Club.
It also includes work by Sue Hand, Bob McCormick, Dan Troy, and Eric Williams.
The exhibit runs from June 21 to July 28, with several free public events including a meet the artists reception on July 13.
Helbok will offer some tips on railroad photography during a cell phone workshop on July 13.
'Embedded in our landscape'
Gallery Director Lalaine Bangilan Little sees in the exhibit — and in memories such as Helbok's — a universal appeal, whether in the hills and mountains of Northeastern Pennsylvania or in the flatlands around Houston, Texas, where she grew up.
"The rails are so embedded in our landscape," Little said, recalling her reflections on the sight of a train crossing a bridge over the Susquehanna River while she dined at the River Grille in Plains Township.
"They're such mundane, but very exciting events," she said. "I don't think we always appreciate how families settled in this area because of the the rail industry, how different people immigrated to this country to work on the railroads."
Her hope is that the exhibit will draw visitors from across the generations to celebrate that story.
"I think there is a nostalgia that will appeal to (older) folks," Little said. "In the summertime I really try to focus on what will bring the families in. I know we have a lot of grandparents who host their grandchildren, and this will give them a common activity. Between the model railroad layout and the art, I'm hoping that they're able to enjoy all of it together."
To that end, the exhibition will include a board game night this Wednesday.
A big move
The layout is no small accomplishment — nor is its presence at the exhibition.
Originally built in 2017 for the Dallas Township bicentennial, its usual residence is at the club's home in the Twin Stacks Center and it measures 19 feet long by 6 feet wide.
Little had heard about it, attended one of the club's open house events, and was inspired to contact club President Ray Mancke about borrowing the layout for an exhibition.
"Basically, we said we don't want to move it ourselves, because it's not easy to move," Mancke recalled. "She was willing to have it moved for us, if we would disassemble it and reassemble it. And that's how it all started."
Disassembly took three hours, club member Kenneth Kertesz said. Reassembly at Misericordia took two days. They'll repeat the process once the exhibition is finished. It was all worth the effort, he said.
"I thought it was a golden opportunity to promote the club," Kertesz said. "While we have 59 members, we can always use more."
The HO layout depicts the Lehigh Valley Railroad's Bowman's Creek Branch, which ran through Luzerne, Trucksville, Shavertown, Dallas, Harveys Lake, Noxen and beyond. Its prime commodities were lumber, ice and goods coming to and from a large tannery in Noxen, Mancke explained. It operated from the 1860s until 1959.
Visitors will see landmarks that still stand and others that are long gone, including the trestle over Carverton Road, the Raub Hotel, Fern Brook Park and its roller coaster, ice harvesting, the old Dallas Post newspaper office, and even the home of artist Sue Hand, whose paintings are featured in the exhibition. The layout also includes trolley cars, representing the Wilkes-Barre Railway line which once connected Public Square with Dallas and Harveys Lake.
In addition to the HO layout, the club also has O, S and N scale layouts under construction back at the clubhouse.
Reflections on railroading
The club's members range in age from 7 to 90, Mancke said. Some worked in the railroad industry, and some just love trains.
Kertesz is one of those who worked in the industry. Like Helbok, his love of railroads began early, watching trains in his native New Jersey. His passion would become his career.
"I'm a retired locomotive engineer, and I know quite a bit about the railroad," the Shavertown resident said. "I worked for six railroads, starting in 1972 with the Lehigh Valley."
He joined the club in 2019, but wasn't able to become really active with the group until after he retired from Norfolk Southern in January 2022. He is now the club's HO and small scale director.
Mancke, meanwhile, was not a railroad employee but also got bitten by the train bug early.
"I became enamored with railroading at age 4, when I had the opportunity to ride in a small, industrial electrically powered locomotive" in Philadelphia, said Mancke, who lives in Dallas.
"I probably should have worked for a railroad, but never did," he added. "Although most of my career involved logistics and things that involved rail transportation."
Kertesz acknowledges that the life of a railroader can be demanding. Even in his last years, he was working 12-hour days, five days a week.
"And more sometimes, but I enjoyed it," he said.
That enjoyment showed in his eyes when Kertesz stepped over to the wall to look at one of the photos in the exhibit.
It depicts a modern Norfolk Southern locomotive in a "heritage" paint scheme representing one of the former railroads acquired by the corporation — in this case the Lehigh Valley, where Kertesz began his career.
Kertesz had an opportunity to operate that heritage locomotive during a period when it was based at the railroad's Taylor Yard in Lackawanna County.
"I was thrilled," he said.
Humans and machines
Little hopes visitors will find human connections in the art on display, as Kertesz found in that locomotive photo.
The images in the exhibition depict more than trains. They depict a way of life, and the people who have made that way of life a reality. That's a key theme in Helbok's work.
The lead photo with this article is an image Helbok made of engineer Christopher Bost leaning out of the cab of Central of New Jersey steam locomotive 113, a preserved engine from 1923, in Minersville, Schuylkill County.
Ask Helbok about the scene and he can tell you not just about the train, but about Bost's life and work — he grew up in Charlotte, N.C., has been a lifelong railfan, has much experience with steam — and even his headgear: a polka dot engineer's hat by the Kromer Cap Co.
"To me, to photograph railroading and to photograph it comprehensively, there are three main themes: There is the hardware. There's also the landscape and the way that the railroad interacts with its surroundings. That's whether you're in town or out in the countryside somewhere. And then there is the people. And the people have become much more central to my photography," Helbok said.
"When I was a kid, every now and then I would photograph a human being working on a locomotive. Now that's really most of what I do," he continued.
"It's partly to make up for all of those people who were so generous with my father and me, who gave us access to their railroads and taught us about what they were doing, whom I didn't photograph. I regret that," Helbok said. "And my way of paying them back is to do as much as I can of it now with the people who are here now, giving me access and showing me how the railroad works."
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ABOUT THE EXHIBIT
'The Ties That Bind: Railroading in NEPA'
June 21-July 28
Pauly Friedman Art Gallery at Misericordia University, 2nd floor Insalaco Hall, 301 Lake St., Dallas
Admission and public events free to all ages
Events:
—June 21 — MU's Ticket to Ride Board Game Night, 5-7 p.m. To register, visit misericordia.edu/art
—July 13 — Chasing the Train Cell Phone Workshop, 2:30-4:30 p.m. Recommended for ages 12 and up. To register, visit misericordia.edu/art
—July 13 — Meet the Artists Reception, 5-7 p.m., with a welcome by Professor Joe Curran and live music by Dean Mastrangelo
ABOUT OREN B. HELBOK
Read an expanded version of our interview with Helbok here.
ABOUT LALAINE LITTLE
Gallery Director Lalaine Bangilan Little was gracious enough to facilitate this report while attending a summer program in California. Read more about that here.
ABOUT THE RAILROAD CLUB
To learn more about the Back Mountain Model Railroad Club, visit www.backmtnrrclub.com or call 570-430-8639.
