Conjoined Brothers Train Focus on Mini-Railways

CAPE MAY — The Delp family has taken the term “childhood fantasy” to a whole new level. They built a museum dedicated to their sons’ love of trains.
The recently opened Cape May Model Trains Museum on Elmira Street boasts five train layouts with 30 different tracks. With three gauges of trains rolling ‘round, it’s a dream come true for locomotive engineers as well as those who long for the days of the steam powered iron horse.
“The boys have been into trains their whole lives,” said Tim Delp, father of 20-year-old conjoined, autistic twin sons Tyler and Stefan Delp.
According to Stefan, he and his brother became enamored with trains at the age of four when presented with a gift. “My grandmom gave me America’s Historic Steam Railroads,” said Stefan. That gift, a nine-volume collector’s video series sparked a lifelong interest in both men. Also whetting their appetite for trains was the children’s television series Shining Time Station.
Over the years Tim and Nancy Delp have quenched their sons’ thirst of knowledge about trains by traveling across the country to experience railroads. Their travels have taken them as far west as California to ride the Yosemite Mountain Sugar Pine Railroad in Oakhurst to the New Hope, Pa. and the Ivyland Railroad in Bucks County. Every year they make an annual pilgrimage to Cass, WV to enjoy the Cass Scenic Railroad and the gear-driven Shay engines that run along it.
Both Tyler and Stefan’s knowledge of trains and railroads is encyclopedic. They can name railroad names, places, engine numbers and the engineers who operated them along with the dates of retirement.
That love of trains is what drove the parents to rent space in what was once a warehouse for a local candy shop and set up the train displays.
Nancy Delp said unlike other museums, the emphasis on this collection is its child-user-friendliness. Two small wooden, hands-on train sets sit off to the side with the larger electrical displays being shown at a child friendly level. Plexiglass surrounds the perimeter of each display making it easy for small children to see up close and personal the trains as they move along the tracks. Layouts include Thomas the Tank Engine, the Polar Express, Sponge Bob Square Pants and a Christmas Village, to name a few.
The labor of love took the family over two years to complete, said Tim Delp. Helping to renovate the warehouse were 10 students from the Cape May County High School. The twins attend the high school on a shared time basis. The other half of their school day is spent in Lower Cape May Regional High School.
As part of the Cape May County High School’s School to Career Program, students are ex-posed to a vocational community-based component as well as in school training component.
“The component that is working at the Cape May County Train Museum is the vocational component,” said Annamarie Haas, principal of the County High School. “What that means is our carpentry class went into the museum and they built a lot of the museum.”
Haas explained students from the special services school worked over a period of two years. Included in their work was a handicap accessible ramp leading from the parking lot to the museum as well as demolition, concrete work, drywall and painting. All work was done by small groups under the supervision of vocational teacher Michael McCarthy.
“It’s a wonderful learning experience for them,” said Haas, explaining the school offers multiple vocational programs. Because of their disability Tyler and Stefan do not participate in the school’s carpentry vocational program, but instead participate in the delicatessen vocational training program.
Nancy Delp explained her sons are integral to the operation of the 1700 square feet museum. While they spend part of their day maintaining trains, cleaning the thousands of feet of tracks and helping to maintain layout displays, most of their day is spent helping to run the business portion of the museum, where they cashier and stock the small gift area. They are always on hand to answer questions about trains and to share their knowledge with visitors.
With Tyler and Stefan graduating from high school next year, Nancy and Tim Delp hope their sons will take on even a larger curatorial role at the museum.
“If someone told me at 18 what I was going to be doing now, I would have said, ‘You’re out of your mind,’” said Nancy Delp with a smile. She shared that prior to her sons’ inter-est in trains she had no great interest in them. “I just did the Christmas display under the tree.”
The museum, which opened Sat. Aug. 4, is a work in progress, said Tim Delp. Already on display are O gauge trains and HO gauge an N gauge display is currently being set up.
“Some of it was accumulated, like the Thomas things,” said Tim Delp when asked about the museum’s acquisitions. Other pieces, such as an N gauge display, were donated by a lo-cal widow. O gauge trains were purchased specifically for the museum.
Tim Delp, owner of the Court House-based Cape Environmental Laboratory, spends his time away from work at the museum.
“It’s not my hobby,” said Tim Delp. “It’s the boys’ hobby. We were actually trying to figure out what they could do after school to keep them occupied and satisfied. The obvious thing was this because they never lost their childhood love for trains.”
“It was a labor of love,” said Nancy Delp of the two-year process that brought the museum to fruition. “We made them over the moon. And that’s priceless.”
The Cape May Model Train Museum is located at 525 Elmira Street. Telephone 609-432-1690 for additional information and hours of operation, or online at www.cmmt.org. Admission is $5 for adults, $4 for seniors and military members and $3 for children ages 3 – 12. Children under 3 are free. The handicap accessible museum is available for group visits as well as birthday parties. Arrangements can be made for visitors with special needs by contacting the museum. Ample free parking is available on-site.