Helping to kick off a toy and food drive at the Railroad Museum of Pennsylvania in Strasburg on Sunday are, from left, Joey Ray, 5, Nicholas Stretch, 6, and Jack Ginsburg, 6, with the museum's Ryan Kunkle, front, and Leo Edgell of Toys for Tots, driving the train. Participation on the first day was light.
Encroaching winter weather took a break Sunday, providing visitors to the Railroad Museum of Pennsylvania a warm and sunny autumn day.
But the Tuscan-red Delaware & Hudson boxcar that museum officials hoped to fill with food and toys for the needy stood empty.
"It's disappointing. Turnout has been very light," museum advancement director Deborah Reddig said Sunday.
"But we still hope to fill that boxcar."
For visitors taking advantage of the Strasburg museum's first Spirit of Giving Day, admission to the museum was free with a donation to either the U.S. Marine Corps' Toys for Tots program or the Central Pennsylvania Food Bank.
People were asked to bring a new toy or nonperishable food item to help fill the boxcar for delivery to needy families this holiday season.
Inside the cavernous museum, the sounds of a brass quintet echoed Sunday among the towering cars and engines of iron and steel.
"The acoustics in here are actually really good," a Santa-hatted member of the Elite Brass ensemble said between holiday tunes.
But by late Sunday afternoon, the antique car on Track 4 was still empty. Just one large cardboard box in the front lobby of the museum was full of contributions.
"We just didn't get sufficient donations to put them in the boxcar," Reddig said.
Toys for Tots volunteer Leo Edgell was philosophical about the poor turnout.
"You just never know what you're going to get," he said.
But even as the number of donations dwindles, the organization's needs are expanding.
Edgell said Toys for Tots handed out presents to about 6,300 children in 2007 and 12,500 children in 2008. This year, he said, that number is expected to pass 20,000.
"It's bad, but we're hoping for the best," he said. "There are more and more families in need."
Reddig said the museum has collected for both charities in past years, but this was the first time for a Spirit of Giving Day that included free admission to the historic collection of trains.
"These are two great organizations that are very much a part of the community," she said. "So we will continue collecting for them up to the end of the year."
Upcoming events at the museum include Home for the Holidays, a history-themed program that will include costumed interpreters talking about rail travel in bygone days and a telegrapher who will send messages to the North Pole in Morse code.
Reddig and Edgell both said they hope to see that boxcar fill up by Christmas.
"Lancaster County is a giving community," Edgell said. "When you put out a plea, they'll come through."