Mary Ellen Zangara

By: centraljersey.com
Sometimes good things can grow out of a tragedy. For the Knape family, they have learned to share what grew from a devastating family experience.
Now, Cliff and Lori Knape host a holiday open house for two days each year, sharing with friends and family what they have done since they experienced their loss over 10 years ago.
"After the devastating loss of our daughter and son, twins, in 1999, our hobbies turned into a great source of healing. I poured my grief into my rose garden while my husband poured his grief into his model trains," Ms. Knape said. "Little by little his amazing model railroad started to take shape. He never sat down and drew anything out; he would just have an idea in his head and build it using many different types of materials, some of which are downright ingenious.
"Once the basic layout and track was built, I remember him coming to me and telling me that he wanted to start the scenery but he didn’t know what to do or where to start. I just said ‘take a little spot and start there and see how it goes,’ " said Ms. Knape.
Mr. Knape started in about 1999 and has been collecting trains since then.
"I have been building this layout from maybe 2000-2001. It is just progression, just putting plywood down, laying track, and doing the electrical work and it has been like that for about three or four years," he said.
"I muddled over whether or not I could do scenery and then I read a lot of books and just tried it. I did about half the layout and didn’t like what I saw so I tore it all down and I rebuilt it more to my liking. This is the product from about the last five years for this layout," he said.
Even though he continues to work on the display, Mr. Knape said, "I think it is pretty good for a first attempt and I think I can do better. It is a year-round layout and I fiddle with it constantly, a little each week, changing something around, or a little bit better looking here or there.
"I add new stuff each year. There are lots of animals that you don’t see but they are there. I try to weather things and change them around to make them look older rather than having them be fresh out of the box. I do a lot of detail work that most people don’t see and my next project is to add interiors to most of the buildings," he said.
Mr. Knape has had an interest in trains since childhood and in 1976, when he was 10, his dad got him his first train, an HO scale train.
With his passion growing, Mr. Knape came up with a great idea and mentioned it to his wife.
Ms. Knape remembers while working on it he came and said, "You know what, I would kind of like to share this with some of my friends. What do you think about having a toy train holiday open house?’ I thought that sounded great. So that’s what we did, we handed out some flyers to friends and family in 2004, the year our beautiful daughter was born.
"We were amazed at the turnout of people and the interest that they all showed in toy trains. Even despite that the scenery was just a work in progress at the time, everyone was quite appreciative of the work that had been done," she said.
The trains in the display are O gauge and run on three-rail track. They are the same basic size as the Lionel train. Some of the displays are from kits and some are pre-built, ready made, and some Mr. Knape makes from scratch.
"I like anything and everything trains so I don’t have a particular theme or a favorite railroad. It is still a work in progress. I really like trains and this gives them a setting for them to really be there which is really more fun," he said.
This year was the sixth holiday open house that the Knapes have hosted. It was a nice gathering to showcase the trains and listen to everyone’s memories about trains, she said.
"His model railroad turned into a true piece of artwork and into a passion and the toy train holiday open house is now a holiday open house with old friends, family and new friends to come together to visit and see what everyone is up to and to see what is new on the layout. It is amazing at the memories that everyone has with toy trains when they were children. It is really neat to hear the stories," said Ms. Knape.
The Costelos family from Peapack was visiting friends in Manville and came with them to see the train display.
"We came specifically to see this. It is so cool. Benjamin is the biggest train fan at 2. He loves trains. We have a very little setup in our basement but not like this. This is fabulous. We went out to Jim Thorpe (Pennsylvania) and this is better than Jim Thorpe. We took a two-hour drive and this is so much better and so beautiful," said Ms. Costelos. She came with her husband, Peter, and their son, Benjamin.
For the Knapes, their personal tragedy has turned into giving back to friends and family. Ms. Knape expressed how it’s now happiness that they share.
"It was really great to see the look on my husband’s face and it gave us such joy and happiness to share something that was a tragedy into something that gave us joy," she said. "I am just so proud of my husband and it’s been something that has brought us together and we have made wonderful new friends."