Viewing a top-notch model railroad display is like flying a drone over the past.

Those who visit the Rochester Model Railroading Club in a downtown church basement will find highly refined and detailed exhibits of communities that span the region. There's the iconic statue at the peak of the monument at the center of Caledonia. The town's bean factory is also built to scale along the HO-scale tracks.

When the club's Lehigh Valley line passes through Rochester Junction, in what most today know as Rush, the exhibit offers intricate detail of the station now known as the home of the Rochester and Genesee Valley Railroad Museum. Geneva and Victor are also stops along the club's more than 2,000 square-foot exhibit, that swings as far as Buffalo and beyond New York to Scranton and the Lehigh Valley of Pennsylvania.

The club holds its annual open house at the First Universalist Church in Rochester's Center City this weekend.

"We're just excited to have people come and visit. We've been told we're one of the best kept secrets in Rochester," club president Mark Rossiter said. "One of the things we're trying to do is to recreate the world we remember. Growing up, railroads were a big, big part of people's lives a generation or two ago."

The club is celebrating its 80th year in 2019. Though it has set up shop in several locations over the years, including property that is now the Riverside Convention Center, it's found a home in the basement of the church that stands at South Clinton Avenue and Court Street. 

More than 50 club members meet weekly to operate the train lines that weave through a countryside that is as artistically appealing as it is realistic. Every one of the thousands of trees in the hillsides of the exhibit was crafted by hand (as legend would have, while the artist watched NASCAR).

Dozens of trains roll along its rails, from a short line led by none other than PBS star Thomas Tte Tank Engine, to an engine pulling box cars adorned with the logos of beer companies from the region.

Monitors hung from the ceiling give visitors, and engineers, a complete view of the exhibit, no matter where they stand. 

You can visit the Club's open house this Saturday from 10 a.m. to 5 p.m. and on Sunday from 1 p.m. to 5 p.m.The event is the club's main fundraiser of the year. Donations will be accepted at the door. The club will also hold a flea market on the church's main floor.