Garden Railroads (Tucson, Chandler: amusement parks, new home, landscaping)

[BillyBaroo]

We went on the Garden Railroad tour here in Tucson this weekend. It was fun seeing all the different setups people had in their backyards. One of my dreams is to be able to set up a railroad in my backyard someday. I'm hoping that when I get in my new home that I'll be able to start building a small one and see where it goes from there. I picked up some real good ideas from the trains I saw today.

Here's a few pictures I took..........

[thehuskybear]

Thats pretty cool... I used to know a guy who had a larger train garden with a train that a little kid could ride on...

[Bummer]

Sounds like lots of fun (and work), BillyBaroo

Where are these Garden Railroads? How did you find them?

[BillyBaroo]

Originally Posted by thehuskybear

Thats pretty cool... I used to know a guy who had a larger train garden with a train that a little kid could ride on...

That would be so cool! I remember when I was a little kid seeing film of Walt Disney riding his little train that he had in his backyard. I found this link with some pictures of him riding that train. Of course, he went on to build bigger and better trains in his amusement parks.

Animator's railroad

[BillyBaroo]

Originally Posted by Bummer

Sounds like lots of fun (and work), BillyBaroo

Where are these Garden Railroads? How did you find them?

The Tucson Garden Railroad Society does a tour every year around the first weekend in March. They had eight homes on the tour this year. One of them is one of the largest in the state and has over 1000 feet of track, it's incredible.
Here's a link to their web site ..... Tucson Garden Railway Society

The National Garden Railway Convention is going to be held April 29th - May 4th in Chandler, Arizona.
Here's a link for information about that convention ..... 2008 National Garden Railway Convention
I'm hoping to drive up there and get a few more ideas for my layout. I'm going to start real small, there's so much to learn. I'm mostly interested in the landscaping part of it. This weekend I saw a really cool dwarf pomegranate and creeping rosemary shaped like a small tree.

[BillyBaroo]

Originally Posted by thehuskybear

Thats pretty cool... I used to know a guy who had a larger train garden with a train that a little kid could ride on...

Check this out! It's a site that has pictures of all the miniature railroads in Arizona, the kinds you can ride on. I just found this site, I'm going to look and see if there's a few I can take my kids on.

Guide To Arizona's Miniature Railroads

By the way, when you get here, here's a great trip if you want something fun to do some weekend.

Welcome to the Verde Canyon Railroad Homepage

And then there's the granddaddy of them all, the Grand Canyon Railroad.

GRAND CANYON RAILWAY | Grand Canyon National Park train | Grand Canyon Railroad