2025 National Garden Railway Convention in Sacramento - Part 3

 Some more pictures I took on garden tours in Sacramento...

Train crossing over a tunnel and across a bridge on the Franz Family Railroad. I liked how there were two merging streams here, including two small waterfalls.

Another view of the Franz Family Railroad.

The Granite Creek & Rattlesnake Gulch Railroad is spread out over a large area with over 500 feet of track so far—and it's continuing to grow as it's a work in progress. There is a stream and a pond and multiple bridge crossings over water.

I didn't see any rattlesnakes (real ones, at least) but I did see a lot of granite. I really like how this track (currently a dead-end spur) curves around the huge granite boulder and between a smaller one.

I also really liked this curved bridge over a large pond.

There were a couple trains running on the Granite Creek & Rattlesnake Gulch Railroad but I didn't see one often as there was so much track to cover.

We're now at the Maple Rock Garden Railway.

The Maple Rock Garden Railway is in a very large garden and the railroad just ambles through, gradually climbing 15 vertical feet to its highest point.

A train on the Maple Rock Garden Railway following a small stream.

The Coyote Pass Railroad was a real treat. It's over 20 years old and it looks like it, both from intentional weathering of buildings and vehicles as well as natural weathering. My favorite feature was a working water flume over 30 feet long.

A beautifully weathered building with the flume behind it.

Another amazing building that looks like it's going back to nature and halfway there.

A close-up detail of the flume where the water drops down and changes direction.

Old locomotive leading a train underneath the flume on the Coyote Pass Railroad.

A train going around the upper pond on the Deadwood, Eureka & Northport Railroad.

The Deadwood, Eureka & Northport Railroad is an amazing railroad that wraps around two sides of a house. Sandwiched in between the wall of the house and a sidewalk, the railroad was built up vertically in order to fit as much as possible into such a narrow space.

This bridge allows trains on the highest track to cross over the pathway from the sidewalk side of the layout to the house side. I only had to duck a little bit as the bridge is so high. This railroad has 11 bridges and seven tunnels.

Train headed out from town on another loop through the canyon country.

Superb rock and concrete work and use of model trees led to some great views like this.

And this sighting was a first for me—an ore bulk carrier modeled in 1:32 scale on an actual pond. Amazing!