So my plan of providing regular updates during the National Garden Railway Convention completely fizzled out. We were so busy driving and visiting railroads and what little free time we had seem to be taken up playing board games (some of which were train themed).
Of the 59 layouts that were open during the course of the convention we made it to about half of them. Over the next couple of weeks I'll create a few posts and include a few pictures from each of the many railroad layouts we visited.
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| This is the Schweizerishe Alpen Bahnen owned by Jim and Lydia Easley that beautifully blends natural and artificial plants and landscape materials. With all of the plants growing up in the middle of it, I didn't realize at first that the entire layout is elevated. |
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| Notice the track in the foreground has a rack running down the middle of it. This is an example of a rack railway, or cog railway, which allows a train to run a very steep slopes. The train is in the background. |
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| This beautiful looks like it is straight out of Switzerland but it is actually modeled after the High Alpine Chapel in Issaquah, Wash. next to Boehm's Chocolates. You can read more about it here. |
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| A close-up of the locomotive, a Rhaetian Railway Ge 4/4 III. 641 was the first of this locomotive series and is named after the town of Maienfeld in Switzerland. |
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| A beautiful hotel on the backside of the layout. |
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| The next layout we visited was the Lehigh and Coal Creek Coal Company owned by Alex Osenbach. It is spread out over a yard with a considerable slope that the trains need to navigate, so there are plenty of loops, trestles and bridges. |
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| When we were visiting a pair of Santa Fe EMD GP9 locomotives were pulling a mixed freight. |
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| My favorite feature was this beautiful old coal processing facility. It was designed to look weathered, and the real world weathering it has had in the years since then have only added to the run down look. I also really liked the weathered rolling stock. |
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| Next on the agenda was the Lincoln Pinnacle Railroad owned by Glenn & Barbara Shadduck built on a terrace with a lovely lake view as a backdrop. |
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| A key feature is a replica of the Thomas Viaduct, built in the 1830s by the Baltimore & Ohio. |
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| A mid-19th century style 4-4-0 was hauling the train during our visit. |
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| The most striking feature, and the one that greets the visitor upon arrival, is this beautiful replica of the Bollman Truss Railroad Bridge over a water feature with the railroad's name stenciled on it. |
