| DIY People: Garden Railroad |
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"My dad inspired me to build this garden railroad," model-train enthusiast Dick Cole says. "He gave me my first train when I was six. And when he retired, we decided to build this project together. It turned out to be an undertaking for the whole family. My wife is in charge of all of the plants and my son takes care of the computer stuff." Dick's garden railroad is built on the former site of his wife's butterfly garden. "She reluctantly allowed me to, uh, modify the garden," Dick laughs. "I promised her that she would actually have more space when we finished the project and that turned out to be true." Among the components that comprise Dick's railroad are 500 feet of brass G gauge track, bridges, tunnels, turnouts, a deserted town and a twelve-degree grade. Dick can run three trains simultaneously and even the smallest of his train engines can make it up the steep grade. But perhaps the most impressive feature of his garden railroad is the rocks, which are strategically placed (figure A) throughout the entire garden railroad and join together to form a mountain. "Every rock here was hauled in with a wheelbarrow or in a trailer, one rock at a time," Dick says. "My wife and my son and I moved all of these rocks. This was the one that caused us the biggest problem," says Dick, pointing to a 600-pound boulder with a tunnel running through the middle. "Working about three hours a day, it took us almost two weeks to get this rock in place. It then had to be stood up on its edge but it didn't want to stay. We finally got it up and it fell. It took days to get it back to the position we wanted. That's when we started taking steps to keep the rock from falling again. We used a piece of rebar and mortared bricks for support. It's good and solid now. The train is not going to knock it over," Dick chuckles. As for the garden part of the railroad, Dick and his wife have chosen to intersperse a large variety of plants and flowers. Dwarf bushes, bonsai and sculpted boxwoods comprise the bulk of the greenery. Annual and perennial flowers fill in the spaces with vibrant color. "Buy plants that will work for you," Dick advises. "Your garden should be a reflection of yourself and the way you picture things." Dick does offer a word of caution for those interested in building their own garden railroad. "This is not something to get into if you're not prepared to spend a little money," he says. "We run a very low budget operation here but some of my friends, who have unlimited funds, don't flinch at spending a $1,000 for an engine or $200 or $300 for a car. The track costs about $3 a foot. And a turnout can cost you anywhere from thirty to sixty dollars. It can become quite an expensive hobby." It's important to emphasize that every garden railroad doesn't have to be the size of Dick's. "I just got carried away," he confesses. "To be honest, I hope that it actually gets bigger as time goes on. But, if you don't have a deep pocket book, don't go there. You can have a nice little garden using a model train starter set, which will cost you about $150. My first train was a starter set, and it still runs today."
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