Coming Sept 7, 2025

The Columbus Garden Railway Society
2025 Fall Garden Tour
is going to happen, come:

Rain (bring an umbrella),  Shine (bring a visor),
Coronavirus (bring a mask & space 6 ft apart)

Scheduled for Sunday, Sept. 7, 2025
Hours: 1:00 – 5:00 PM

Scroll down to review the 2024 tour document

1  The C,S,T & J Railroad – Owner: Craig & Audrey Bigrigg

(V 1.0 started 27 years ago, V 2.0 in 2005)
  

The C,S,T&J is a large multi-track railroad with two mainlines featuring modern diesel-powered freight and passenger trains. There are also two short lines with a wider mix of steam and diesel equipment. With the addition of the second short line and a trolley line this year there is now over 1500 feet of track.
Whether your interests include the Santa Fe Super Chief, modern intermodal trains or Thomas the Tank chugging along we think you find something you like. 
Many shaded viewing areas, a Gazebo with comfortable seating, or an enclosed porch with a bird’s eye view of the entire layout. Partial wheelchair accessible. 10 feet of elevation change required to see everything.  
    

NOTE:  Due to pressing issues with the pond (replacement) our RR will be a construction site.

Four of the five outdoor tracks will be working, but the large track that crosses the pond probably will not. If you are interested in construction of a pond and track…this is your chance ! 

2  The Sweet Hollow RR – Owner: Don & Deb Sweet
   

The layout has 300 feet of track, running three loops with battery power. It has many dwarf conifers and miniature perennials surrounding farm buildings, a campground and a replica Gettysburg train station.

3  The Back in Time Railroad – Owner: Pat Waddell

The Back in Time Railroad consists of two trains running in two gardens. The first garden, where gnomes and fairies live and a second garden with scenes meant to transport you back to simpler time.

4  The Hacker Express RR – Owner: Jed & Michelle Hacker 
   

This European themed layout depicts scenery of Switzerland’s Rhätische Bahn (RhB) meter gauge railroad in the canton of Graubünden accompanied by tourists riding the scenic rack-railroad up the fictitious Der Korkenzieherberg. Alpine horn demonstrations will be given throughout the afternoon. If you experience mal du Suisse, this tour stop is for you. Many miniature trees, plants and succulents accent this well-manicured garden. Parking along the curb either side of Schrock Rd is permitted.

5   The Acorn & Oak Railroad – Owner: Stew and Marcia Flaherty 

     

The Railroad travels varied areas – a small town, a logging camp, a fishing camp, and a manufacturing plant/freight plant. Steam engines from the past combine with diesels of the present. The railroad circles a huge oak tree – hence the railroads name.

 

The Grand Rapids and Reeds Lake Railroad – Owner: Bob & Jo Collins
   

The Grand Rapids and Reeds lake railroad has 3 loops and one elevated loop on a raised bed. This is an outdoor layout rather than a garden railroad. The structures on the layout consist of first, an imagined area around Reeds Lake in East Grand Rapids, Mich. at the turn of the 19th century and whimsical buildings and groupings. There is an operating catenary loop reminiscent of the trolley line that went from Grand Rapids to the eastern suburb at the same time.

 7 The Forest Park Garden RR – Owner: Tim & Lisa Dove
      

Started in 2018, our garden railroad was named for the neighborhood where we have lived since 1984. Tim has been a model railroader in N, HO and O scales since a young boy. Lisa is a master gardener through the OSU Extension and responsible for the garden designs. We both enjoy our hobbies and decided to merge the two. The back yard now includes; a dog bone loop of 200 plus feet, a crossover loop of 230 feet through the side yard and a fence line point to point of 90 feet. Come and see our work on the gardens, the waterfall/ koi pond and train routes.

8  The Crawford Valley RR – Owner: Alvin & Beverly Mann
    

Since 2005 the Crawford Valley Railroad has served the towns of Crawford and Lily Pad Junction. The train winds its way past the Elk River’s upper and lower falls as it feeds into Lily Pad Lake. The river feeds the Millstream to run the waterwheel at James Frame Mill. The Elk River sawmill is supplied with timber from the surrounding mountains and delivered by the Shay engines designed for the job. The town of Lily Pad Junction boasts diverse industry from farming to wood working and textiles of all sorts. The 1880’s community knows how to work hard and enjoy their leisure as well. Don’t forget to stop by town gazebo and listen to the local jug band. In the town of Crawford, time has moved on to the 1920’s. Motorized vehicles are every where and the newest fascination is the moving pictures house. As you look across the way you will see the community where Thomas and Percy live. The people and children here depend on them to make deliveries and get them from home to work, the park and the country. Come join us for a relaxing afternoon when life was lived at a slower pace and the sound of the steam engine’s whistle sent a thrill through your spirit.

9   The Mad Apple Express Owner: David & Sherry Bush
    

Come one, come all! The circus has come to the Mad Apple Garden Railway! This will be the Mad Apple’s 5th year on the Columbus Garden Railway tour but this year will feature some minor track changes and an all new circus theme layout and train. The plants are blooming in the 10×14 pond with koi and goldfish and a double spill waterfall where two trains will pass over the different levels. Come sit by the pond, relax, watch the bear fishing in the stream and enjoy some trains.
    

Be sure to pick up a scavenger hunt and search for all the hidden gems.        

10  The Xenia, Russellville and Cherry Fork RR – Owner: Jim & Lorinda Shell 
     

The Xenia, Russellville and Cherry Fork RR heads southeast out of Xenia, Greene Co., to Russellville, Brown Co., then east to Cherry Fork, Adams Co. Passengers enjoy seeing trestles, bridges, stream, and water falls of southern Ohio.

11  The Marhefka Express – Owner: Ron & Deb Marhefka
 
Our garden railroad setup is an example of a smaller layout. The track is a 14 X 20 ft loop with a sideline by the train station. The buildings represent a small farming community, with a variety of flowers and ground coverings.

 12  The B & K Railroad  – Owner: Beth & Kent Kloes

 

The Grove City edition of the B & K Railroad was started in 2018 with a single loop in front of the house. It expanded in 2020 to the south side and back of the house, and has acquired a theme of West Virginia logging communities – Hosterman, Durbin, and Cass. The B&K features a Climax engine (the engine used in Hosterman, according to a descendant of that family,) on the front loop, which represents that village. The railroad then winds down the south side of the house through the village of Durbin, and on to Cass in back of the house, which features a Shay engine, the primary geared locomotive used there. 
Hosterman continues to grow and now has a point to point track from the train station to the sawmill / general store area. A recreation area is under development in the center of the town.
The village of Cass is still developing.  Cass now includes a station and two “company houses”, a sawmill, and a sand station before the big climb to the logging camp on the north end of that section. A point to point Paul Bunyon line connects the train station area to the logging area.

 
13  The Kiousville, Palestine & Warnersville RR – Owner: Briane & Connie Spangler 
 

Our railroad is named The KPW Line, the Kiousville-Palestine-Warnersville Railroad which we started in 2006. It is about 1,000 feet, with three main lines that encircle two ponds and a sunken patio and a third loop around a lighthouse that sits over a underground lake (septic tank). There’s also a trolley that runs down the middle of the street where the town will be constructed once the depression is over. We have an inside trains storage yard. We run  steam and diesel engines and a railbus. We also have a rock garden and four flower gardens that the trains run through. We use track power for the  locomotives – all of which are radio-controlled. PLUS we have a live steam engine.

14  The Inniswood Metro Gardens RR – INNISWOOD METRO GARDENS 
    

The Inniswood Metro Garden layout was built in 1998 and was restored in 2021, and features many miniature hostas. Trains run every Saturday and Sunday 11 AM – 4 PM,  May thru October by metro park volunteers.

 

 15  Easton Express RR – Owner: Easton Center (in front of Brio Italian Grille)
Easton Town Center, 3951 Easton Square Place East, Columbus, Ohio 43219
  

Easton Express is a 1100 square foot railroad built in 2005. Trains run 12 hours a day seven days a week.

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