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Coming Sept 11, 2022
The Columbus Garden Railway Society
2022 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. 11, 2022
Hours: 1:00 – 5:00 PM
Scroll down the page to view our FINAL 2021 Railroads
Your 2021 tour document- will open in a new window!
1 The Puckerville RR – Owner: Paul & Camille Petersen (back after 4 yrs)
Puckerville is a 1960s small town community. The layout has two levels. Upper level has 80′ of track with bridges, tunnel, ponds, and a stream. Lower level is a coal mining line. There are many scratch-built buildings and 75 handmade people. Many herbs, ground covers, and dwarf plantings are used in the layout.
2 The C,S,T & J Railroad – Owner: Craig & Audrey Bigrigg (back after 5 yrs)
(V 1.0 started 27 years ago, V 2.0 in 2005)
The C,S,T and J railroad is a large two mainline road featuring diesel power of the western railroads . Long freight trains with an occasional streamliner traverse the sweeping curves, trestles, and tunnels. There are many shaded viewing areas , a gazebo ,or enjoy a Pilot’s eye view from the three seasons porch. 1000+ feet of track , 10 feet of elevation change to see everything. Partial wheel chair accessible.
3 The Back in Time Railroad – Owner: Pat Waddell (back after 3 yrs)
4 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.
5 The Hacker Express RR – Owner: Jed & Michelle Hacker
The Hacker Express Garden Railroad has undergone an expansion since its first appearance on the tour in 2017 tripling the original layout. Many miniature plants accent the garden along with picturesque European themed scenes. Since it’s Fall, that means Oktoberfest! Come hear the polka band and enjoy the trains either moving beer from the brewery to Oktoberfest on the mainline, or passengers taking a ride on the scenic cog railroad up Der Korkenzieherberg.
6 The Ross Herron Memorial Railroad – Owner: Jim & Barb Kimmell
The railroad was started in 1996 and was named for Jim’s grandfather Ross Herron, who always wanted to be a railroad engineer, but his wife did not like the idea.
The layout started with one single loop and one small waterfall pond. The next year a dogleg was added and finally a trolley line back and forth. The pond was later enlarged to a 2-tiered waterfall pond (an idea we saw at the garden railway convention in Seattle many years back). The set up has the capability of running 5 engines at a time (fingers crossed, everything runs as it should) with an alternating circuit and another passing circuit.
All the buildings were scratch built by Jim. Plantings have been in place more than 15 years and are mature, but well maintained to scale by Jim’s skillful pruning.
7 The Acorn & Oak Railroad **New for 2021** – 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.
8 The Forest Park Garden RR **New in 2020** – 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; the original dog bone loop of last year of 200 plus feet, a new 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.
9 The Ohio River & Western Railway – Owner: Bill & Karen Logan
Come celebrate this 30 year young Garden Railway. The Logan Garden Railway represents the original narrow gauge Ohio River and Western Railway as it meandered through the forested hills of Southeastern Ohio from 1879 through 1931. This 250 foot railway is centered around a rock lined pond. Details abound with structures, horse drawn wagons, early antique autos, , bridges and a curved tunnel. A two story railroad storage building, walkway, and patio border the dense miniature garden.
10 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.
11 Ol’ Suckasunny Line **New for 2021** – Owner: Joe and Sara Phillips
Joe has been a lifelong model railroader in HO scale and decided to move his hobby outside for 2020 as a COVID lockdown project. Now in its second year, the Ol’ Suckasunny Line, named for Joe’s hometown in New Jersey, has acquired a backwoods narrow gauge theme. It’s on the small side with just over 100 feet of track forming two loops allowing two trains to run at once. It features a horse farm, log cabins, and a big friendly orange cat. Unfortunately, the backyard is not wheelchair accessible.
12 The Mad Apple Express **Rebuilt for 2021** – Owner: David & Sherry Bush
The Mad Apple Garden Railway is on the tour again for its 2nd year. If you visited this layout last year, you’ll recall the small layout making the most of a small space. The Mad Apple underwent some major renovations and has expanded from one small loop to three separate tracks to include a large loop, a figure 8 and an elevated track circling a small pond with a waterfall. The layout takes up most of the yard with a three-foot area to walk around and enjoy. Plantings are still taking root but the (plastic) animals have already started to move in. Come on by and enjoy.
13 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.
14 The Puddlefort & Patio Railroad – Owner: Richard Abler
The Puddlefort and Patio Railroad is modeled after a central Wisconsin Village and farmland served by the Chicago & North Western RR. A trolley line serves Puddlefort village. This railroad boosts well established small scale plants, dwarfed trained conifers, rock garden plants, and much more.
15 The Sutter Park Lumber Railroad – Owner: Bob & Kathy Duggan
The Duggan’s railroad runs four trains at one time. There are two point-to-point lines and a double dog bone. There is about 250 feet of track. This fully landscaped RR is based on a logging railroad and has a pond with waterfall and scratch-built buildings. A 2019 addition was the Carnival line which is fully animated. Mixed in with all the landscaping are many different scenes with a touch of fantasy.
16 The Marhefka Expfress **New for 2021**– Owner: Ron & Deb Marhefka
This layout was originally around a Christmas tree and moved outside in 2018. The track is a simple 14 X 20 ft loop with a sideline by the train station. The buildings represent a small farming community, with a variety of miniature trees, flowers and ground coverings.
17 The Mackay Mills RR – Owner: Dan & Katy Hill
Mackay Mills Railroad began in 1996 and has been expanded several times since then. The first layout seen just before entering our rear yard is a small loop elevated on pipe piers. Next is a pair of fence-top parallel reversing trolley lines. The original two-line layout in our rear yard now has several buildings in it, plus a reversing wye with a lay-up spur. One recent addition is a mountain top line running an ore car train back and forth over an arch bridge located between a coal mine and an unloading siding. The latest addition is an overhead oval loop on the patio, with a control system providing prototypical stops for a San Francisco cable car at two stations. A large namesake mill is included; there are three pools with water lilies or other aquatic plants. The railroad is heavily planted with many dwarf conifers and rock garden plants, and is handicapped accessible from the rear alley.
18 The B & K Railroad **New in 2020** – 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, with Kent doing the labor according to Beth’s visions. 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 (which is what was 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. The village of Cass is in the early stages of development and we welcome suggestions regarding adding a village and a mountain and any other possible features.
19 The Sunburst Minneapolis & Southern II RR – Owner: Bob & Harriet Dana
The Sunburst, Minneapolis & Southern’s current version at Choctaw lake features an outer loop, and inner loop that winds beside a stream, and an elevated loop that passes through an artificial mountain made from old railroad ties. The stream flows from a sheet-style waterfall and winds up in the source pond at a corner of the layout. There is also a back-and-forth track on two sides of the rectangular raised bed. Additionally there are extensive floral gardens throughout the property developed by Harriet, member of the Madison County Master Gardener Volunteers.
Scenes on the railroad include an Indian village, a small town, a Harley-Davidson shop with bikes and a church with two brides. The rolling stock is almost entirely Great Northern or the successor BNSF if the heritage green-and-orange color scheme is used. Items bearing the Texaco star are also found frequently on the layout.
20 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.
21 The Mill Valley Northern RR **Rebuilt for 2021**– Owner: Perry & Kim Ratliff
Started in the Spring of 2013, this railroad is constantly changing. Although this was a “maintenance year”, typically we add approximately 100 feet of track per year on average and the railroad has grown to around 500 feet. The Main line is all elevated, features many bridges and a trestle, and runs all the way around our house and through the garage! We hope to see you in Marysville!
21 The Inniswood Metro Gardens RR **New for 2021**– 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.
BONUS: Easton Express RR – Owner: Easton Center (in front of Brio Italian Grille)
Easton Express is a 1100 square foot railroad built in 2005. Trains run 12 hours a day seven days a week.