Anybody who’s been into Garden Railroading for awhile has probably read a few articles in GR magazine about this layout. I remember reading a few articles about it in the early 90’s when I was just starting out in the hobby. It one of those layouts you read about and think to yourself, “One of these days that’s what I’d like to accomplish”. As luck would have it, Kevin Strong was in town visiting his parents and sent out an invite to Bruce Chandler, who sent out an invite to me, for an operating session on Saturday. What a thrill that was since I’ve been an admirer of Jim’s layout since I first read about it. The pictures I’ve seen of it and, no doubt, the pictures I took don’t do it justice. But here goes anyway…
Here’s Jim with his grandson Andrew(I hope I got his name right), doing some switching.
Bruce and Jean Chandler take a break in the park like setting.
Cinderella’s Castle sits on a hill over looking the railway.
Jim built a model of the Oakton, MD B&O station that was recently restored. Awesome building!
Jim gives some instructions to a few of the neighborhood kids who stopped by to “play trains”.
and they’re off…
passing through Woodland Jct.
Bruce and Jean chat with Jim Kottkamp and his wife
Kevin and his son ponder the switching arrangement in Woodland Jct. Kevin had his hands full.
Finally, the bottleneck is cleared…
Toward the end of the day, RGS #20 had a minor collision with Andrew’s critter #25 on the trestle. Fortunately no one was injured and the track was soon cleared.
Soon after, the the collision is forgotten about and Andrew busies himself in the yard.
I had a wonderful time and would like to thank both Kevin and Jim Strong for the invite and for hosting this event. It certainly made my day…
Jim with the castle. He has repainted all of the buildings since I was last there a few years ago and they really do look nice.
