Large Scale Central

Garden Railroad Slide Show

Gardening
#1

I’ve been asked by a local Garden Club to put together some slides showing what a “Garden” Railroad is, as it’s all new to them.

I’m pretty sure I’m not going to go into gauge and scale, incompatible couplers, and different methods of powering our trains.

I am pretty sure I’m going to show them plants along the right of way, some trains in the background, buildings, bridges etc.

I’ve got a lot of pix from our garden RR Club, and I’m thinking I might add some pix I took in Omaha of the Botantical Garden RR there. I’d use one closer, but I’m not sure I know of one that has some trains in it.

What are YOUR suggestions for illustrating garden railroading to a garden group? I’m thinking of using Power Point so I can include some maps, some music, etc. Then maybe I can take it to other Garden Clubs, of which there are many in our area.

#2

Sounds like a great idea. Good luck with it!

I’d emphasize the animation part of it. Just as some people will add a pond with flowing water in a garden setting, a train running through the same element also adds interest to the scene. I’ve been to a few garden RR Conventions, and while some people emphasize the garden aspect of it, others will emphasize the train part of it. Some of the better layouts I’ve seen try to blend the two together.

If someone asks me what a garden RR is, I just try to describe an Alpine or Rock garden setting with a miniature train running through it.

I’d also make sure to mention the different manufacturers of Large Scale Trains and what they specialize in. ie: steam locomotives vs. diesel locomotives. Old time vs modern and that there are size differences.

From some of the pictures I’ve seen posted on here, I don’t think you’ll have a problem with showing how diverse this hobby is.

#3

You have the right idea, you don’t want to bore them with technical details.
I suggest photos from many different GRR’s, rather than one or two. The photo gallery and forum posts here would be a good source of photos.
You might want to include a short video or two. There are a lot of excellent GRR videos on Youtube.
Ralph

#4

I’ll add that for your audience you want a mix of overall views and detail photos. I tend to take close-up photos of equipment and track using the garden plantings as a view block. Photos like that are great for modelers to look at, but a gardener wont get it. Overall shots of a garden with nice plantings and perhaps a water feature that just happen to have track and a train in the scene are what they will understand.

We might be able to draw gardeners into the modeling aspect once they have some track down and trains running; but assume most of them will want ready to run track and equipment to get started.

#5

Slides are nice, but animation is the hook. I think that I would have at least half of the program in videos of spectacular garden railroads.

Here in Spokane, we team up with the Master Gardeners at their annual show to set up a garden railroad to show the folks just what is possible. Food for thought.

#6

I suggest you get in touch with Nancy Norris, the Horticutural Editor for Garden Railway Magazine. Nancy lives in the San Francisco Bay Area and is the owner of Garden Lines landscaping business. http://www.gardenlines.net/

Nancy did a seminar at the last National Garden Railway Convention at Denver a few years ago. She had slides and did a really great job that appealed to both the men and women garden railroaders in the audience.

She is a member of the BAGRS and would make an excellent co-speaker for your meeting.

#7

Good ideas, all. I’m just about convinced to steal ALL of them. I’ll check with Nancy. She was here in March at a RR club function, and will have some good ideas.

I don’t have much in the way of videos, but that’s a good idea too!

Thanks and keep the comments coming.

#8
Dick said:
Good ideas, all. I'm just about convinced to steal ALL of them.
Don't forget to file off the serial numbers. :P
#9

Just don’t tell them about all the dirt you have to shift, the rocks you have to lift, the cement you have to mix, the holes you have to dig, the groundhogs you have to shoot, the poop you have to shovel, the money you have to spend, or the right of way negotiations you go through. :stuck_out_tongue: :lol:

I know you’ll do great, Dick! Keep it short; leave 'em salivating! :smiley:

#10

It’s coming together pretty well. I’ve done in in powerpoint because I wanted to have captions for the pix. I’ll have a soundtrack and automatic timing, but it’s not working out correctly. (The timing; the soundtrack seems OK. IF there’s a way to put a PP show on this list, I might share it.

#11

There is bound to be a way. Youtube? Dunno, just askin. Bob would know, ask him. I would definitely want to see it when its ready.

#12

Powerpoint files can get huge pretty quickly & there may be a limit…

You can also try an online file sharing service.

A Google search for ‘online file sharing service’ will turn up plenty of what you need.

#13
Dick Friedman said:
It's coming together pretty well. I've done in in powerpoint because I wanted to have captions for the pix. I'll have a soundtrack and automatic timing, but it's not working out correctly. (The timing; the soundtrack seems OK. IF there's a way to put a PP show on this list, I might share it.
Once you get the PPT the way you want it, there are some apps to convert to video. [url=http://www.powerpoint2video.com/]Some of them can convert to all kinds of different formats.[/url]

Some photo programs e.g. Cyberlink PhotoDirector let you assemble slideshows with all the bells and whistles including sound, then export to Flickr, Facebook and YouTube.

#14

After I finish a PP program, I often convert it to Slides, as they’ll play on almost any platform with almost any OS.