We had a lot of fun with the Grandkids running trains on Friday and Saturday.
Twaaaaaaaaaaaains!
Christmas Train
Aristocraft Southern Crescent Limited
Well darn... I didn't know there was so much one can say about a single loop elevated track running trains in a backyard. Just like Disneyland will never be complete as long as there is imagination left in the world, I'm sure GrandpaLand will continue to grow... in the immortal words of Phil Gray, "Buy 'till you die!" We've come so far from our humble beginnings using a three layer train board in 2008. I attended the Big Train Show in 2009 and purchased my first LGB train; Disney starter set (29232). It is still in use today at LoganLand. Econobridge installed the overhead track in the living room the following year; 2010 was also the year the Helix arrived. The shed was built and Eaglewings Iron Craft designed and installed the backyard layout in 2011.
My first LGB train. "Mickey and Friends" starter set has been parked in the
LoganLand tunnel for over three years in the Mojave Desert and is still running strong.
My first Disney Train on the overhead track in the living room April, 2011
This is so much better than working a third retirement job. I can't think of a better way to play with the Grandkids when they visit and I sincerely hope they become involved in the hobby someday and teach it to my Great Grandkids!
Plans for the immediate future include another portable "Toon Townish" storage cabinet to protect the tap handle flatcars. Some of those cars have been on the track for over a year and even though the wooden handles are parked in the tunnel, some of the decals are peeling; they need to be put away when not in use. Besides, they need to rotate out to make room for new ones when Ted comes to take his flatcars home to run on his new overhead track (YES, Ted FINALLY has his own layout... but I hope he still visits). A custom Bear Whiz Beer Diesel locomotive is in the works. I just saw the prototype during the Orange County Garden Railway Society meeting. Jim Kruger will be installing a Phoenix sound system and Massoth decoder.
I want to thank Jennifer, my Best Buddy and inspiration for the Jenny D locomotive, for starting this project for me. I also want to give a HUGE Atta-boy to Sharyl for putting up with all this nonsense and not believing me when I didn't have any more room on the track shelves in the shed and I stated that we weren't getting any more trains (thank you Ted for building more shelves). Sharyl constructed the first two structures on the layout, the Grizzly Flats train station, water tower and the Brewery. The kits had lots of little parts and she would work on it in the garage late at night. Sharyl also works hard to keep the landscaping neat and trimmed underneath the track. In November 2014, Jim Kruger, President of the Orange County Garden Railway Society, declared GrandpaLand qualified as an official Garden Railroad!
All the Garden Railroads in OCGRS have water features.
Here is video footage of the GrandpaLand Falls
Most of all I want to thank my Dad for giving me control of the throttle when I was 8-years-old. Even though my model railroad experience was short lived as a child, I never forgot the valuable lesson he taught me; NEVER run more than one train on a single track at the same time unless they're going in the same direction! Pop, I think you would be proud of my latest accomplishment.
Update: May 8, 2016 Escape Beer Train #2
Scott Johnson modified some of Ted's tank cars and a keg car I provided to depict several beers from Escape Craft
Brewery. This will be the second train to run alternately with the
existing beer train at Escape. Their customers will be so enthralled
watching the overhead track, they will not want to leave, thereby staying
longer and drinking more beer... at least that's what I plan to do. Video footage.
Update: April 28, 2016 Nurnberger Bierzug Beer Train Tank Set
The LGB 20539 Nurnberger Bierzug Beer Train Tank Car set is another rare (only 1000 made) train highly sought by collectors. It is quite unique with the addition of Ted's glass tank car made by Zenner in Germany.
Update: April 18, 2016, LGB Sumpter Valley locomotive
In 1998 LGB announced and presented the Sumpter Valley LGB#
20892. The Sumpter Valley locomotive featured a tender, labeled "251" on front head light and cab. The Sumpter Valley is a fine example of LGB craftsmanship. They are durable engines and fun to watch in operation.
History: Built in the 1920s the modern 2-6-6-2 Baldwin Mallet locomotive was commissioned on behalf of the Unitah Railway in
Utah and Colorado. To date, this locomotive was the largest
narrow-gauge locomotives that ever operated in the USA. When the Uintah
Railway was shut down, the crowd-pulling Mallets went to the Sumpter
Valley Railway, which served in Eastern Oregon for the transport of
agricultural and forestry goods. The locomotive soon provided a significant part of
transportation in this very beautiful scenic area. The richly detailed, weatherproof model hasnumber "250" It has the following
features: - four mode switch - two sealed gearbox with seven-pole Bühler
motors - six drive wheels - two traction tires - twelve power
consumers - digital electronic sound - steam output synchronously with
the wheel rotation - bell and whistle - brake noise - air pump, valve
and hissing of the steam - sound of the water jet pump - Volume control -
remote control of sound functions (with Multi Train System) - voltage system -
steam generator - flickering light from the fire box - automatic
directional lighting - multi-socket with weight of approximately 11 pounds 11 ounces. Length is 37". It has the most power of all the GrandpaLand steam powered locomotives to pull a long beer train consist.
Update: December 23, 2015, Christmas Train Extended
During Logan's visit he helped me add four brand new, hard to find, Aristocraft Norman Rockwell boxcarsto the Christmas Train.The little LGB Porter was replaced by a Stainz locomotive (LGB 2320D) and powered tender to handle the additional load. Video footage may be viewed here.
UPDATE: December 4, 2015, Escape Craft Brewery
The Beer Trainis up and running. Now if I ever run out of REALLY GOOD beer (God forbid!) while watching the GrandpaLand trains go 'round 'n 'round, all I have to do is hop on over to Escape and watch the overhead train go 'round 'n 'round while they refill growlers! See the video of it's inaugural run here.
Escape into the magic! (photo by Josh Fisher)
UPDATE: November 25, 2015, Escape Craft Brewery
Ted and I traveled on our weekly pilgrimage to Escape Craft Brewery for Stein Day. We showed the staff the tap handle flatcar that will be part of the Escape beer train on the tasting room overhead layout. The plan is to install the rest of the track on December 9. Ted only has one more corner left to build and it is ready. After enjoying a couple of REALLY GOOD beers and filling growlers to be ready for Thanksgiving guests, we went out to the parking lot where Ted put the finishing classy touch on the wooden box he built to protect my PA Railroad steam locomotive and five passengers cars. I'll be taking it to LoganLand for Thanksgiving weekend. Wow, talk about curb service; Econobridge is the best when it comes to customer service!
Passenger car selection is a little different from the freight cars. A long freight train can be hauled by several diesel locomotives and you'll often see different road names pulling/pushing the train like we witnessed during the trips to the Tehachapi Loop. Passenger cars are usually in the same road name as the locomotive. The only exception was the observation car on the Denver, South Park & Pacific Railroad. All the cars are LGB but LGB didn't make an observation car for it so I used a Bachmann car in the same color to bring up the rear.
My one European passenger train will be donated to the Escape Craft Brewery as part of the Econobridge overhead track project. So if you want to Escape to the local microbrewery for Stein Day (every Wednesday), you'll have the pleasure of watching my trains go 'round 'n 'round with an unlimited supply of REALLY GOOD beer!
I run two diesel powered passenger trains, the Santa Fe Chief and an Amtrak Genesis locomotive pulling a six car consist.
In addition to the custom beer cars described in another blog post, there are several custom painted freight cars on the line. Scott Johnson developed the Orange County Garden Railway Society club car and also designed the GrandpaLand Railroad logo. He painted a nice reefer and caboose along with three high sided gondolas.
This year's Christmas Train will be run at LoganLand over Thanksgiving weekend. It is a freight train with a LGB Christmas Porter (72460) towing the 2014 USA Trains Christmas reefer (rumor has it that my sister is giving me a 2015 USA Trains Christmas reefer) and the LGB Seasons Greetings Keg car (31420) will be pulling up the rear.
I love you, Lambchop!
Two LGB cars that are out of service; the 94092 Dolphin Aquarium car (replaced by the Disney Finding Nemo Aquarium car (94192) and the steam locomotive sound boxcar 4135S (doesn't work on MTS powered track).
Hartland Locomotive Works makes a cute little engine, The Mack. They look great going up and down the Helix, around the barrel layout at Christmas and on Halloween running along an portable layout full of candy for all the little ghosts and goblins.
The Aristocraft Egglines are what caught Logan's attention on the Helix at a 2009 Train show. When you look at them on a still photo it's hard to tell if they're going or coming!
The Helix is often seen with two Lionel handcars being powered by Mickey, Donald and Goofy, Occasionally you see Roscoe and Buford huffing and puffing their way to the top. The ride down is always the best.
It
took several months to put it together but I think the wait was worth
it. This is a 2015 Limited Edition, Wolfgang Richter autographed Stainz locomotive (20214). The loco, tanker and large container came from Gold Coast Station
and was delivered to me during the Big Train Show two days after it was unloaded
from the ship. Only Trains had one of the
boxcars and short containers; I ordered the World of LGB caboose and another boxcar from a Dutch hobby store. Jim Kruger installed lights in the caboose. BridgeMasters had a spare
powered tender leftover from a set that had never been run. The 125th
Anniversary refrigerator car was the hardest to obtain. The only way to
get one was to take the tour during the 2006 event and only 100 were
made. Hans at Gold Coast Station was most helpful in locating one and
convinced the seller to part with it. Now if I could only find a scale
Wolfgang engineer figure it would be complete. See Video footage of it running at GrandpaLand. I sent the video to LGB. They replied: "It's beautiful! Wolfgang would love to see this magnificent train in memory of him. Thanks for sharing. Happy LGBing!"
The LGB train was getting to be a little too long for the autographed
Stainz to pull with the addition of a second 125th Anniversary
refrigerator car (44893) and the 125th Anniversary boxcar (49913) so we
added a LGB red Schöma diesel locomotive (2061) to help share the load. Video
We have a LGB 20th Anniversary Trolley set (2036) and one LGB New Orleans Streetcar (20380)
There are several O scale Lionel and MTH trains that run on the overhead track in the train shed. I repaired my Dad's Lionel 2-6-2 K-4 Pacific locomotive that had
been sitting on a shelf collecting dust in my sister's house. I also
found the original passenger cars stored away in another home.
Each year at Christmas my Dad would set up the O gauge train board in a
separate room in the house from where the tree and the presents could be
found. I guess this Model #675 was top of the line back in its day (1948). I can remember him saying on more that one
occasion that he saved up his paycheck for weeks before he could afford
it. When I turned 8 he believed that I was old enough to operate the
transformer (Z250 watt!) which I can still remember as the greatest
thrill of my life at that time in 1960. His layout consisted of two tracks with a NYC Hudson pulling a freight train, the PRR K-4 Pacific
2-6-2 pulling a passenger car consist and a siding with a PRR GG-1
which he would rotate out with the 2-6-2. He also had all the light-up
houses, signal crossings and animated structures that were popular back
in the 50's.
One day Pop
was late coming from work and his arrival was always the highlight of my
day when the train board was in service. I couldn't wait any longer and
decided to run the trains unsupervised by myself. Well, somehow I
threw the wrong switch and the Hudson collided head-on with his pride
and joy. There was no major damage in the derailment but it forever
became known as, "The Great Collision Incident" and I was banned from
the train board for life. That was the last time I can recall seeing
this engine in operation. So you see, to witness the same locomotive
reliably start each time and pull the original passenger cars that I
crashed over 50+ years ago is a big deal to me.
This video documents the first time she has run in over 50+ years. My sister Klare, The Lambchop, will get the engine returned running like new again and protected in a display case. Klare made a comment when we were visiting Ma back at Fran's farm that she doesn't have a train board or a full train consist to run like Fran and I. Well, Lambchop. I want you to have my Lionel Halloween train set someday, that comes complete with an oval track, transformer, locomotive and freight cars from the Transylvania Railroad. All those Spooky Town structures I gave you for your birthday one year will go well with the train set. Now, you too can manage you own indoor railroad empire in O scale!
Video footage of Pop's two 1947 Lionel model #675 locomotives
Someone
has good taste in Lionel locomotives. This layout runs the 675
steam engine and the GG-1 electric engine identical to the ones that my
Dad bought in the late 40's (and now they run on my overhead track).
They're built to last for generations.
With the generous help from a member of the Orange County Garden Railway Society we were also successful in getting Pop's Lionel PA Railroad GG-1 running again. My Mom was extremely happy to see it in action one more time.
Ma was thrilled to see Pop's trains running again after 53+ years
The Lionel Platinum Ghost is a clear diesel train set with see through Madison passenger cars.
We will occasionally rotate the O scale trains to prevent excessive wear. Engine 8206, a Lionel 4-6-4 Hudson is often used as well as well as Engine 5344, a MTH Hudson. They both pull a consist of four NYC Madison passenger cars. Seasonal trains such as the Lionel Halloween Train and Polar Express add a festive touch to the overhead layout.
Lionel Engine 8206
MTH Engine 5344
Lionel Halloween Train will go to my sister, The Lambchop
My old Lionel Polar Express train went to the Santa Barbara Grandkids so Santa brought Sharyl a Lionel Polar Express Plus train for Christmas. It comes with a remote control that regulates speed, direction and sounds; not just the usual whistle and bell, but also sounds from the movie!
Engineer Jenny gets OJT running the Lionel Polar Express in preparation
to take ownership of the LGB Jenny D Porter (22771) someday.
The Lionel LionChef Plus engines are a lot of fun. Added a Mikado to pull the New York Central passenger cars.
An MTH O scale Amtrak Genesis pulls Lionel Superliner cars around the train shed overhead track
