"All Aboard, Let's Go!"

UPDATE: Thanksgiving Weekend at LoganLand

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.

Pop's Engine #675 Rides Again!

"My train of thought has left the station"