Fun Stuff

The Jenny D is a small Porter locomotive that pulls five ore cars each named for one of the Grandkids. Whenever we meet at LoganLand you can usually find the Jenny D chugging around the track with ore cars filled with goodies for the kids.  At Jen's insistence, it also tows a wine barrel car at the end. Jen, I hope you continue this tradition with my Great Grandkids.  The Jenny D and all the little ore cars will be yours someday.  With your four kids, and who knows how many more, you may want to start to stockpile extra ore cars!

The original Jenny D on the right

 

The Jenny D recently performed double duty as the lead engine on the Grandpaland Express.  It may not be very fast but it certainly is expressive.

 

The Jenny D gets her own caboose complete with shiny new red wheels and thrill-seeking beer drinkers on the roof.

In 2018, the Jenny D adds an additional ore car to the consist.

Kali loves the Bubble Car. Sometimes we  hook up the Bubble Car to the Jenny D or pull it behind whatever is on the track. It is always a big crowd pleaser. I'm sure Kali will love having this car someday.

The Fortuna Flyer is a fun, fan-powered vehicle similar to a Florida air boat. It's fast, REALLY FAST: I have to run it less than half power to record it. It takes your full attention to operate by reversing the fan direction to slow down as you enter curves. It you don't it will go airborne to comply with the laws of physics.

A Mars Flyer blasts off around the layout.

 

The Weinermobile always gets a positive response. It is often seen sharing the same track with my beer train because the two go hand in hand, right?  People who witness it go by immediately want to sings songs! It was name requested for display at the 2015 Big Train Show at the Ontario Convention Center.

Bryce knows all the lyrics to the Oscar Meyers advertisements so he should have this.

Thanks to James Kruger. Theodore A Gird and Paul Carr, I now own a DeLorean, but not just ANY DeLorean. This is a scale replica from the movie Back To The Future 3.  We put it to the test during the Great Train Show but failed to reach 88 mph.

The Helix is  the foundation on which GrandpaLand was built. I took Logan to a train show and he sat on the Helix watching the Eggliners go up and down and 'round 'n 'round.  He didn't want to see any of the other trains, just the Helix. I can imagine his continued attentiveness when he is 60 years old still mesmerized by it.  In March 2010, I made arrangements with Hunter Railway Systems to deliver it to the house on their next visit to Southern CA thinking it would look nice in the living room.  The plan was to replace a three level train board that was taking up too much space and ran O scale and HO scale trains. Unfortunately,  it was too wide to fit through the door so we parked it temporarily in the garage.

The train boards were removed and a ceiling mounted G gauge overhead track was installed by Econobridge; a shed was built in the backyard to protect the Helix. In November 2011, Eaglewings Iron Craft installed the elevated track across the yard and the shed became the Operations Center, the Incident Command Post, Grandpaland Railroad HQ!

History of the Helix - The design of the Helix is a one-of-a-kind by Ron Hunter. The Helix was originally developed to move trains from a custom counter top, 9-track depot, up to a wall mounted trestle system. This enabled Ron to take his trains (F-8 with container cars) from the basement toy room up to a trestle, through a wall and under the stairs to the next room in Elizabeth, Illinois. It was built from Douglas Fir which was salvaged from a house, undergoing remodeling, originally built in 1857. The characteristics of the lumber shows the age and use of  square nails in the age of the 150+ year-old-house.

Construction of the Helix from design to finished product took six months. Each piece was hand milled and assembled with stainless steel nuts and bolts with patina for age effect. Each hole for the bolts was pre-drilled to alleviate any stress on the wood. The Helix has 130' of LGB track and the railing is 3/16" solid brass rod. It truly is a piece of functioning art.

Things inside the shed expanded  pretty quickly with the addition of track storage shelves and custom built Observation Tower and Freight Elevator from Hunter Railway Systems. A scale model of the Goleta Depot where I take the Grandkids to ride their miniature Southern Pacific freight train was suspended from the ceiling above the Helix and an elevated O scale track surrounds it.  An O scale and G scale model of the Goleta Depot train along with scale model Grandkids playing on the train station platform reminds me of all the good times at the South Coast Railroad Museum.  I once obtained Grandkid dolls to ride the large scale freight car but Jennifer thought they were evil.

Helix September 2011

Helix 2014

 

Not officially classified as a model train, the Lionel pedal locomotive has provided hours of entertainment for the Grandkids during their visits.  There isn't a whole lot of sidewalk to ride but they all want to jump in and let their imagination run wild.