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Small-scale railroad barons
Southwest Oregon Large Scale Trains club members, from left, Ed Bassett, Gary Miller and Bill Meyer carry a post to be used for the group's newest addition, a garden railway featuring a miniature train running on 500 feet of track under "mountains" and other intricately designed landscapes. Train club members announce plans to create a model railway garden By MELISSA MARTIN Railroad barons built Medford in 1883. More than a century later, they are back - this time building a little town called Solstice. Members of the Southwest Oregon Large Scale Trains club on Wednesday unveiled plans for a "large" G-scale garden railway at Railroad Park off of Table Rock Road in Medford. Situated in a raised garden bed, Solstice will have a lumber mill called Rough & Ready, a ranch, a pond with real fish, live miniature trees and plants and a traveling circus train. G-scale trains, which are eight times bigger than the hobbyist's HO scale, will click and clack through trusses and tunnels. Scale railroads range from the "large" knee-high passenger trains at Railroad Park to the tiniest of miniatures, and every size in between. "This isn't only for kids - it's for big kids," said Dale Edwards, a former Great Northern Railroad machinist and one of the founders of Railroad Park in 1976. "My father and mother gave us a train when I was 5 years old and I never grew out of it. That's the way with a lot of these people out here." The new railroad garden should be built by the time Railroad Park opens in April. It will provide one more attraction at a popular city park that drew 21,000 people this past season for rides on miniature diesel trains built to scale. Aside from free train rides, the park has an indoor HO scale display and several full-size cars, including a caboose, a hopper and Medco's "Four Spot" that hauled lumber from Butte Falls to Medford. There are also lessons in Morse code. But over the winter, club members will build the miniature town they've named after their club's acronym. "This gives us a play venue," said Irene Zajac, who coordinates an annual railroad show in November. "Some of these things can be cost-prohibitive for people - an engine can range between $100 to $3,000. But being a club member, you get to play with all the rolling stock." And do members ever play. They build highways, houses, furniture, even a junk yard with dozens of smashed cars, and all with great detail, said Thomas Goossens, president of the Southwest Oregon Large Scale Train. "This is a hobby that involves the whole family," said Goossens, an insurance adjuster who is building a garden railroad in his yard at home. "Out in the backyard, the railroad changes with the seasons, the weather and even the time of day," Goossens said. "We are faced with many of the same challenges of a real railroad and that's part of the appeal." By springtime, Solstice should be incorporated. But first, Chris Bray, the electronics and maintenance engineer for Solstice, must lay about a half mile of wires and pipes underground to keep the electric trains moving and the landscape watered. And other train lovers will spend the winter building houses and other wooden scenery and collecting G-scale trains. The scenery and trains will be stored for safekeeping in a box car when they are not on display. "I'm trying to get my lumber mill to run on steam, all the belts, pulleys and shafts," Bray said. "I even have a miniature saw blade that I bought at a garage sale. If I can work it just right, it might actually cut lumber." The Southwest Oregon Large Scale Train club is one of five groups represented at Railroad Park. The others are Rogue Valley Model Railroad Club, Southern Oregon Chapter of National Railway Historical Society, Morse Telegraph Club and Southern Oregon Live Steamers. The park is open April through October. "All these groups have come together to volunteer their time, knowledge and equipment," said Medford Mayor Lindsay Berryman, who visited the railway garden Wednesday. "I've lived in Medford for 27 years and raised three daughters and I brought them here when they were young," Berryman said. "This is a wonderful place." Reach reporter Melissa Martin at 776-4497, or e-mail mmartin@mailtribune.com |
