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"In The Beginning"
 My
first toy (model) train was given to me by Santa Clause when I was
only three years old. It was made of tin (see photo at left) and ran
in a small circle under the tree. That would be the beginning
of my love affair with both model and real trains. Growing up
in West Virginia and Kentucky we use to drive by the coal mines
where I was fascinated by the hoppers and switch engines.
In high school, I had an HO-scale model train layout
in our family room. When I went off to college, the layout
went off to the attic. Several years ago, I started thinking
I'd like to have a layout again, so I retrieved my old HO-scale
trains from my parents place and set up a loop on the basement
floor. I also bought a few small N-scale sets, running them on a
small table in the basement. However,
neither setup or scale was really what I was looking for and both were too
small for my aging eyes to work on.
Then my wife bought us a G-scale
train to put around our Christmas tree. It was a Bachmann
narrow gage (1:20.3) "Night Before Christmas" set. I
purchased a few extra cars on ebay and spent hours just
watching the little train circle the tree. What fun....but not
enough!
After that Christmas, I was hooked on G-scale. I wanted
more...more track, more trains, more everything! The
next year, I expanded the circle that came with the set into a
large layout of three separate mainline ovals (so I could run three
trains at the same time), a few spurs, several sidings and six
switches in a small yard. We also purchased several more train
sets (all Bachmann narrow gage sets - PRR, DRGW) and some additional
rolling stock as my interest became a mild
obsession.
"Time to Learn More"
 To learn more about my new hobby, I started going
to model train shows in my area, and I subscribed to
Garden
Railways magazine.
In winter 2005, I joined a local G-scale
railroad club - The River City Railroaders
- and started attending monthly meetings and visiting other people's
garden railroads. I've learned many valuable lessons from the
experience of my new friends in the club. In addition to the
club, I also joined an online large scale forum group -
MyLargeScale.com.
This allowed me to ask questions about all manner of things from
battery power, to track installation, plant selection, and railroad
operations.
(LEFT)
Members of the River City Railroaders
Club (I'm the guy in the back wearing the red shirt and
sunglasses).
(RIGHT) Members of the MyLargeScale.com (MLS)
Group (I didn't get in this picture. I was there, but back at the
hotel with my wife when the photo was taken - RATS!.)
The River City Railroaders club sets up a layout
at
The Great Train Expo each
January in Council Bluffs, Iowa. The kids at the show love our
layout and the big trains and the club members have a blast running
trains and sharing the hobby.
"Building a Layout"
 In the last few years, I have moved from
the narrow gage trains to 1:29 scale with more modern diesel
locomotives and rolling stock. My basement layouts evolved until I had two
concentric ovals with a small yard, several spurs, and a number of POLA
and PIKO buildings. The motive fleet and rolling stock include
USA Trains locomotives including SD70MACs,
GP28-2s, GP30s and GP9s (BN and
BNSF) pulling a grain train, a freight train, a tank train, a
piggy-back trailer train, and a coal train. Switchers include a
couple of NW-2s and an Alco S4. I also have
a F3-AB unit Amtrak train, and the Mighty Moe, Alco S4, and Dockside
switcher Christmas locos. Recently, I started adding
Aristocraft
locomotives and rolling stock to my collection.
Locomotives include a GP40 and U25-B and a Little critter switcher (DRGW).
I've also converted one locomotive to battery power for running at
my club friends layouts and at shows.
In fall of 2008, I built a small, modular,
table-top layout in my basement using eight 2' X 4' portable,
plastic folding tables. The layout can easily be disassembled and
stored in summer, and/or taken to local model train shows to
demonstrate a simple layout assemble for those who are
"tool-challenged". Plus, now the trains run at eye level when
I'm sitting on the couch, and they are easier to "play" with now
that they are up off of the floor (my old back just isn't what it
use to be).
"A Garden Railroad is Born"
 In spring of 2007, I started construction on my first outdoor layout.
After hauling tons of dirt, rocks, and lumber, the track is down and
trains are running. I also came up with a name and designed logos
for my railroad - The Crane River Railroad.
In spring/summer 2008, I finished up the dirt work, landscaping and
plantings. I also place all the model buildings I had built over
two winters in their respective locations. Below is the latest photo I took on July 19, 2008.
I still need to construct a final spur to the refinery, add just a
few more buildings, and plant some replacement plantings next
spring, but it's almost finished...(as if a garden railroad is
every really finished).
The Crane River
Railroad
Quick Time Videos of Trains Running
on the Layout
Close-Up Photos From Around the
Layout
The small town of Crane River is a popular tourist destination.
It is also home to a
number of industries which support the railroad line.
Coal is the main industry on the Crane
River Railroad.
Here loaded 70 ton hoppers
wait at the Coal Mine
to be hauled to power plants back east.
A large refinery complex near town converts oil to petroleum products.
My lovely
wife Carol looks on from her favorite viewing chair.
Here you can see the co-op grain
elevator and warehouse as well as the sanding
tower and now seldom used coaling station and water tank.
Oil is pumped from the syncline beneath Onyx Mountain.
A fire tower rests atop Onyx Mountain area to keep a watch over
Topaz National Forest
and its resident black bear population.
Green Mountain and the nearby Red River Station which services a
small farming and
cottage community.
The glistening Perky Mountains range (foreground) and Pumice Rock (back
center).
My wife and I like to escape to a small hiking cabin east of Green
Mountain, near the
Red River Station. Here we are setting out on our morning trek
through the woods
near Green Mountain.
A local farm near Red River Station.
A small country gas station on the edge of town.
If you stop by, be sure to get a
bottle of pop and sit and chat a while with Forest.
A small sawmill turns a profit near Green Mountain.
A small speeder shed allows for quick and easy track maintenance.
Union Station is served twice daily
by Amtrak.
At the edge of the layout sits a small
dog memorial garden I built for my wife in honor of
several of our "best friends" that have passed away over the past
few years. Several
layout locations are also named for our beloved dogs - Coal, Onyx,
and Topaz.
"Action" Photos taken around
my layout.
River City Railroaders Club Meeting (July 19, 2008).
My brother-in-law, David, running trains
and dreaming of a layout of his own.
Don Hofsheir's GP30
hauling freight.
Two trains pass by the refinery and the Perky Mountains heading to
destinations unknown.
My good friend Marty Cozad stopped by
for an afternoon of running trains.
Yours truly running a short train and
having a blast.
A soon to be unloaded 50' box car
reflects the morning sun.
A Santé Fe NW-2 switch engine pulls a
load of dog food around Weeping Mulberry Pass.
A Burlington Northern Alco S4 pulls a
small freight train by the viewing bench.
A load of dog food rolls down the rails
on its way to the warehouse.
When you have two big dogs, you have to
deal with "special problems" on your layout.
Here, the local "poop train" picks up a load enroute to the
fertilizer processing plant.
Below are some photos of the layouts of some of my friends.
Marty Cozad's - North Table Creek Layout
Jerry Ayers' Layout
Anthony "Bubba" Madrigal's Layout
Jerry Paladino's Layout
Don Hofsheir's Layout
Dan Moore's Layout
Butch & Mary
Schukei's Layout
Don Short's Indoor Layout
Jerry Barnes' Layout
Rex Robison's Layout
Bill Petersen's Layout
Art Bruner's Layout
Al Kramer's Layout
Copyright 2009 - F. Edwin Harvey, University of Nebraska - All Rights
Reserved
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