Doug Mayes’ love of garden railroads started innocently enough: with a model train that went around his Christmas tree.
“After Christmas I didn’t want to put it away, so I made it bigger in our rec room,” he said. “My wife said, ‘I can’t vacuum over your tracks. You’ve got to go outside.’ “
So out he went, beginning with a small train outdoors.
“Now,” he said, ” it takes up my whole backyard.”
Fifteen years later, Mayes is chairman of the , which is hosted by the and takes place July 6-11 at the Crowne Plaza Hotel at Denver International Airport. The convention is expected to attract more than 1,000 garden railway enthusiasts from almost every U.S. state, four Canadian provinces and several countries in Europe.
As the name suggests, garden railways are simply gardens with model railways running through them. The Denver Garden Railway Society has about 180 members, . Others operate their trains at the , where the society has maintained a 10-track garden railway since 1994.
The museum garden has seven electric tracks and three steam-engine tracks — where the miniature engines emit real steam. The tracks are made of brass or plastic to prevent rust.
Mike Harris is one of the society’s steam-train operators and has also built a custom model dining car replicating one of the museum’s railroad cars. The car holds a sink, a kitchen, a dining area and even human figurines that Harris made and painted himself.
“You should have heard them scream when I was making them,” Harris joked. “I had to cut their legs off.” (The space between the seats inside the car was too small for the figurines’ legs to fit, he explained.)
Although the 1:32 scale railroad cars can be made by hand or built from kits, the real cost of garden railroads comes from buying the train engines. Steam engines start at around $550 and can run as high as $10,000 to $15,000. Electric engines are less expensive and generally cost a couple hundred dollars, with the more high-end engines costing up to $1,000.
The miniature steam engines operate on the same principles as life-size steam engines, said Alan Olson, chairman of the garden railway at the museum. But the model steam engines use butane fuel instead of wood or coal to heat the water in the engine that produces steam. Moving the throttle allows the steam to enter the cylinders, where a piston connected to the wheels moves the train.
The miniature steam engines can run for about an hour before they need to be refueled, he said.
The trains are the main attraction for many garden railway enthusiasts, but the scenery surrounding the tracks can be just as painstakingly detailed.
At the museum garden railroad, living landscapes, tunnels, railroad trusses, houses, stations and figurines surround the tracks. Many of the houses were made from kits, but Harris made two of the Victorian houses from scratch.
It was not a quick build.
“Let’s just say each of those shingles was hand-cut and glued. And there are thousands of those shingles,” he said.
Bonsai trees, which had to be trimmed and coaxed into tree shapes, line the tracks.
Full-size cottonwoods tower overhead, shading the miniature world from the summer sun. Though the garden railway is no longer expanding, members are constantly maintaining the tracks so they can run the trains twice a week.
On those days, museum visitors pack shoulder-to-shoulder around the fence to watch the trains. Kids often run the perimeter, following the trains.
Garden railways are very much a family activity, said Wally Weart, the convention’s publicity chair.
That’s why the convention will end with a family day on July 11, when the public can see two railroads in action at the hotel and talk with society members about garden railways.
“It’s the kind of thing families can work on together,” Weart said. “My grandkids come out and love to help grandpa with the garden railroad.”
Jessica Iannetta: 303-954-1510, jiannetta@ denverpost.com twitter.com/JessicaIannetta
National Garden Railway Convention
Families are invited to visit the convention on July 11 to see two railways, including a steam railway, and talk with Denver Garden Railway Society members.
When: July 11 from 9 a.m. to 3 p.m.
Cost: $5 per family.
Where: Crowne Plaza Hotel and Convention Center Denver International Airport, 15500 E 40th Ave.
Info:
