garden railroading at the WDC H&G show

[altterrain]

I have been pretty busy this past week and a half promoting my biz and the hobby. We (me and a couple of the guys) set up a garden train display for this past weekend's Washington DC Home and Garden Show. The track plan was simple with a large loop (about a 100 feet with 8 foot curves) and a passing siding.



The track was on a raised two foot high bed anchored by an Okame cherry and southern magnolia at the ends. Track was on ripped down OSB. Mountains were created with chicken wire on wood frame, covered with weed cloth and mulch. The layout also featured a small waterfall and pond with the trains running over the waterfall.

We got a prime spot in the center of the displays right off the entrance balcony -




and it looked great down on the floor -










and the judges shined favorably on us with a blue ribbon for "Best Specialty Garden" -




We kept two to three trains running at most times with a mix of battery and track power. I kept the trains short and ran my kitbashed locos including the Dunkirk, boxcab, 7/8's rail truck and eggliner train. I got the most questions about the egg train.



We exposed many people to the hobby who had never seen large scale garden trains before. A few folks from the club helped docent, keeping the trains running and those little fingers off of them. It was a ton of work with four days of set up with much prep work, four days of display and last night and today's break down. I'll all done in but got my first call about a garden train layout install already today.

-Brian

[Coogler Rail Line]

Wow!  Thanks for being a great ambassidor for our hobby!  I wish some of the manufactors would pick up on this.  What amazes me is the poor marketing they have.  If they want their sales to improve they need to expose more people to what a garden railroad is.

[dwbeckett]

I don't see why Manufacture's don't support club's or shop's when it come's to garden show's or even large event's.

Dave 

[Camaro1967]

Brian, That is excellent work. It is an awesome layout, and I am sure it was a lot of work. But it will pay off for you.  Your club really has the exibition layout technique down.   I really like your track plan.  It appears simple, with a lot of movement too. 

Our club has signed on for a smaller exhibit in the Ocean City Convention Center at the end of June.  There is some kind of Municipalities Convention, and their theme is how trains have helped in the development of cities.  We have lots of support in the club, so it may be fun.

I hope to see you in York next week, finally.

Paul 

[SNOWSHOE]

Allterrain, very nice.  I was wondering where you disappeared to.  What happened to your G scale site.  I cant get it running.

[altterrain]

Allterrain, very nice.  I was wondering where you disappeared to.  What happened to your G scale site.  I cant get it running.

Thanks guys. Thanks for pointing out the problem with the blog, Shawn. I accidentally changed a setting that made it not work . Its back and running now.

-Brian