As per Rene's request for possible subject requests for the 35 aniversary issue, I sent an e-mail to Marc late last night and he replied long before i got up this morning. Like I told Marc, there is not enough time to research my idea before article deadline.
Public useable garden railroads inside retail establishments. Here in San Diego county we have Walter Anderson Nursery in Poway, CA that has a garden layout in the middle of retail sales area. Customers can make an appointment to bring their trains from home to run on the layout. Last time I ran my trains there was long before I aquired train mountable cameras, so I have no video to share.
About 20 years ago I found that Quail Botanical Gardens here in the county had a small 50(?) foot oval for running your trains. Not sure if that is still possible.
If you know of any retail establishements that host such activity either post here or send Marc an email. I would love to support any retail outlet that supports customers running their trains. Maybe we can get together and add to their sales.
Tom Trigg
A quick Google search for Walter Anderson Poway will take you to their web site and look at pix of the layout and a few of their many bridges. A schematic of the 1.400 feet of track.
Tom, have you checked our list of Permanent railroads? There are other places like this, such as a nusery in Indiana and another in Wisconsin (about 40 minutes north of Kalmbach).
http://grw.trains.com/beginners/permanent-railways/2015/02/permanent-garden-railroads-you-can-visit
Rene Schweitzer
Classic Toy Trains/Garden Railways/Model Railroader
Rene,
Yes, I have. I have spent many hours looking through the list. The focus of my last search was "Can I bring my toys and play in your backyard?" I was only able to find one place where I could do that, and I already knew that I could do it at Walter Anderson.
The list needs to be edited. There are several sites listed that are nonresponsive to their posted link. Some have removed or hidden any refference to railroad. The list seems to lean toward 'ride ons' to full size, as apposed to my search.
Thanks, Tom. I'll look at it and update the list as I have time.
Did not want to sound like I was attacking the list. It provides us with good information. Just in this case it does not assist with my current search reasons.
I didn't take offense to your comment, Tom. It was helpful, since I went through and removed/updated things. FWIW, though it doesn't say so specifically, Shady Lanes Nursery in Wisconsin will welcome visitors calling and bringing their things to run. I've been there and they are nice folks.
Thank you so much. You have just added one more place in my list of places to visit.
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