Garden railway history?

[Rene Schweitzer]

Thanks to Marty for giving me this idea with his recent post. How much do YOU know of the history of this hobby? Do you know the origins? (If not, you can visit the beginner's section for a great history written by Marc.)

[tangerine-jack]

I voted "I haven't thought much about it". My brain is only so big and it's full already, so I just assumed the Germans invented it, the Japanese copied it, and the Americans are buying it. [swg]



[oX)]

[Capt Bob Johnson]

TJ
You crack me up!

The floating Capt.

[Tom The Brat]

Hmm. TJ's summary doesn't seem to far off.

[Anonymous]

It seems that your members don't take this facility too seriously. I won't bother either!!

[Capt Bob Johnson]

Well, I guess we have been duly chastized! Damarjules might want to read Marty's posting if he wants serious!

Perhaps after being around a bit longer and reading some of what does go on here he/she will become more enlightened about how seriously we do take our hobby! We are just able to lighten up every once in a while and find the humor in a situation or subject, and that makes this an enjoyable endeavour.

Life's a *** if you can't laugh, particularly at some of your own dumb actions!

Stick around and peruse the pages, you might find you like it after a while!

[Anonymous]

Never realy thought about it . I SAW this garden railroad and thought one would look nice at home around my pond , that was more then 5 years ago , thats when i started my GRR. BEN

[Marty Cozad]

History can be short lived.
Meaning, through GRYs mag artical I got to meet many folks.
Eric O. called after the artical and we have become good friends.
I meet Sean K. at a GATS show and have become friends. I saw him walking out with a blue box Aristo and said HI.
Through the forums i feel like i keep in touch with folks that I may see twice a year.
I meet Kevin S at Denver convention and realized its OK to be a narrow gauger.
I have NOT meet TOC yet, seen him on video and heard he keeps a shot-gun in his bath room. but thats OK.
After meeting the GRYS staff at Denver i realized how old I'm getting, they all looked like kids.
Marc H. gets shorter every year.
I've been thinking about our open house in two weeks, man I remember thinking,," will i ever meet another model railroader/Garden RRer. Now they are coming here yearly to have fun with trains and show their models off and learn from each other.
I'd love to have one of GRYs staff come by to visit that weekend in the future.
Or even MRs staff come and see what out door model railroading is all about.
OK, the reason I have been using the term "outdoor model railroader" is because i feel I fit that name better than garden RRer. I really don't like yard work, but do like creating scenes with plants and rocks.
i don't want my RR to look like a garden, but more like a RR.
enough said , back to work.[:I]

[tangerine-jack]

Damarjules is right, I don't take this too seriously and why should I? This hobby is my escape from being serious 22 hours a day. I would blow a gasket if I didn't escape from reality every so often.

In all honesty, I don' t really know much about the origins of this hobby except that it did come from Germany sometime in the early 70's. That is a good enough explaination for me. Point is to have fun, and I do. OK, enough said from my end..............[:)]



[oX)]

[ttrigg]

[#ditto][#ditto][#ditto][#ditto][#ditto][#ditto]

As long as I can relax and have fun, I say "kick the tires, light the fires, get ready for some FUN!"

[Marty Cozad]

I think in print its hard to share ones thoughts well.
Some may take it that we are too serious. Which can be mistaken for simple passion.
I can be working and dealing with customers, look out a window and suddenly see and get an idea for the trains.
I spend a lot of time on trains because I don't like to sit in front of the tv all night.
If family or work or guest come , trains always fall 2nd.
here on the forums it may seem that trains is all we think about.
If these forums was NOT about trains I would not be here.[^]
Just for the record.[:I]

[ttrigg]

Marty;

I totally agree with what you just said. I get about 4 or 5 hours a week to "railroad relax". While I'm out there, "driving the train" or moving track to try different patterns, I can forget what went on during the day. It is a beautiful way to completely relax. Here in San Diego county, we have so FEW days of "foul weather" any and every day can be a rail day!

[kstrong]

Well, I have to say "pretty familiar with it," but that's because I've lived it. I've been doing large scale for just shy of 30 years (I'm 34, by the way). It's been a fascinating journey along the way, too. No longer are we limited to one small american looking locomotive and three or four american style freight cars.

I don't think, however, that one has to have a grasp of the history to enjoy the hobby. Certainly it can give one a sense of perspective in terms of appreciating the products we have available today, as well as why we have the myriad scales we do. But in terms of pure escapism, is that really important? When it comes to enjoying our trains, the only history we "need" to know is the short-term history of where we put the darned remote control. (I won't tell you how many times I've misplaced one.)

Certainly the history of garden railroading is long and fascinating, and if you've ever got some time, I recommend reading about it. You only stand to enrich your lives by learning about history. Will your life be incomplete without it? No, but if they ever make a "garden railways" edition of Trivial Pursuit, I'm ready!

Later,

K

[John Busby]

Hi Rene
Well it all started over 10 years ago Hmm not what you meant?? never
mind.
I would like to know a bit more about the history of Garden Railways but the
necasary books are not around unlike the small scales which are well documented.
Tangerine Jack
My take on it Railways as we know them orriginaly started in the UK
so my take is the Brits invented it the Germans made it eficient its now made in China so we can all aford to buy it.[:D]
regards John

[vsmith]

Unfortunatly the "history" of large scale isnt exactly precise like with Lionel or other scales. Are we talking the history of large scale going back the the late 60's when Lehmann introduced the Gross Bahn line? or are we talking about going back to the first Los Angeles Fairplex outdoor Garden Railroad back int the 30's or back to the Buddy L large scale garden railroad trains of the 1920's, or the wide selection of Gauge 1 (or Standard Guage) items offered up till WW2, or going all the way back to the 1st guage 1 2 or 3 live steam outdoor lines going clear back to the turn of the century?
History is relative to perception. Just a thought...

[underworld]

Or gauge 1,2,3,4, or 5 electric or clockwork going back to the 1890s.

underworld

[:D][:D][:D][:D][:D]