LA County Fair (in Pomona, CA) Garden Railroad

[Anonymous]

Has anyone seen this garden railroad?

As a kid, I was blown away by this railroad. I was always confused as to what scale it was - it didn't look like anything I'd seen in Hobby Shops or magazines.

I've learned (thanks to the internet) that it was all scratchbuilt 1/2" scale. The website that contains info about it says it's the largest garden railroad in North America. Any fans of this garden railroad here?

It has since been replaced with G scale stuff.

Here's some info on it: http://www.trainweb.org/girr/gjrr/gjrr.html

[SP9811]

I remember seeing that pike as a kid!! I remember going back and forth between it, and the Orange Empire club's layout. Didn't the cars and trucks move on the garden RR?[:)]

[Anonymous]

Finally, someone who knows what I'm talking about! Yes, it had some cars and trucks too - they ran on track also - that was buried as well as it could be in the streets.

I, too, used to go back and forth between it and the indoor O scale layout. Because these were the only two model railroads I ever saw as a kid in addition to me and my Dad's 4 x 8 at home, I thought HO wasn't a very popular scale - figured it was this little scale that only people with 4 x 8's had.

Then as I got older and started going to hobby shops and reading magazines, the outdoor garden railroad scale seemed HUGE!!!

[Anonymous]

SP9811,

Check it out - the O scale guys under the grandstand are gone from that location... http://www.citrusempire.net/annoncements.htm

Someone on the Garden Railway forum gave me the link to the official site of the outdoor railroad... www.fgrr.org

I am hoping to find some pics of the original trains. A seriously amazing piece of model railroad history, and I can't find any pictures! (ok, so maybe I'm just hunting for a piece of my childhood.... seeing those trains every year is serious business to a 5-10 year old!!!)

[SP9811]

I wonder why the fair wanted them out? Thats really to bad, because that was a nice layout.