Another MGRS - Minnesota Garden Railway Society from Jim Muthig

For the past seven summers I have been working for a nonprofit educational organization (Project Lead the Way- PLTW) training teachers across the country in high school engineering curriculum.  Basically PLTW sends me to a participating university to teach teachers their curriculum.  This year I was sent to the University of Minnesota at Mankato.  The training lasts two full weeks so I always have the weekend in between to venture out.

This year I found the Minnesota Garden Railroad Society which just so happens to share our initials :)  So I drove up to Wayzata Minnesota and was treated to a weekend of Garden Railroading AND railfanning.  In speaking with the club members on hand Wayzata is the only public garden railroad display of its kind in the midwest. 

Every Sat and Sun from June to Oct Club members sit alongside the layout and assist.  Inside the railroad, museum adjacent to the layout, are shelves of  rolling stock and engines donated by club members.  I sat alongside a few club members and watched as local kids brought out and made up a train and then walked around with the wireless throttle.  The kids were junior members of the club and the senior members did provide guidance as the trains made their way around the layout.  As shown in the picture below the layout sits alongside an active BNSF line and both days coal trains rolled by as expected. 

Inside the museum/depot a volunteer mans the stations telegraph office.  He answers visitors questions about all the old refurbished equipment in the office that includes a vintage working antique Coke machine while also watching a display on a laptop computer that uses ATCS (Advanced Train Control System) feed that shows the local BNSF subdivision train activity.   Every once in a while I would wander inside the old station and inquire of the status of the next train.  Right on schedule both coal trains, really longgg trains came slowly rolled through town. 

On Sunday two of the club members invited me over their houses to show their home layouts.  Quite the hospitality!  So if anyone is headed to the St.Paul/Minneapolis area be sure to visit the Wayzata Depot.