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| Paul and Rebecca |
The 28th Annual National Garden Railroad Convention was held August 15th to 19th in the Chicago suburb of St. Charles, Illinois. Maine Garden railroad members Paul and Rebecca Schnell attended for several days while also visiting their son who lives in Chicago.
The convention was hosted by the Chicago Area Garden Railway Society, the LGB Model Railroad Club of Chicago, and the Midwest Rails Club. Over 1300 garden railroad fans of all ages came from all over the United States, from Germany, the United Kingdom, South Africa and Australia. Words cannot adequately describe the adventure of the week.
The Tuesday pre-convention event included a day trip to the Chicago Botanical Gardens which includes a garden train layout with over 18 trains running on 1600 ft of track, through 50 different beautifully landscape American scenes. Wednesday – Saturday began with a bus trip to local backyard gardens. The varied layouts of mining towns, small villages, city streets, woodlands, farms, circuses, or just wide open spaces were inspiring. Large or small, they were full of ideas to take home and try in your own garden train layout. A DVD featuring all of the garden railroads that were open for visitors during the 5 day convention was available.
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| Botanical Garden Mt. Saint Helen |
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| Botanical Garden Train |
The afternoons offered workshops and clinics on various interests and skills for the beginner or advanced railroader. Clinics included locomotive maintenance, tips for scratch buildings, adding water to your layout, intro to battery powered engines, and using live steam power. So many choices filled with great information,
The Exhibit Hall, housed over 60 exhibitors of G scale engines, rolling stock cars, track, bridges, garden plants, sound effects, track connectors, buildings, animals, cars, people, and any other item you could imagine to enhance and expand your train garden. The hall also included 2 large layouts by the local clubs.
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| Garden Tour-1 |
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| Garden Tour-2 |
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| Garden Tour-3 |
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| Garden Tour-4 |
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| G-Scale in g-scale | | |
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| Round house |
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| Scale |
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| Signals |
On Thursday evening convention attendees visited the Illinois Railroad
Museum in Union. The museum has America’s largest collection of historic
railway equipment, street cars, passenger and freight cars, with steam,
diesel and electric locomotives. Three trains and a trolley were on the
track ready to take guests for a ride through the Illinois countryside.
An outdoor BBQ capped off the event.
Other special events included an ice cream social, banquets and speakers highlighting the days of trains in Chicago, and a bit of ‘historical nostalgia’ of the 1920’s.
Like many conventions you may have attended, you couldn’t do it all, but we certainly had a grand time at all the workshops and events we were able to attend.
Next convention: Cincinnati, Ohio, 2013.
John added: (Wow, What a trip. Thanks for sharing it with us!)
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