In the News
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Clubs
Organized Garden Railroading In Georgia
Jun 14, 2006
By Ted Yarbrough |
Author
Bio
David and Connie Miracle formed the Georgia Garden Railway Society in 1986. We are an informal group with few rules & regulations. Our foremost objective is to have fun with our hobby.
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David and Connie Miracle formed the Georgia Garden Railway Society in 1986. We are an informal group with few rules & regulations. Our foremost objective is to have fun with our hobby. 
Meetings are held traditionally on the second Saturday of each month at the home of a club member that has agreed to host the group. There is usually a garden train layout to enjoy, group discussions, sharing of ideas, and the joy of visiting with others that share the love of our large scale trains. A quarterly newsletter edited by Ted Yarbrough keeps members informed of meeting schedules, directions, and other topics of interest. Frances Tidd serves as the club's secretary and treasurer, a position she has held since the formation of the society. 
The club, led by David Bennett and his layout committee, sets up a display at various train shows in the Atlanta area to encourage interest in the hobby. We also have groups that attend national conventions or shows. 
We are proud of the fact that we had 20 members venture out to Denver for the 2004 National Garden Railway Convention. Members have attended each of the national conventions since 1992. Besides the conventions and train shows, a 1:1 scale train ride is another annual event for club members to look forward to.
Our club played an important part in the 2001 LGB Convention in Atlanta. 
Layouts were on display for bus tours for two days and then for a post convention tour the day after the convention. A member had a nationally known local video company produce a video for the convention. The Atlanta Botanical Gardens hosted a display set up by famed layout builder Paul Busse. Many of our members served as operators during the season. Several members helped set up, maintain, and take down the very popular display for the public. Another botanical gardens has a permanent display. That one is at the Vines Botanical Gardens in Loganville, Georgia. Georgia Garden Railway Society members Lawrence McFall, Bob Gieselbeck, and Hub Evans have set up and maintained that display. 
In order to have a look of uniformity to the group, several different shirts have been designed for the group. A couple of designs were white T-shirts with the famous Georgia Peach logo prominently displayed. The latest is a maroon golf style shirt, so look for those at national meetings and shows. This year the club is undertaking its biggest project to date. The Georgia Garden Railway Society is very active with the Southeast Large Scale Train Show in Perry, Georgia. The show is running June 23-25, 2006. 
Again, the club will host self-guided post show layout tours on Monday, June 26. The club will host a banquet on Saturday evening for the show with noted author Mallory Hope Ferrell and Aristo-Craft President Lewis Polk as speakers for the fun filled program. 
Door prizes for the evening will range from train themed flower arrangements to starter sets, to locomotives and train cars, and even include tickets to ride local tourist trains located in the south! An Aristo Hershey's starter set will be available as a raffle prize. Club members Joe Fotshcky, RJ DeBerg, and Chris Wolcott are bringing live steam to the SELSTS. This show is the first national large scale event in the area since the 1998 National Garden Railway Convention in Orlando or the 2001 LGB Convention in Atlanta.
There are currently 37 operating outdoor layouts within the membership with 8 layouts under construction. There are three large indoor layouts also in the club. 
We have 65 families that are involved in one way or another. Our members live mostly in the metro Atlanta area, but they are also located in South Carolina, Alabama, Pennsylvania, and Tennessee. There are several original Georgia Garden Railway Society members still active in the group. Hope we see you at the show! 
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