In the News
Florida Garden Railway Society Central Division
Feb 18, 2004
By Noel Widdifield
LSOL.com Managing Editor |
Author
Bio
After years of following Internet discussions trumpeting the joys of Garden Railroading in sunny, warm climates, I finally got to visit a large-scale railroad in the sunny state of Florida.
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After years of following Internet discussions trumpeting the joys of Garden Railroading in sunny, warm climates, I finally got to visit a large-scale railroad in the sunny state of Florida. An email through LSOL from Harry Halbert led to our visit to the February meeting of the Florida Garden Railway Society Central Division. 
My wife and I were spending a couple of winter months in Florida and we were only about 45 miles from Harry's place where the meeting was to take place on Valentines' Day. We left our Indian Harbour Beach rented condo and enjoyed a leisurely drive down highway A1A to Vero Beach where Harry and Nancy's lovely home is located. 
They had a small yellow railroad crossing sign in the yard, so we knew we were at the right place. The meeting was held from 12:00 till 4:00 and included a pitch-in lunch. The Halberts provided the drinks and sandwich makings and the members brought the rest. Harry noted in the invitation that the railroad president was partial to desserts. You can see the result. 
Hopefully, not all of the FGRS meetings are this tempting with this kind of food. The Florida Garden Railway Society was established in 1990 and has grown to nearly 500 members according to the central division director, Frank Kimbal. 
Frank recently replaced the long-time central division director, Cliff Tavernier. The central division has over 175 members and 40 of them were at this meeting. 
They came from as far away as the Keys and Tampa. 
Harry models the Union Pacific railroad on an indoor layout that fits very nicely into one of the former bedrooms in Harry and Nancy's home. Harry had completed the bench work and laid the LGB track and LGB wide switches. The bench work is plywood and Harry uses vinyl roadbed for the base. His railroad is a double track main with a yard and an engine servicing area. 
The engine servicing area will include a Pola coaling tower, Kamloops Station water tower and a sand house and yard building which Harry purchased from J & M Models. He will soon have a coalmine from Garden Texture. He plans an engine house built from plans purchased from Brewer Plans and scale lumber from Garden Texture. Harry put tunnel portals in the walls to allow the track to run into what was once a closet. 
Harry uses the closet space not taken up with track for his workbench. I have made suggestions about extending my line through other parts of our home, so my wife was not encouraged to actually see Harry's portals through the walls. The most arresting feature of the railroad is a rolling lift bridge designed and built by Dana Barlow. Harry uses the bridge to allow visitors entrance into the railroad room. Beautifully executed, it is the last bridge built by Dana. The bridge is electrically powered and can be raised or lowed by pushing a button under the bench work. 
The railroad has three Bridgeworks' wooden trestle bridges in the mountain area of his railroad. Harry plans to include a station on the railroad and has purchased a kit from Kamloops Junction that he is beginning to build. Beginning construction on the station, Harry managed to glue his plans to the bench work. Kamloops Junction graciously sent him replacement plans. 
He has also constructed some interesting end-of-line bumpers using plans from Ted Brewer. Harry uses track power from an ARISTO 10 amp and a Mag 15 transformers and the ARISTOCRAFT (Crest) Train Engineer to control his trains. 
He has a gondola set up with battery power, but was not using it at the meet. His motive power consists of a LGB Mikado, a USA Trains 20 ton switcher and an ARISTOCRAFT Doodlebug. 
He also has a USA Trains GP-9 torn apart installing an on-board receiver. He plans to convert all of the engines to battery power. Harry took us out in the back yard and explained where he will construct an outdoor railroad along the back of his property when he has the time and money. 
Harry has some other interests, including a large model of the PT-596 
he built from a Mosquito Boats kit. He worked on it for several years, put it away for several more years and last year after retiring, he finished it in a couple of months. It is large and beautiful and is displayed in a prominent position in the house. 
He plans to run the boat on the small lake in front of his house at some point in the future. Nancy once had her decorations in the space where the boat is now prominently displayed, but kindly relinquished the case to Harry's model. Harry's interest in railroading started as a small child and after many years modeling in "N", saw a Bachmann set in a store and the rest is history. He sold his "N" trains at a railroad meet and used the money to pay Rail Dreams to design his indoor railroad, which he modified to improve the design. He is an LSOL member, so you can read more about him on the member's profile pages. Our day went quickly with the first part of the gathering spent watching trains. 
My wife Ann, who went with me, enjoyed watching them as well. She also took all of the notes for me to write this article and edited it for me. 
The second part of the meeting involved talking about trains, eating, enjoying the Halbert's beautiful home, and eating. 
 
As you can see, many of the members were decked out in red for the holiday. I even had a few minutes to talk with Robert "Choo Choo" Green about his beautifully done Milwaukee Road GP-9 low hood and looked at some pictures of his outdoor railroad. 
After an officer meeting , the business meeting was held as we all got comfortable and drowsy after the filling lunch. 
Frank and his wife drove all the way from Orlando to hold the meeting. He announced that it was also their fifth wedding anniversary, so hopefully Frank had something more romantic planned for the evening, since it was also Valentine's Day. Following the business meeting, the club held its traditional drawing for prizes. Elaine Haggenbottom 
assisted by her husband, Wayne, has collected the prizes, transported them to the meetings and raffled them off for over two years. Tickets are sold at $1 each or six for $5 
and the proceeds go into the club treasury once the cost of prizes are deducted. 
The festive drawing provided over 15 prizes to club members. 
At the end of the business meeting, Frank passed out LSOL calendars and $5 discounts for memberships in LSOL. "It's a good deal!" someone shouted. During the early part of the day's events, Elaine & Wayne Haggenbottom displayed a beautiful quilt they had quilted for the past president, Cliff Tavernier that displays thank you notes and signatures of many of the clubs members. 
The quilt is shown in the picture, with Elaine and Wayne on the right and Cliff and his wife, Wynona on the right. During the day, Ann and I and the members mixed freely, enjoying talking about trains, jobs, grandchildren and where we were all from originally. Most of the members are transplants from the cold north, who have migrated to Florida in retirement. Enthusiasm was high about large-scale trains. We were invited to see some additional railroads in the area and this week we will journey to Ft. Pierce with Harry to see Fred Boldt's and Jared Petersen' large-scale railroads. Top of Page
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