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Phipps Conservatory 2005 Garden Railroad
Mar 2, 2005
By David Maynard |
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This year I went to Phipps Conservatory again to view their holiday garden railroad display.
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This year I went to Phipps Conservatory again to view their holiday garden railroad display. I was told by the staff at Phipps that they weren't sure if there was going to be a display this year. The old building is being renovated and new buildings are being constructed on the grounds.    In keeping with all the construction going on at Phipps their holiday display has a construction theme. The display is in the same room it was in last year, but half of the room is partitioned off due to the construction. So to keep the display about the same size and to keep the viewer's interest they put some of the display in the planting beds around the walls. I think this is more interesting and I personally hope that they continue to do their displays this way.
In the largest planting bed, the one in the middle of the room is where the construction scene is located. There is also a coalmine; I am kind of partial to coalmines too. There were 2 trains running on different loops in the main scene, a USA Trains NW2 pulling a cut of tank cars, and a USA Trains 44 Tonner pulling 3 boxcars. The 44 Tonner stopped near the construction scene each time around for a few seconds, I guess it was using a station timer.    No one was there this year to explain to me the workings of the railroad, but that's ok because last year I ended up having to explain the difference between scale and gauge to some bystanders that got caught up in the conversation. In the planting bed to the left is a city/rural scene with an LGB trolley making its run back and forth thru the scene. It was using a reverse timer, and by having the track loop back and cross over itself, the trolley started and stopped in the city part of the scene. I think that was really imaginative.
In the planting bed on the right there was a logging scene, with a small sawmill. Running thru the scene was a USA Trains 20 Tonner hauling one logging car. This train ran on a single track with reverse loops at both ends. One reverse loop was in a tunnel, and the other was in a woodland scene. On top of the mountain with the tunnel was a lookout tower.    A bear was walking across the rocks on the backdrop to this scene, unfortunately the sun was shining in the camera lens when I shot a picture of the bear, so the picture was a bright blurry mess. Someday I just might figure out how to use my camera. This year I was able to take my mom along, so now she has an idea of what I am doing to our backyard, time will tell if this was a good idea or not. She likes the little buildings and so far I have only made large ones. I am again looking forward to the holiday display at Phipps next year, and maybe I will take my mom to Phipps again, it was a nice outing for both of us. Top of Page
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