Garden Spot Village Train Club held an open house display for their 10 Year Anniversary, on Dec. 13.
Many children and families waited in line to see the different train display layouts.
The club had their first opening in 2004. The room had been reconstructed in 2012 to accommodate the many visitors. In the 10 years that the club has been holding their open house, there has been approximately 20,000 visitors.
There was much to see at the open house such as, Thomas the Tank Engine (a model train and also a pedal sized train), the O Gauge Train Layout, the HO Gauge Train Layout, a train cam from an engineers view, and many new features.
Rich Oliver, a member of the Garden Spot Village Train Club, said, “I like to see the children enjoying it, particularly Thomas (the tank engine).”
There have been a few new additions to the O Gauge layout. The club has added more scenery including a Hobo camp, Sunoco oil siding, LED lighting, and other detailed structures. There has also been a donation to the display which was a 15 foot custom made Lionel circus train.
The HO Gauge Layout had more added to it this year. It can be operated through computer or smart phone, using a software. There is also a camera that was added as a sensor to prevent crashes and accidents. There was also a donation for the HO Gauge Layout, which was a Campbell soup train and also a gang car.
The work that is done to put the event together is entirely done by the Garden Spot Village Train Club members. The members not only run the trains during the open house for 2 and a half hours, but they also put them together and get them up and running. Many of the members, and others who donated some of the trains, had bought the trains from the Garden Spot Village when they were younger and donated them to the club later on.
“Most of the trains and detailed structures were made by the train club members,” Oliver said.
The train sets and sceneries have lots of tiny details, from the grass, to the little words painted onto a sign, a lot of work is put into making the sets.
“My favorite part was getting to cut the logs at the lumber mill,” said Frankie Haggerty, 13. “I really liked pushing the buttons to move the different trains.”
The children seemed to enjoy the different interactions. There were many different ways for children to interact. There was a lumber mill, which started with logs being delivered and placed into the mill on a conveyor belt that the children moved with a button. The log would then be cut in the lumber mill and come out the other side, but would come out as a wooden board. The wooden board would then be placed on a loading dock and pushed into a train, which the children pushed using a button. The children could interact with the members of the club by asking them questions and listening to their stories. There were members at each section of the different sceneries and train sets to help run the trains and monitor them.
The different sceneries were a big hit. The amount of work and detail that was put into the many sceneries was noticed. Haggerty said, “The Indian mountain scenery was my favorite train set.” There were sceneries from lumber mills, to construction sites, to Indian mountains to look at and enjoy.
For more about the Garden Spot Village community, visit www.gardenspotvillage.org.
