Grand Central Railroad - Surprise, Arizona
VISITOR'S INFORMATION
THANK YOU for visiting the Sun City Grand Garden Railroad. This railroad was created in 2004 at great personal expense and countless hours of labor by about ten residents who are part of the SCG Railroad Interest Group. We now have over 30 members. Del Webb/Pulte provided this location for our hobby endeavor and your viewing pleasure.
The railroad is permanent. The track is laid on ballast exactly like a full-size railroad. It is totally weatherproof and operated by low voltage electricity. Other than removing debris and periodic cleaning, the rails require minimal maintenance. Our trains are referred to as "G" gauge for Garden size. They are about twice as large as O gauge Lionel trains and several times larger than HO gauge. We have over 1,900 feet of track.
Any trains you see running here are brought by our members and taken home at the end of the day. They may cost from hundreds to thousands of dollars. A few non-functional inexpensive trains are left out for display purposes. Our model buildings are weatherproof and also remain on the railroad site.
Yes, we do worry about theft and vandalism. Thus, we rely on you, our supportive audience to look after our little railroad and report any suspicious activity, especially during night time hours.
Our Community Garden Railroad is indeed a labor of love. Please remain on the sidewalk since trains, track and model structures are fragile. We also request that you supervise your grandchildren.
We operate on warm winter afternoons or cool summer mornings. By popular demand, we try to run every Thursday, Friday and possibly Saturday weather permitting. However, we too have spouses, families and other commitments. So, forgive us, if we are not here on these days and enjoy the trains when you do catch them running.
We are often told how much you appreciate the railroad and ask how you can help us grow and improve. Here's how...
First, join in the fun by becoming a member of our railroad. We are primarily a social, friendly group. We welcome beginners. You can purchase your first train for under $250, far cheaper than many hobbies.
Second, share your delight with CAM and SCG Community leaders. Perhaps suggest to them that little railroads might even be allowed in our own back yards.
Third, help us grow and improve the railroad by making a cash donation to our "Donation Caboose." We specifically need money to add buildings to create a typical miniature Western town. We also want to acquire miniature people, vehicles and farm animals as well as develop seasonal displays. Your support can result in even more enjoyment from your SCG Garden Railroad. Also remember that we provide countless hours of educational entertainment for your visiting grandchildren. Quality childcare in today's world is always expensive!
Thanks for visiting!
Our trains are referred to as "G" gauge for Garden size
Some may ask, 'Is the garden railroad similar to an indoor railroad?'
At its most basic level, it works just like an indoor railway, including turnouts and turntables. However, special considerations must be taken for everything from sunlight and water to dirt and leaves, and even wildlife. The distance covered also means that electrical resistance in and between sections is much higher, and electrical power will tend to drop off at the far end.To eliminate this, some are rigged to use RC car parts such as rechargeable batteries. Others even use live steam and run as a real steam locomotive would. The steam can be generated from a variety of sources, ranging from messy solid pellet (i.e. methenamine) or sterno-type fuel, through clean-burning butane gas, to prototypical coal burners. Live steam is particularly widespread amongst 16mm scale garden railway enthusiasts.
Many also have digital audio on-board, so they sound like a real train. They can also use Digital Command Control or other similar systems, though dirty outdoor track can cause less of a problem with signal than with simple DC power. This is because DCC puts the full voltage on the rails at all times. There are many benefits of DCC when compared to DC analog systems.
The Railroad is Permanent
The Design of a Typical Garden Raioroad
Buildings are also often used in a garden railway, though they too must be constructed to withstand the weather. Train stations and freight depots are popular, some even building whole towns trackside. The loco shed is a common place to store a locomotive (or the whole train) when not in use.Other geographic features are used, such as a small pond to represent a lake, rocks for boulders, or tunnels through "mountains" or under stairways. Tunnels can be a particular challenge, because everything from cats to raccoons and more like to hide in them, particularly to get out of the rain or heat, sometimes even to sleep, nest, or hibernate. A derailment inside a tunnel can also be permanent if careful planning is not done to ensure that it can be reached by access panels (trapdoors) or at arm's length from either end.
A frequent theme is the railway in an idealised urban or rural environment, so it is often found in the context of a model village. Some Garden Railways work opposite to the model village style and opt more for a railway in the garden, where the railways runs amongst normal plants, not in scale with the railway. These sort of railway designs allow for large scale planting and many gardeners have the railway as a secondary hobby to gardening.
Railraod Under Construction
Railroad Details
We have three interconnected large loops on which to run long trains on a continuous basis. We also have a smaller loop on the front hill for operating smaller trains and trolleys.A section of track that connected two separate railroad sites was under construction. This section of track crossed a public sidewalk and required a crossing gate. Construction of the sidewalk section and one of the crossing gates was completed on February 25, 2009; in time for the much celebrated "Grand Opening" which was televised by Channel 22, the SCG TV Station, in Surprise Arizona.
Pictured here are several HARD WORKING, GCR group members. Check back from time to time for more pictures and VIDEOS.
Grand Central Railroad
The Community Garden Railroad of Sun City Grand
Thank you for your interest in the Grand Central Railroad. We encourage you to join, run trains and socialize with others who share your interest. Here is some important information for you to understand and accept before joining our group.HISTORY -- This railroad was started inb December 2003 primarily through the efforts and donations of the three founding members. A number of other individuals also provided contributions, labor, encouragement and moral support for this venture. A considerable amount of work, great personal expense and much organizational planning time went into obtaining our site from Del Webb/Pulte, establishing the basic loop system and creating this group.
AFFILIATION -- We are a Sun City Grand Interest Group recognized by CAM (COMMUNITY ASSOCIATION MANAGEMENT) and bound to a legal agreement with CAM under which we occupy our railroad site.
PURPOSE -- It is our goal to provide an interesting, large layout on which members can run their own G scale trains as well as work on track and scenery projects. We also desire to enable Sun City Grand residents and their visitors to view garden railroading not only during seasonal holiday displays, but throughout the entire year.
Did you ever wish you could ride on a toy train?
Now you can go for a ride on my Garden Railroad
Flickr Photos of the Grand Central Railroad
community garden railroad
Return to the Old West via the Grand Canyon Railway
It wasn't the cowboys and it wasn't the cavalry, but the iron horse that finally conquered the West's great wilderness. And there's no better example of hidden treasures revealed by the locomotive's journey west than the Grand Canyon.While the canyon's potential was realized as early as the 1880s, the journey at the time was difficult to say the least. The remoteness of the area would have sealed its fate as merely a very deep hole in the earth marked on a map, had it not been for William Owen "Buckey" O'Niell and his grand visions of a railroad to the canyon.
O'Neill, who was mayor of Prescott at the time, owned several mineral claims and had built a substantial cabin on the South Rim of the Grand Canyon. But while he'd found his wealth, he wasn't able to unlock it from the canyon due to the high cost of transporting the ore. A man of action, he lobbied for nearly five years before securing the funding for the Railway.
On September 17, 1901, O'Neill's vision became a reality when the first steam train took passengers and supplies from Williams, Arizona, to the South Rim of the Grand Canyon.
The Railway revolutionized the canyon, sharing its natural wonder with the general public. In its heyday, Grand Canyon Railway - then a subsidiary of the Atchison, Topeka and the Santa Fe Railway Company -
Had two scheduled arrivals per day at the South Rim, but as many as six special trains might also arrive at the Grand Canyon in one day.
Notable passengers included President Theodore Roosevelt, President William Howard Taft, John Muir, President Franklin Delano Roosevelt, King Paul and Queen Fredericka of Greece, President Dwight David Eisenhower, Clark Gable, Candice Bergen, Jimmy Durante, Doris Day, Arizona Senator Barry Goldwater and Arizona Governor Rose Mofford.
It was the preferred method of travel until the advent of the automobile. And as America fell in love with the automobile, the locomotive's romantic wail faded like an Arizona sunset.
The final rays of golden sunlight disappeared June 30, 1968 as Train No. 14, a diesel locomotive pulling only one baggage car and one coach car, left Grand Canyon Depot with just three people aboard. Beginning the 65-mile trek to Williams, the engineer gave the horn two short blasts heard only by those aboard and canyon wildlife. No one was present to send the train off, or to celebrate the contributions the Railway had made.
As the last passenger train traveled out of sight, the tracks grew quiet and stayed that way for nearly 20 years.
RETURN TO THE OLD WEST
Pulling together a talented team of people including steam locomotive experts, Max and Thelma went to work restoring the dilapidated Williams and Grand Canyon depots as well as the 65 miles of weather-beaten railroad track.
The tracks began experiencing minor rumblings again in the late 1980s. Investors came and went, promising restoration then fleeing when financing went awry. The town of Williams was struggling, but still daring to dream that the Railway would return on day, and rebuild the small town celebrated as the Gateway to the Grand Canyon®.Pulling together a talented team of people including steam locomotive experts, Max and Thelma went to work restoring the dilapidated Williams and Grand Canyon depots as well as the 65 miles of weather-beaten railroad track. The team rebuilt washout areas and bridges, replacing 30,000 railroad ties and countless more rails, beams and spikes.
Their hard work paid off, and on September 17, 1989 - 88 years to the day from the first train to the canyon - Max and Thelma Biegert brought the powerful pull of the steam locomotive back to Grand Canyon National Park.
More than 10,000 people and dignitaries arrived in Williams to celebrate the return of the Railway, with more gathered to greet the passengers arriving at Grand Canyon Depot. It seemed as though the whole world recognized the importance of returning train service to the canyon.
Grand Canyon Railway gained momentum with each passing trip to the canyon, growing into the operation it is today. Providing daily service and transporting more than 225,000 passengers to the Grand Canyon each year (more than 2 million since 1989), the Railway is much more than an alternative mode of transportation.
The simple act of returning train service restored an integral part of the Grand Canyon's history. The wail of the historic locomotives traveling the rails today, shares the story of how the canyon came to be.
No, the West was not won by cowboys or cavalry, but by the iron horse and the people whose vision of grandeur was matched only by the Grand Canyon itself.
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The Grand Canyon
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The Grand Canyon is a massive geological feature in the state of Arizona. Due to efforts of conservationists, the region became a Forest Preserve in 1893 and was protected from unrestricted hunting and logging. Later, because of its popularity, the...
The World's Largest Model Railroad...
This is a video of the largest model railway in the world and one of the most successful permanent exhibitions in Germany.
Miniatur Wunderland *** official corporate video *** largest model railway / railroad in the world
The image video of Miniatur Wunderland Hamburg http://www.miniatur-wunderland.com , the largest model railway in the world and one of the most successful permanent exhibitions in Germany. Find more videos and informations on our homepage. Deutsche Version / german version: http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=tVURtmxwqMc miniature wonderland hamburg / germany
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Here is What Wikipedia has to say about:
Garden Railroad and Garden railway
Category: File - :UK garden railway scene.JPG|thumb|280px|UK garden railway scene
A garden railroad or garden railway (Railroad in the US, railway elsewere) is a model railway system set up outdoors in a garden. While G is the most popular scale for garden railroads, 16 mm scale has a dedicated and growing following especially in the UK. Model locomotives in this scale are often live steam scale models of British narrow gauge prototypes. 16Â mm scale (which runs on 32Â mm track), the same gauge as O gauge is probably now more popular in the UK than G scale.
A garden railway's scale tends to be in the range of 1/32 (Gauge 1) to 1/19 (1:19), running on either or gauge track. 1/32 scale (1:32) is also called "three-eighths scale" meaning 3/8 of an inch on the model represents one foot on the real thing. For similar reasons, 1/24 scale (1:24) is also called "half inch scale". They are smaller than the Backyard railroad and would not provide a ride on facility, being intended instead as a display railway. Smaller scales and gauges are used in the garden, but in general garden railway is used to refer to the medium scale sizes which would be impractical to use indoors.
Garden Railroad - Night Run
This is What a Typical Garden Railroad Looks Like at Night
Grand Central Railroad LOGO
Railroad Crossing
Railroading
At the Grand Railroad Park, located between the Chaparral Center and the tennis courts, trains run on Thursday, Friday and Saturday from 9-11:30 a.m. However, members may run their trains at any time of the year, day or night. All homeowners in Sun City Grand are invited to join. This great group has fun running trains for all ages. E-mail Donn Nelson at neltrain@worldnet.att.netThis site and all contents copyright ©2009
H M Smith. All rights reserved.
E-mail changes or corrections to: Harry M Smith, Web Master -- hmsmithtravel@hotmail.com
Reader Feedback
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- JollyvilleChick JollyvilleChick Jan 1, 2010 @ 12:28 pm
- Really well done lens. Nice photos and videos. Thanks for putting it all together.
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- skiesgreen skiesgreen Dec 13, 2009 @ 1:16 am
- Wonderful story. I love mini railways and we have a model railway exhibition in Canberra every year. 5* and fave
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- funwithtrains funwithtrains Jun 1, 2009 @ 10:33 am
- Awesome garden railroad, and great lens -- 5 stars from me! Thanks for visiting my lens on LGB Trains.
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- eccles1 eccles1 May 30, 2009 @ 10:07 am
- nice lens !!
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- Teddi14 Teddi14 May 16, 2009 @ 3:02 pm
- We have a railroad something like this near me. It is called Hesston Steam Museum at http://www.hesston.org/events.html You can ride on a small train too. My son loved it when he went a few years ago.
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Lots and Lots of Toy Trains
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Award-Winning Kids DVD on Toy Trains Great Gifts for Child
It's the greatest toy train DVD adventure ever produced! No other one on the market is better! Visit www.lotsoftoytrains.com or call Toll-Free 888-300-3455 - This kids DVD video makes a great gift for a child or grandchild or even Dad for birthday holiday or playtime. This kids DVD is packed with lots of model railroad action and fun sing-a-long songs from musician James Coffey. Featuring the biggest assortment of toy trains weve ever recorded! No matter what your age, if you love model railroads we guarantee youll love the trains in this first volume! Its full of the most colorful and enchanting model railroads youll find anywhere! From Christmas trains and Halloween trains to Little Brick Lego Trains and Big Garden Trains youll be thrilled to see all the award-winning toy train layouts in this exciting collection! We'll also show you trains from the world famous TOY TRAIN BARN in Argyle Wisconsin and TRAINFEST, the largest operating railroad show in America, plus trains from the CHICAGO BOTANIC GARDEN and THE MORTON ARBORETUM!! Youll see large scale scenic garden trains and trains you can even ride, plus tons of colorful steam and diesel trains all while you watch the exciting live-motion accessories in action! Whether big or small this video has them all! Hear the whistle blow as our cameras take you on a magical journey through the countryside steaming by snow covered trees and curvy mountain passes, under and over trestles, through scenic towns and cities with hand-crafted buildings, visit historical sites, see circus trains, ferris wheels and much,much,more! With fun, upbeat music from award-winning musician James Coffey, including the new COUNTING THOSE RAILROAD CARS and LANDMARKS OF AMERICA sing-a-long songs everyone in the family will be singing as these beautiful toy trains whiz on by! Plus, as a Bonus Feature youll be treated to the sights and sounds of real live trains in action! This one-of-a-kind video makes a great gift for birthdays, holidays, or anytime! It truly is Lots and Lots of toy train fun for everyone! Approx: 75 minutes
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