Pittsburgh Garden Railway Society, Pittsburgh, PA

Pittsburgh Garden Railway Society, Pittsburgh, PA - links

Pittsburgh Garden Railway Society

Some Links

Table of Contents
Garden Railways open to the public
Magazines we read
Links suggested by members (including commercial sites)
Public Garden Railways

The April 2002 issue of Garden Railways has a list of permanent garden railroads in the US and around the world.
Below are some of our favorites.

Phipps Conservatory and Botanical Gardens
One Schenley Park
Pittsburgh, PA 15213
(412) 622-6915
http://www.phipps.conservatory.org A new garden railway every fall, lasting through the winter months.
Video of the PGRS developed outdoor layout:
http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=cdkO_wuIosY
and
http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=OwoUG2BBPog

Overly's Country Christmas
Westmoreland Fairgrounds
near Greensburg, PA
1-800-9OVERLY
724-423-1400
http://www.overlys.com A garden railway during the Christmas season.

Columbus Open Gardens
Columbus, Ohio
Columbus Garden Railway Society
http://cgrs.org The Columbus Recreation and Parks Department sponsors garden tours on six Sundays each summer. One Sunday in September is devoted to a tour of the garden railroads of the Columbus Garden Railway Society.

Morris Arboretum
100 Northwestern Avenue
Philadelphia, PA 19118
tel: (215) 247-5777 x128
http://www.upenn.edu/arboretum A different garden railway on display every June through October

New York Botanical Garden
200th St. and Kazimiroff Blvd.
Bronx, New York 10458
tel: (718) 817-8700
http://www.nybg.org The Holiday garden and train show, November through January, and occasionally a summer train show, too.

Cullen Gardens and Miniature Village
300 Taunton Road
Whitby, Ontario, Canada L1N 5R5
tel: (905) 668-6606
http://www.cullengardens.com Just 45 minutes east of downtown Toronto, there are 35 acres of Show Gardens, 1:12 scale structures, and trains. Over 175 scale buildings depict Southern Ontario homes, farms, churches and a Main Street, lined with shops. Also on display is a miniature Parkwood Mansion, home of the late Colonel R.S. McLaughlin, founder of General Motors of Canada. Puddle Lake is a beehive of activity in Cottage Country, with sailboats and a ferry carrying vacationers back and forth. You'll also see a campground, miniature cottages, miniature highway with moving cars and a train that circles the lake.

Chicago Botanical Garden
1000 Lake Cook Road
Glencoe, IL 60022
tel: (847) 835-5440
http://www.chicago-botanic.org/ June through October
The Jr. Railroad includes:
1,700 feet of track in a 7,500-square-foot area
a walkway through a tunnel, across streams, along a waterfall and under bridges
11 G-scale model trains, including circus, logging, cog railway and diesel trains
35 structures intricately crafted of all-natural materials, including the White House, the Seattle Space Needle and Monticello.

Legoland California
One LEGOLAND Drive
Carlsbad, CA 92008 USA
tel: (760) 918-5346
http://www.lego.com/eng/legoland/california/ The heart of LEGOLAND California is Miniland. A dedication to the ultimate expression of LEGOŽ art form, this replication of five areas of the United States, all constructed with 20 million LEGO bricks in 1:20 scale, can be seen from many places in the Park. Check the October 2001 issue of Garden Railways magazine for an article by Pat Hayward about the very real-looking Lego trains, the cutaway model of Grand Central Station, and the wonderful gardens.

Bekonskot Model Village
In England, 25 miles west of Central London:
Warwick Road, Beaconsfield, Buckinghamshire
HP9 2PL - UK
Tel: +44 (0) 1494 672919
http://www.bekonscot.org.uk An acre and a half of trains, scale buildings, and gardens, open from February through October. The model railway has a total track length of 438 yards. During the season, the trains cover about 16,000 miles, the main locos covering some 2,000 miles each. At present the shrubs and conifers number well over 3,000. Several years ago a maze was introduced using the honeysuckle Lonicer nitida 'Baggesen's Gold'. The curator at Hampton Court sent an outline of their maze, and this was used to create a copy in miniature for Bekonscot.

Swiss Miniatur
CH-6815 Melide-Lugano
Switzerland
tel: +41 91/6401060
http://www.swissminiatur.ch Swiss Miniatur shows you some of the most picturesque features of Switzerland, towns, villages, monuments, transportation, all at a scale of 1:25. The model railway is 3590 meters long.

Madurodam
George Maduroplein 1
NL-2584 RZ The Hague
Netherlands
tel: +31 (0)70-355 39 00
http://www.madurodam.nl/e/intro/index.html In the miniature city of Madurodam, you will see the canal houses of Amsterdam, the Alkmaar cheesemarket, and parts of the Delta Works, all replicated in minute detail on a 1:25 scale. Windmills turn, ships sail and modern trains are traversing the city on the world's largest miniature railway.

Bourton-on-the-Water model village
The OLD NEW INN
Bourton-on-the-Water
Gloucestershire
GL54 2AF UK
Tel: 01451 820467
ourworld.compuserve.com/homepages
/old_new_inn/Village.htm Well, OK, there are no trains, but it's worth a visit anyway. The Old New Inn is known all over the world for the fascinating model village in its garden. Built by a team of local craftsmen during the early thirties, the Village is a 1/9th replica of the town of Bourton-on-the-Water, built from the local Cotswold stone. Through the heart of the Model Village runs a miniature River Windrush - about a metre wide, it flows from the working water mill, beneath replicas of five of Bourton's famous stone bridges, on its way to the Thames. And in the garden of the model Old New Inn there is yet another model village, with its own miniature river, this time around ten centimetres wide, running through it.

back to contents

Magazines we read:

Garden Railways contains articles on all aspects of garden railroading -- structures, plants, layout building, and trains.
Garden Rail, published in England
LGB Telegram, an English-language publication devoted to the large-scale trains made by E. P. Lehmann Patentwerk. LGB stands for Lehmann Gross Bahn.
Big Train Operator, published by the LGB Model Railroad Club, Inc., a national organization.
Steam in the Garden covers everything from soup to nuts about live steam railroading, primarily in 1:32 through 1:20.3 scales. SitG is the only magazine in the world dedicated to the the small-scale live steam hobby, and it serves as a forum for the exchange of information about various aspects of the hobby for readers all over the globe.
A.W. N.U.T.S. (the Always Whimsical, Not Usually To Scale Model Railway Society) Note that the original group is gone but has been replaced by a Yahoo group
Finescale Railroader focuses on realistic large-scale modeling.
back to contents
Links suggested by members:

G-Scale Links
Large Scale Online
RailServe: The Internet Railroad Directory - Over 4,500 rail-related links, search engine, free classified ads, BBS, ICQ List, and more!
O Scale Outdoors
Shawmut Car Shops: Custom built Pickle Cars, Cars for Advertising, Clubs, Schools, & Groups; Camelback 2-8-0, 4-6-0 , 0-4-0 conversions made, Gas-Electric Motorcars & other Self-Propelled cars built, Rolling Stock Custom Painted and Lettered, & Custom Decals Made to Order.
Railfan Specialties, the folks who sell those t-shirts and bumper stickers that say "I Grow Trains in my Garden."
Brentwood Station - 2811 Brownsville Rd. Pittsburgh, PA 15227 - Trains and Landscaping 412-885-1723
back to contents

Back to our home page
About PGRS
Frequently Asked Questions Calendar and Programs
Photo Gallery
Membership Application

Free Web Hosting Since 1996. Join & Become Part of the TrainWeb's Railroad Community.

Phipps Conservatory and Botanical Gardens One Schenley Park Pittsburgh, PA 15213 (412) 622-6915 http://www.phipps.conservatory.org	A new garden railway every fall, lasting through the winter months. Video of the PGRS developed outdoor layout: http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=cdkO_wuIosY and http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=OwoUG2BBPog
Overly's Country Christmas Westmoreland Fairgrounds near Greensburg, PA 1-800-9OVERLY 724-423-1400 http://www.overlys.com	A garden railway during the Christmas season.
Columbus Open Gardens Columbus, Ohio Columbus Garden Railway Society http://cgrs.org	The Columbus Recreation and Parks Department sponsors garden tours on six Sundays each summer. One Sunday in September is devoted to a tour of the garden railroads of the Columbus Garden Railway Society.
Morris Arboretum 100 Northwestern Avenue Philadelphia, PA 19118 tel: (215) 247-5777 x128 http://www.upenn.edu/arboretum	A different garden railway on display every June through October
New York Botanical Garden 200th St. and Kazimiroff Blvd. Bronx, New York 10458 tel: (718) 817-8700 http://www.nybg.org	The Holiday garden and train show, November through January, and occasionally a summer train show, too.
Cullen Gardens and Miniature Village 300 Taunton Road Whitby, Ontario, Canada L1N 5R5 tel: (905) 668-6606 http://www.cullengardens.com	Just 45 minutes east of downtown Toronto, there are 35 acres of Show Gardens, 1:12 scale structures, and trains. Over 175 scale buildings depict Southern Ontario homes, farms, churches and a Main Street, lined with shops. Also on display is a miniature Parkwood Mansion, home of the late Colonel R.S. McLaughlin, founder of General Motors of Canada. Puddle Lake is a beehive of activity in Cottage Country, with sailboats and a ferry carrying vacationers back and forth. You'll also see a campground, miniature cottages, miniature highway with moving cars and a train that circles the lake.
Chicago Botanical Garden 1000 Lake Cook Road Glencoe, IL 60022 tel: (847) 835-5440 http://www.chicago-botanic.org/	June through October The Jr. Railroad includes: 1,700 feet of track in a 7,500-square-foot area a walkway through a tunnel, across streams, along a waterfall and under bridges 11 G-scale model trains, including circus, logging, cog railway and diesel trains 35 structures intricately crafted of all-natural materials, including the White House, the Seattle Space Needle and Monticello.
Legoland California One LEGOLAND Drive Carlsbad, CA 92008 USA tel: (760) 918-5346 http://www.lego.com/eng/legoland/california/	The heart of LEGOLAND California is Miniland. A dedication to the ultimate expression of LEGOŽ art form, this replication of five areas of the United States, all constructed with 20 million LEGO bricks in 1:20 scale, can be seen from many places in the Park. Check the October 2001 issue of Garden Railways magazine for an article by Pat Hayward about the very real-looking Lego trains, the cutaway model of Grand Central Station, and the wonderful gardens.
Bekonskot Model Village In England, 25 miles west of Central London: Warwick Road, Beaconsfield, Buckinghamshire HP9 2PL - UK Tel: +44 (0) 1494 672919 http://www.bekonscot.org.uk	An acre and a half of trains, scale buildings, and gardens, open from February through October. The model railway has a total track length of 438 yards. During the season, the trains cover about 16,000 miles, the main locos covering some 2,000 miles each. At present the shrubs and conifers number well over 3,000. Several years ago a maze was introduced using the honeysuckle Lonicer nitida 'Baggesen's Gold'. The curator at Hampton Court sent an outline of their maze, and this was used to create a copy in miniature for Bekonscot.
Swiss Miniatur CH-6815 Melide-Lugano Switzerland tel: +41 91/6401060 http://www.swissminiatur.ch	Swiss Miniatur shows you some of the most picturesque features of Switzerland, towns, villages, monuments, transportation, all at a scale of 1:25. The model railway is 3590 meters long.
Madurodam George Maduroplein 1 NL-2584 RZ The Hague Netherlands tel: +31 (0)70-355 39 00 http://www.madurodam.nl/e/intro/index.html	In the miniature city of Madurodam, you will see the canal houses of Amsterdam, the Alkmaar cheesemarket, and parts of the Delta Works, all replicated in minute detail on a 1:25 scale. Windmills turn, ships sail and modern trains are traversing the city on the world's largest miniature railway.
Bourton-on-the-Water model village The OLD NEW INN Bourton-on-the-Water Gloucestershire GL54 2AF UK Tel: 01451 820467 ourworld.compuserve.com/homepages /old_new_inn/Village.htm	Well, OK, there are no trains, but it's worth a visit anyway. The Old New Inn is known all over the world for the fascinating model village in its garden. Built by a team of local craftsmen during the early thirties, the Village is a 1/9th replica of the town of Bourton-on-the-Water, built from the local Cotswold stone. Through the heart of the Model Village runs a miniature River Windrush - about a metre wide, it flows from the working water mill, beneath replicas of five of Bourton's famous stone bridges, on its way to the Thames. And in the garden of the model Old New Inn there is yet another model village, with its own miniature river, this time around ten centimetres wide, running through it.