The Columbus
Garden Railway Society
July 2000 Online Newsletter
Table Of Contents

Next meeting in Grove City

Richard Abler

The Plant Manager

Barbara Abler

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Next meeting in Grove City

Richard Abler

Bring along your own lawn chair.  (Location Details)

The Plant Manager

Barbara Abler

Richard and I went to the National Garden Railway Convention in San Diego the week of July 4.  We saw some really great garden railroads and I was overwhelmed, by the variety of plants that I had never seen before.

Unfortunately, most of the people could not identify the plants in their railroads.  This turns out to be very frustrating for visitors from across the country who would love to know what the plant is and get some idea if it would grow where they live.

You can bet that, if you open your railroad to visitors, either for a club meeting or for the open garden tours, you will be asked what the plants are. Will you be able to tell people?  When you go to someone else's layout how do you feel when they can't identify their plantings?

So, when you put plants into your railroad, take notes because there will sure to be a quiz later.

I have not had many problems identifying things in the Puddlefort & Patio because I keep an alphabetical list on the computer and update it frequently.  Even though I have over a hundred different plants in the railroad, I don't need to keep many markers or keep them long because the
frequent referral to the computer list helps me with identities.

I don't always remember the name of every plant but if I look at the list I can figure most out.  The main problem I have is when I plant two very similar species.  Then I have to struggle to remember which is which.

Identifying plants in the rest of the garden beds has proved to be an even greater challenge.  I used to just plant the labels with the plants.  This turned out to be disastrous in my rock garden.  The first problem was that many of the labels faded and within a year were illegible.  The second
problem was that over winter the frost heaved the labels up out of the ground and then the wind scattered them all over.  This created an insoluble puzzle.

Then I decided to map out the garden.  Since I am not good at drafting, everything was out of scale and marking the location of the plants became a challenge.  Then I lost the notebook with the map in it.  Back to square one.

There are some very simple ways to keep track of what's what in your layout that don't require elaborate drawings or  computerized lists.  Start with a 3-ring loose-leaf note book.  Either staple the plant label to the page or write the plant name at the top of the page.  Be sure to record the
botanical name, i.e., genus and species, as well as any common name you might have for the plant.

Then write down where you planted it.  Divide the layout into recognizable areas or districts.  For example, in the P&P RR, the areas are the sunny loop and the shady loop.  These are further divided into farmyard, pasture, ledge, station, church yard, etc.  My other gardens are designated as west front, garage, east front, levels 1, 2, and 3 in the terraces, etc.

Once you have firmly fixed the geographical areas in your mind, then you can use the more permanent landmarks in those areas to further fix the location of your plant.  For example, shady loop, west of the station, behind the spruce - that's where I planted the astilbe.

Because you are using a loose-leaf binder, you can arrange the plant records according to whatever area designations you have chosen, thus keeping the records for plants in a specific area in one place.

So now you have the plant name and a good designation of where you planted it.  Now consider adding some extra information for your records.  Where you bought it.  How much it cost.  Its cultural requirements, i.e., sun, shade, moist, dry, etc.  The date you planted it.  And, all too often for me, the date it died.

Take the notebook out with you when you are planting and write the information in immediately.  That way it takes only a minute and you have the record with no hassle.  Remember, there will be a quiz.

Great Meeting at the Hahn's

Richard Abler

That was a great meeting last month at the Hahn's in Columbus. A big turnout of about 60 adults and 10 kids enjoyed Gary & Carolyn's new garden railroad.

The skies threatened rain, but it didn't rain on our meeting.

The Hahn's have done an impressive amount of work since starting their railroad in January, 1999. The railroad runs through new beds, existing beds, and over and around ponds connected by a stream. Many annuals and perennials add to the pretty picture. Lots of structures from kits and modified bird feeders complete the scene. It goes to show what can be accomplished in just one year.

We talked about a few business issues too:

1. Glenn Babka introduced new members and guests from out of town. Then he summarized what's on the CGRS calendar for the next couple of months.

2. We're looking forward to the meeting at Tom & Patty Uhlig's next month. We understand that Tom has been making great progress in filling in the details of the railroad.

3. Next after the meeting at Uhlig's we will be helping out WOSU-TV by staffing their phone bank on August 9th in the evening. Of course we'll be helping out ourselves as well with the free publicity for CGRS just 4 weeks before our annual garden tour.

4. Ron Mayer spoke briefly about his role in Directions for Youth - a nonprofit organization that helps keep kids off the streets. There's more about this organization further back in this issue.

5. A show-of-hands indicated about 10 CGRSers were planning to attend the Garden Railway Convention in San Diego this month.

6. CGRS will again run trains and staff an information booth at the annual "Affair-of-the-Hort" at Inniswood Gardens. This impressive horticultural event is attracting attendees from all over the state. Attendance last year was estimated at 20,000. Its fun to watch the visitors watch the trains, and then answer their questions. All CGRSers are invited to participate. Makes no difference if you've run trains for 20 years or 20 days. There'll be a signup form in the August newsletter and also a sign-up form on our web site, cgrs.org. Or just call Jim Kimmel now and reserve one or more time slots: 614-890-8173.

7. The door prizes of small wooden bird houses suitable for the railroad were won by Earl Browning and by host Carolyn Hahn. Congratulations to the winners.

After the business portion of the meeting Fred Bischoff demonstrated LGB's new DCC (Direct Command Control) system for locomotives. Using this command module he had four locomotives running independently of each other on the Hahn's railroad. Then by using other controllers in conjunction with the command module three more CGRS engineers each was given control over one of the trains. This looks like a great system and great way to share the fun of running trains. Thanks, Fred, for a great demo!

Show-and-Tell: Charles Scherer brought in his new USA Trains SD40-2 Locomotive in Chessie colors (with the cat logo). This is an impressive hunk of machinery! All three axles on each of the two trucks are powered; the lead axle on the front truck and the trailing axle on the rear truck swivel
to allow the locomotive to negotiate tight curves.

Our thanks to the Hahn's for being such great hosts; we all loved the ice cream creations and the root-beer floats! What a novel idea!

[Webmaster note: The pictures here are courtesy of Charles Scherer.  You can see more pictures of the Hahn's railroad on the Members Gallery pages]

Run Trains at the State Fair in August

Richard Abler

A "Lake" of Glass Beads

Bob Collins

Railroad Chapel Cars

Richard Abler

I learned recently of a part of railroad history that I didn't know existed - chapel cars. Starting in 1890 and ending in the early 1950's these railroad church cars brought the gospel to settlements and towns on the fringes of civilization, principally in the American West.

The fascinating story of this unique aspect of railroad history is told in the new book "This Train is Bound for Glory: The Story of America's Chapel Cars" by Wilma Rugh Taylor and Norman Thomas Taylor. He's a retired railroader and she's a retired journalism teacher and free-lance writer.

The book traces the journeys of 13 chapel cars across 36 states. It is based on the original journals of the missionaries and priests who traveled the country bringing religion to the far flung regions. These were a hardy group of men and women, some of whom spent more than a year on assignment in a specific chapel car, enduring the heat of deserts and minus 40 degree temperatures of the northlands, all in cars with no air conditioning and usually non-working heating systems. The cars were transported by coupling to the rear of scheduled passenger trains and were parked on a siding near the station when reaching their destination of the day.

The majority of the cars were constructed by the Barney & Smith Car Company of Dayton, whose CEO was involved in church and charity work. Basically, one half of the car contained church pews and the other half had living accommodations. Seating in the chapel section was 2-3 with an aisle between. When the pews were full, chairs were set in the aisle to provide 6-across seating. If there were larger crowds, the windows were opened and worshipers stood outside and listened in. Of the 13 cars, 7 represented the Baptist faith and 3 each represented the Episcopal and Catholic faiths. 

The book contains the floor plans for each of the cars. I found those to be of interest but a bit difficult to read because the plans were condensed to one car per page. Also given is a chronology of places visited and the corresponding dates. Another chart is indexed according to railroads which transported the cars.

One of the chapel cars, Grace, has been lovingly restored and rests on a short section of track at the Baptist Convention Grounds in Green Lake, Wisconsin. It is open to the public free of charge. Barbara and I had an opportunity to tour the car along with our railroad friends, Tom and Margo Lemke, during a recent trip to Wisconsin. As luck would have it, Norman Taylor, one of the authors of the book, happened to be there working on the
car at the time. He gave us a personal tour of Grace. The car is set under a protective roof. While it is in fairly good shape, it won't ever be run a railroad again because it won't pass current safety inspections. The 3-axle trucks are made of wood reinforced with steel plates!

There's nothing like seeing something in person. The living quarters looked a bit Spartan. I wouldn't want to live in it. But the car interior had the great woodwork for which Barney & Smith were known. Still it must have been a bit dark and dreary in there.

So if you are a rail buff and want to learn more about a unique part of railroad history, buy the book. And if you're ever in east-central Wisconsin, be sure to take a look at Grace.

Our thanks to Tom & Margo for loaning the book and driving us out for a tour of Green Lake and Grace.

An Idea for Directions for Youth

Ron Mayer

Phone Staffers needed at WOSU-TV

Richard Abler

Survey of CGRSers not Renewing Membership

Richard Abler

Deadline for Next Issue

Richard Abler