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Model Railroading > Fairplex Garden RailroadDate: 09/22/16 23:00 Fairplex Garden Railroad Author: edsaalig Date: 09/23/16 05:37 Re: Fairplex Garden Railroad Author: boejoe Very nice. Can I assume in that climate that many of the "miniature" trees are real? What scale are we looking at?
Date: 09/23/16 06:38 Re: Fairplex Garden Railroad Author: Frank30 That is spectacular. I don't recall seeing a Garden Railway setup that models a dense urban setting. Is the fair open all year? If not, can
I assume the club has access at all times? How do you secure all this real estate when nobody is there? This is quite an accomplishment! Frank30 (Boston) Date: 09/23/16 07:06 Re: Fairplex Garden Railroad Author: HB90MACH If I recall, this is the oldest garden line in the country starting with home built equipment back in the 30's
Date: 09/23/16 17:23 Re: Fairplex Garden Railroad Author: edsaalig All is real except the grass! The railroad is usually open to the public during the first Sunday of each month. Check their website for dates and time. The fairplex provides the security 24/7. This is a 30,000 sq. ft. railroad with over 20 trains running at once and close to 10,000 feet of rail most if not all is LGB. The railroad is G-scale. The railroad first came about in 1926 and is the oldest continued operating garden railroad in the United States.
Date: 09/23/16 17:39 Re: Fairplex Garden Railroad Author: edsaalig Date: 09/23/16 17:41 Re: Fairplex Garden Railroad Author: edsaalig If you notice there are real wooden ties holding the rail down. 2 to 6,000 had to be replaced every year.
Date: 09/23/16 23:41 Re: Fairplex Garden Railroad Author: warrenpweiss The first two pictures are from 1949 when Mr. Howard, the creator of this magnificent display, first converted from outside 3rd rail power pick up to 2-rail. Santa Fe was a sponsor of the miniature railroad. The Shasta Daylight wasn't built until 1954, which is probably the correct date for the third photo. The layout was always 2-1/2" gauge until ripped up and replaced with G-gauge track and trains in 1996.
Warren Date: 09/23/16 23:47 Re: Fairplex Garden Railroad Author: SWChief An old friend of mine who was born and raised in LA once tol me that the trains in this display ran on 110 volts (at the rail) up until sometime in the 1970's - they really couldn't let any body get very close to the tracks, for safety sake. Is there any truth to that, or is that just urban legend?
Greg Date: 09/24/16 11:13 Re: Fairplex Garden Railroad Author: warrenpweiss SWChief Wrote:
------------------------------------------------------- > An old friend of mine who was born and raised in > LA once tol me that the trains in this display ran > on 110 volts (at the rail) up until sometime in > the 1970's - they really couldn't let any body get > very close to the tracks, for safety sake. Is > there any truth to that, or is that just urban > legend? > > Greg Legend. Battery power was used in combination with a generator that was donated by Santa Fe, then later, traditional transformer - rectifier with 24 volt output for trains. Warren Date: 09/24/16 20:50 Re: Fairplex Garden Railroad Author: KeyRouteKen Couple of more old photos.
------------------------------------------------------------- History......The Fairplex Garden Railroad in Pomona, California is located in themiddle of the Los Angeles Countyfairgrounds. The 100' x 300' railwayhas occupied the same space since 1935and has been a part of the annual fairevery year except for the war years of1942-1947. That makes 68 years of miniaturetrains running for the enjoyment offair attendees. However, the fair’s traindisplay is even older.The first LA County Fair was held in1922. In 1924, an exhibit included a staticmodel of a Pacific Electric Railroad trolleydisplayed in conjunction with a dioramaof the LA County Parks & RecreationDepartment’s Puddingstone Reservoirand Recreational area. That area is adjacentto the fairgrounds. For the 1925 fair,the trolley was motorized and a length oftrack was added to the display.By 1935 the display had grown much larger andwas moved outside the tentwhere it had been housed. Herman Howardbuilt the trolley model and otherrailroad pieces housed in the tent. He wasa shop teacher at Pomona High Schooland, with the help of his brother, Homer,laid out a 1⁄2" scale, outdoor railroad at thefairgrounds for that year’s fair. After the1935 fair, the size of the railroad wasincreased to 100' x 300' and has remainedthat size for more than 70 years.Over the next 23 years, the Howardbrothers developed their miniature railroad.They hand-built all of the 1⁄2" scale, 21⁄2"-gauge (gauge 3) rolling stock and track.Herman bought all the materials needed toconstruct the rolling stock and obtained allthe necessary drawings and measurementsfrom full-size-train manufacturers. Heassigned his shop-class students each apiece of rolling stock to build and supervisedconstruction of the trains. Being amachinist, Herman made all of the partsneeded. Everything was built to the samescale and the students were graded on howwell each piece was built and how it performedon the railroad.Homer passed away in 1958 and Hermanturned the railroad over to Mr. andMrs. Templin. The Templin family, withthe help of John Huie, maintained andran the railroad for the next 10 years.Just before the fair opened in 1968, Mr.Templin died suddenly due to a railroadaccident. Mrs. Templin, with help fromJohn Huie, operated the railroad for thenext two years. In 1970, the LA CountyFair Association took over the miniaturerailroad and contracted with John Huie tomaintain it year round and run it duringthe fair. He did that for the next 26 years. --------------------------------- How'd I do, Warren... KRK Date: 09/24/16 21:28 Re: Fairplex Garden Railroad Author: Streamliner When I was a kid, growing up in L.A. In the 1950's, my folks always took my brother and I to the county fair. My most vivid memories of the outdoor railroad were the two, big, steam locomotives that sat at the station. I never saw them run, but always hoped to. I was told, many years later, that they were static models, unpowered. Can anyone confirm this?
There was also a huge "O" scale layout in the grandstand building. Is that still there? Date: 09/25/16 13:40 Re: Fairplex Garden Railroad Author: mundo The O gauge is in the Grand Stand was removed some years ago. Track was on the Tru-Scale wodden roadbed.
Sorry to see it go, but you know progress has to prevail ! Sure! Date: 09/25/16 22:35 Re: Fairplex Garden Railroad Author: warrenpweiss KeyRouteKen Wrote:
------------------------------------------------------- >After the1935 fair, the size of the railroad > wasincreased to 100' x 300' and has remainedthat > size for more than 70 years. > --------------------------------- > > How'd I do, Warren... > > KRK Just one correction, Ken. The outdoor space allocated in 1935 was actually 100' x 85' (the western-most third shown in the picture below). After the 1950 fair, it was increased to its present size of 100' x 250'. Date: 09/26/16 05:17 Re: Fairplex Garden Railroad Author: KeyRouteKen warrenpweiss Wrote:
------------------------------------------------------- > KeyRouteKen Wrote: > -------------------------------------------------- > ----- > >After the1935 fair, the size of the railroad > > wasincreased to 100' x 300' and has > remainedthat > > size for more than 70 years. > > --------------------------------- > > > > How'd I do, Warren... > > > > KRK > > Just one correction, Ken. The outdoor space > allocated in 1935 was actually 100' x 85' (the > western-most third shown in the picture below). > After the 1950 fair, it was increased to its > present size of 100' x 250'. Warren-- I got my info from Garden Railways--October 2007. Where do you get yours, Oh Royal Sir ? KRK Date: 09/26/16 12:07 Re: Fairplex Garden Railroad Author: warrenpweiss KeyRouteKen Wrote:
------------------------------------------------------- > warrenpweiss Wrote: > -------------------------------------------------- > ----- > > KeyRouteKen Wrote: > > > -------------------------------------------------- > > > ----- > > >After the1935 fair, the size of the railroad > > > wasincreased to 100' x 300' and has > > remainedthat > > > size for more than 70 years. > > > --------------------------------- > > > > > > How'd I do, Warren... > > > > > > KRK > > > > Just one correction, Ken. The outdoor space > > allocated in 1935 was actually 100' x 85' (the > > western-most third shown in the picture below). > > After the 1950 fair, it was increased to its > > present size of 100' x 250'. > > Warren-- I got my info from Garden > Railways--October 2007. Where do you get > yours, Oh Royal Sir ? > > KRK Ken, I got my information mostly from John Huie himself, who actually ran the exhibit for so many years and knew Herman Howard, the originator. The magazine clearly got their information from the G-gaugers who took over the railroad and their information is as accurate as their scale: +/- 20%. Evidence of the original size of 100' x 85' is also available in photographs. Also, if you look at the aerial photo that I posted, you will see two pathways in the section of the garden and pond area above the layout area. Those pathways origianlly extended down through the current layout area, creating three sections similar to what you see above. The orignal section of the layout occupied the left-most section. The photo below will explain it better than my words. Warren (But you can adress me as Royal Sir if you wish) :-) Edited 1 time(s). Last edit at 09/26/16 12:15 by warrenpweiss. |