What 2020 has brought us to. Every year that we have been together we have run trains on Christmas Eve. We would invite anyone who chose to come by and watch the trains run and gather together for a little pre-Christmas cheer. The train garden would be decorated as well as the trains. We haveContinue reading “Christmas Eve 2020”
Author Archives: dcrrsophie
Holiday Show 2020
Our train club, the Tidewater Big Train Operators, has long put on a large Holiday show that runs for eight days and every year that Archie and I have been members we have participated in it. Like everything else in this crazy year the show was cancelled. Sigh. We were not actually planning on havingContinue reading “Holiday Show 2020”
Halloween 2020
Our Open Yard Halloween this year was as much for our benefit as it was for those who stopped by. We have run our trains on Halloween for the last nine years so this provided a small bit of normality in an otherwise weird year. We had all three tracks cleaned up and running trains,Continue reading “Halloween 2020”
Open Houses
Since 2012 we have had an open house every year on Halloween and Christmas Eve. More properly an “Open Yard”, we decorate the train garden for the appropriate holiday, run trains and hang out with anyone who happens to stop by. On Halloween we hand out candy to the kids and chat with the grown-ups.Continue reading “Open Houses”
County Fair
We ran our trains for a display at the county fair this week and had a wonderful time. Just kidding. We do not have a county fair. We do have a regional County Fair in Chowan County that encompasses the entire area. But, like everything else this year (2020), it was cancelled. As was theContinue reading “County Fair”
From Canal to Trolley
When we started construction on our layout back in 2016 Archie wanted it to include a water feature with a portion of it inspired by the Dismal Swamp Canal. So we ended up with a straight ditch with a small pond at one end and a larger one at the far end. The main pumpContinue reading “From Canal to Trolley”
White’s Nursery Spring 2020
This show is brought to you courteous of COVID-19. In other words, it was cancelled. Which was a big disappointment to us as it would have been our tenth consecutive show we did at White’s.
Holiday Show 2019
The annual Tidewater Big Train Operators (TBTO) Holiday train show is the largest and longest lasting display that our club sets up. We take over an entire gymnasium and the show runs for eight days. 2019 was our year of taking it easy with our holiday show layout. No tricky track work, no electronic wizardyContinue reading “Holiday Show 2019”
White’s Nursery Fall 2019
We went a bit minimalist this year. When we first got started with a garden railroad and did a few shows with the Tidewater Big Train Operators, the train club we are members of, we saw the large trailer the club brings to shows and watched others unloading their full size SUV’s and pickup trucks.Continue reading “White’s Nursery Fall 2019”
White’s Nursery Spring 2019
The best laid plans of mice…etc. The outside loop in the drawing ended up not actually fitting in to the area we had to work with. Track planning software is all well and good but it doesn’t always work out quite as intended. The Holy Mama train actually stayed running for the entire weekend plusContinue reading “White’s Nursery Spring 2019”
Dismal Creek Railroad 