A Grande Dayout At Beavercreek

[Richie]

Had the pleasure of attending Mikes open day at Beavercreek on Sunday . Really glad we made the journey down from the Midlands well worth the trip, Mike and Lorraine made us feel right at home couldn't ask for better hosts Mikes line and garden were jaw dropping just got to see it to believe it my wife was very impressed with all the buildings and figures blending into the landscape has even given her some ideas for my line Rio Grande Rotary OY paid a visit and had a test run sadly no snow just 30 degrees sunshine Heres a few pics of the afternoon on the Rio Grande in Beavercreek

 

[garrymartin]

Re:A Grande Dayout At Beavercreek

As you say it blends in really well ,a superb railway! How long has it been up & running ? Some of the plants look nice & mature.
Cheers Garry

 

[beavercreek]

Re:A Grande Dayout At Beavercreek

Hi Martin
I started it in winter of 2006 and it had its first open day in its first incarnation (without some of the track, areas and detail) in September 2007. Since then it has had.... new areas, track and buildings added. Richie's plow fitted just right into the goings on, shame it had to leave. But it has now rekindled my eagerness to 'kitbash' my USA Trains plow!
I did post these pictures of Richies plow at the Beaver creek RR on his kitbash thread but here they are to add to his ones of me railroad. Unfortunately I was too busy running the railroad and chatting to take any of the line!

 

[Mousey]

Re:A Grande Dayout At Beavercreek

What a fantastic looking railroad. Well done.

 

[coyote97]

Re:A Grande Dayout At Beavercreek

WOW! Very nice!

But what are u plowing now?
Hot Air?





Greetings


Frank

 

[Richie]

Re:A Grande Dayout At Beavercreek

A few more pics taken of Mikes wonderful Railroad Looking at the weather now i think Mike was very lucky with the sunshine .

 

[marshman]

Re:A Grande Dayout At Beavercreek

Great pics & railroad & must be just up the road from me. Like all the scenic features & weathering. Will look out for the next open day. You have done a great job Mike.

 

[beavercreek]

Re:A Grande Dayout At Beavercreek

Hi Stuart
Thanks for the kind comments
You would be welcome to drop in. We have a date in September for another open day. Are you a G Scale Society member? If you are then have a word with our local sec Gordon, he has the timetable etc etc

The weather is like autumn down here at the mo, leaves everywhere....a big clean up in hand!

Here's a few more shots from a sunny day on the Beavercreek Railroad

Old 268 at Arbour Summit

Quarry activity

Sheltering from the noonday sun

Beaver Creek suns itself

Mainline freight rolls past Lorraine's Diner

Chewin the fat

Some hobos make camp up on the high rocks

 

[mole]

Re:A Grande Dayout At Beavercreek

I was lucky enough to be there on Sunday ,well worth a visit if you are in the area. Nice host's to and the cream scone's are out of this world 5 star highly recommended

 

[beavercreek]

Re:A Grande Dayout At Beavercreek

Hi Chris
Was good to see you again.
Your avatar.............I think that I recognise her......... oh yes...I remember...... isn't she from the b*****g couple behind the station on your layout? I told you the 'little people' come to life after midnight. Bet she gets a certain kind of attention from your other citizens.

 

[Philbahn]

Re:A Grande Dayout At Beavercreek

I'm not really into American but WOW what a lot of hard work has gone ito this

 

[Gizzy]

Re:A Grande Dayout At Beavercreek

I'm not really into American but WOW what a lot of hard work has gone ito this

Having seen this layout, I can certainly confirm that Phil!

Having been busy this weekend on other things, I couldn't make it, but I'll try to get there for Sept Mike....

 

[beavercreek]

Re:A Grande Dayout At Beavercreek

I'm not really into American but WOW what a lot of hard work has gone ito this

# # # # Quote message # # # # # # # # Add to Quote

Thanks for the comment Phil
I get 'urges' and go hell for leather for a week or so, adding track or buildings etc, fitting it around work and then do not do anything for months! :sleep:

The only problem with having detail all over the place is puning and keeping it clean and free of leaves, weeds, spider webs, bird guano, dead frogs (flattened or electrocuted) etc :wits:

 

[beavercreek]

Re:A Grande Dayout At Beavercreek

Having seen this layout, I can certainly confirm that Phil!

Having been busy this weekend on other things, I couldn't make it, but I'll try to get there for Sept Mike....

It will good to see you Gary and there have been changes and additions since your last visit to keep you interested!

 

[stevedenver]

Re:A Grande Dayout At Beavercreek

mike 
i really like your creativity with the diners
and the two depots in close proximity-while i never would have thought of such a configuration-it works really well

i also really like both mikes and lorraines diner-you have nicely transformed mundane and familiar buildings into something interesting and plausible 

i would love to see a shot of the adobe station 

i would love to see pics of the overall garden-i like the raised portion with walk way a lot-

great detail without  being busy or cluttered-very much conveys an active a vibrant railroad -and it does convey Colorado well -especially the southernmost area 

i think what i love most is the great balance between trains and plants-lovely lovely plants everywhere-it doesnt look like an outdoor  trainset -it looks like a garden railroad even with all the incredible detail-well done !

 

[beavercreek]

Re:A Grande Dayout At Beavercreek

Hey Steve, awww shucks you are really embarassing the hell out of me. Really kind words my friend. As I think I said some time back it is gratifying having your comments as you actually live in the area of where I am trying to create a small likeness.

I wanted to base the layout on the Rio Grande and 'Beaver Creek' actually exists up near the Vai resort (not far from Glenwood Springs) although there was never a station or railroad there. This and the fact that my partner's maiden name is Beaver, is why the Railroad got named after her! (It put me in the good books for future layout developments and extensions). One of the station/town areas, Arrowhead, also exists up near to Glenwood Springs. But I have to confess that the small depot/station at 'Arbour Summit' and the new one with the small stockyard at 'Pointrock' are purely fictitious and are named from areas in me garden! It gave me the chance to have a local line serving the townships and the Rio Grande mainline thundering through part of it.

As to a view of the whole layout. I did do a ''Part '1 article in the G Scale Society Journal which showed the plan as it was last year. I will try to post the up to date plan (not to scale!) here.

 

[Richie]

Re:A Grande Dayout At Beavercreek

Hi Mike
Some great shots of your line do like the one with the GP30 exiting the tunnal past Lorraines dinner , Showed Sara your artical in the G Scale Journal of the before and after shots of your garden she can't believe you got planning . I have had no response from the E mail i sent to USA Trains about the plow head do you know Mike if they are slow at getting back to you , will give them a few more days and try again . I think you were very lucky with the weather on Sunday as it's rained every day this week here been doing some prunning of shrubs in between the showers .

Richie

 

[stevedenver]

Re:A Grande Dayout At Beavercreek

oh yes i know beaver creek well

it is a 'created' area-like Vail (no Vail before 1962)-(no BC before-about 1980 i think) 
before the huge economic downturn especially, it was THE area outside of vail-with huge huge dollar mansions on tiny plots surrounding the golf course and near the ski area-top top dollar restaurants and spas- 

a lovely place-but no sense of history at all-simply a ski destination

last time i was there -stayed at an 10,500 sq ft home-like 16 bedrooms-two kitchens, indoor pool, ad nauseum-very close to the bottom chair  

i used to know a bill and sarah beaver, bill married my wife and i in London-used to be affiliiated with the prince's trust i believe or some other high profile charity-dr bernardos io think now 

so at your convenience please- some more pics of your lovely garden which will put the rr into perspective for me-

i have no rr this season due to remodel of the kitchen, sun room, and family room and new roof line-yoiks-! (and im the cook!!) 

but i am planning a raised garden bed-natural moss rokc-high center berm with rocks to block view of both side of the bed-walk way around as well as as needed in the bed-thinking this will be about 20x50-perhaps a water eature-but no fish in this pond -tired of the maintenacne-one poind is enough

finally ill have a rr in the sun rather than in the sahe-so things may grow a bit better

planning on a very simple folded dog bone with 1-2 passing tracks and 2-3 sidings-minimal buildings-more vignettes to give a feel-probably use simple conrete or the like pads so i can switch between euro and US 

bill is C of E cleric, but from colorado-and happened to also love g scale 

 

[beavercreek]

Re:A Grande Dayout At Beavercreek

Hi Richie
When i was in my author/writer incarnation I found that magazines and other publications can take a bit of time (if they have not previously given you a commission) and as 'Garden Railways' may be not quite a full-time outfit and may not have had their meeting to sift the offer of articles etc. Do not despair as your kitbash stacks up really well against other articles of the same ilk that have featured in the article. Marc (Horowitz) will be in touch soon I feel. Give it a week or two, if you 'bombard them they might get the hump (and i am not talking about freight yards here!).

It has not only been raining on and off over here but the winds have been roaring through all day. I have cleared the surface of the pond three times today! At least it gives me the excuse to get away from the computer and work
Much leaf littler has also been extracted from the more vulnerable areas of the layout...even more excuse to avoid work

I was hoping to get some detailed shots to post of the new 'Point Rock' area but the weather has certainly put a damper on that :wits:
Will try tomorrow

 

[beavercreek]

Re:A Grande Dayout At Beavercreek

i used to know a bill and sarah beaver, bill married my wife and i in London-used to be affiliiated with the prince's trust i believe or some other high profile charity-dr bernardos io think now

bill is C of E cleric, but from colorado-and happened to also love g scale

Hi Steve
I will ask me lovely lady about your Beavers. She has been doing some geneology the past few months ...so who knows??

I will post a few more new piccies when I get them, hopefully tomorrow. If you want I will bring the old 'Beavercreek in the sun' thread to the fore in this forum and there are quite a few shots there, even if they are now sort of out of date!

Your plans for the new Railroad sound really good and I really agree with you about pond maintenance. We lost all our fish this winter and have just started to reintroduce fish into the pond so I am back to full maintenance and it is, at times, a little tedious. But there again they do look good when the sun is dappling the pond so perhaps the effort is well worth it!
The next plan is to get the railroad around and over the pond. The only problem is to make sure that I can still easily clean the surface and get in the pond to hack back the bushes on the other side!!