You Are Here.	Jump to other pages.

Written by Paul D. Race for Family Garden Trains

. . . some of the railroads shown in the book border on spectacular, but majority of them are simply well-conceived and very well executed versions of the garden railroads that many thousands of folks have already put into their back yards. . . . the vast majority of plants shown in the book are readily available to most gardeners in North America. . . . books like Gorgeous Garden Railways allow readers to see many entirely different kinds of railroads and to see what is possible, versus what the other members of the club have already accomplished.

A Gorgeous Garden Railway Book Marc Horovitz has edited Garden Railways magazine forever (including the years he did everything himself before Kalmbach got in on the action). He has contributed to or cowritten several books on the subject as well, including a few which are "classic" in our little field. And despite his ability to "get his hands dirty" with a shovel or a scratchbuilding project, he never forgets that the best garden railroads are more than the sum of their parts. I've been bugging Marc for years to publish a new "how-to" book for beginning garden railroaders. Since Marc cowrote his last one, brands and scales have come and gone, new construction methods have emerged, and the hobby has matured in many ways. That said, while I was busy telling people how deep to dig their post holes in zone 5, Marc and his cowriter Pat Hayward were reviewing many hundreds of photographs and trying to put together the best "coffeetable book" on Garden Railroading ever. As far as I know, they have succeeded. The emphasis is certainly on the many dozens of "gorgeous" photographs, which range from the charming to the awe-inspiring. Some of the photos will look familiar to Garden Railways readers, but in this book, they're not crowded out by advertising, and they're joined by dozens of other photographs of the best that the Garden Railroading hobby has to offer. But ironically, nobody, even the newest beginner, should be intimidated by this book. Rather Marc and Pat hope it will encourage more and more people to get involved when they see what is possible. When you take a close look, you'll see that to the authors, the word "gorgeous" doesn't mean "unattainable by normal people," but "well-conceived, balanced, and attractive." For the long version of why Marc feels this way, see Marc's articles on Garden Railway Aesthetics. As I understand what Marc has said and written on the subject, I think his overall concern is that each garden railroad should have integrity, that is, it should be designed, built, and planted in a way that is true, not only to the preferences of the owner/railroader, but also to itself and to the land it occupies. In other words: The landscaping should not only provide a naturalistic setting for the train; it should also suit the property surrounding the railroad. The railroad should be the result of a consistent vision and operate as an "entity" unto itself, rather than being an attempt to a: imitate indoor mainline modeling or b: fit a disparate collection of Father's Day gifts into the same small patch of real estate. Accessories such as buildings and figures should be used to support the "vision" of the railroad and to give the trains a reason to run. Plants should also complement the vision of the railroad; at the same time the garden should be worth viewing even when the trains aren't running. Now, few garden railroads have 100% commitment to a single, coherent vision, but the most attractive and enjoyable railroads have at least taken these principles into account, whether they are "back 40 empires," or a 6'x10' loop around the fir tree. True, some of the railroads shown in the book border on spectacular, but majority of them are simply well-conceived and very well executed versions of the garden railroads that many thousands of folks have already put into their back yards. Marc includes the disclaimer: The railways shown in this book were built by experienced, dedicated hobbyists. But don't let that stop you; they were all beginners once. In other words, nothing in this book has "Don't try this at home" stamped on it. Marc's coauthor, Pat Hayward, has forgotten more about plants than I'll ever know. Her contribution is visible, not only in the text that discusses appropriate garden railroad plants, but also in the choice of photographs that show effective use of plantings for each garden railroad. And, perhaps most importantly, although Pat doesn't call out many of the species illustrated, the vast majority of plants shown in the book are readily available to most gardeners in North America. If you see something you like, and you live near a full-service nursery or botannical garden, chances are that if you take the book to them, they will be able to tell you the name of what you want, and whether it will survive in your region. (If nothing else they can suggest plants that would give you similar results. If all else fails, e-mail me and I'll hazard a guess.) Again, most of the planting ideas you get out of this book can be used directly or with some modification in your back yard. My Only Criticisms As a source of inspiration and ideas, this book has a great deal of value for everyone who is even considering starting a garden railroad; my only criticisms are minor editorial choices I might have made differently: As a long-time GR subscriber, I wish Marc had provided alternate versions of some of the photos he used, so that I could see that trestle or whatever from a slightly different angle than I've already seen in the magazine. Of course, if you haven't been subscribing to GR for a long time, that won't affect you in the least. Another minor criticism is that Marc started the "History of Garden Railroading" section on the third actual page of content, so that after a 1-page introduction, you launch right into a text-heavy history lesson accompanied by er, less than inspiring photographs. Maybe if the introduction chapter had been a few pages longer, with a few more spectacular photos, it would give readers more reason to get through the history lesson. This is useful content, and I don't mind it being in the book somewhere, but its placement threatens to derail readers before they've built up any steam to speak of. Finally, for some unknown reason, the list of web resources in the back leaves out the Internet's largest free and hassle-free collection of professionally written articles targeted to beginning and intermediate garden railroaders (which also hasn't gone offline or changed URLs since 1999). We'll let you guess which one we mean. :-) I'm sure that I'll find other things to pick on as I give the book a closer reading, but you have to admit, if those are my biggest complaints with the book, it must be a pretty good book. Why Else You Need This Book Marc and Pat are hoping the same thing I am, that this book will inspire you to get out the shovel and join the fun of model railroading. But there's another value that is less obvious - to help you think "outside of the box" of your own region's most common practices. Unlike Marc, I haven't toured the world's best garden railroads with an expensive camera, but I have observed many garden railways in three major markets. One thing I've noticed is that people tend to imitate what they see in practice. Most garden railways in each region seem to imitate the first well-known and well-established railroad in the club; if it was a ground-level empire that ran the perimeter of the back yard, so will most of the other railroads in the region. If it was a "tabletop," raised with stacked stones or landscaping blocks, so will be most of the rest of the railroads in the region. Now, learning from others is critical in this hobby. But books like Gorgeous Garden Railways allow readers to see many entirely different kinds of railroads and to see what is possible, versus seeing only what the other members of your local club have already accomplished. Again, nothing in this book is labeled "Don't try this at home." To Order or Find More Information For a time, Marc had a web page just devoted to this book. That site has come down, but the book is still available through Amazon or directly from Kalmbach. If you have any comments or criticisms about my comments and criticisms, please contact us, and we'll publish any feedback that users may find helpful (or even just entertaining). And, obviously, if this book inspires you to get started on your railroad and you need more practical information (like how deep to dig your post holes in Zone 5), many of the methods used to build, plant, and maintain most of the railroads in this book are described in our Primer pages. Finally, If you want to make certain you don't miss any important announcements, please consider signing up for our e-mail mailing list soon. Have a great summer (or winter, to my friends down under). Paul

Return to the Blog-Like Content Menu

Home Pages		Reading Index Pages		Buyer's Guide Pages

Note: Family Garden Trains?, Garden Train Store?, Big Christmas Trains?, BIG Indoor Trains?, and BIG Train Store? are trademarks of Breakthrough Communications (www.btcomm.com). All information, data, text, and illustrations on this web site are Copyright (c) 1999, 2000, 2001, 2002, 2003, 2004, 2005, 2006, 2007, 2008, 2009, 2010, 2011, 2012, 2013 by Paul D. Race. Reuse or republication without prior written permission is specifically forbidden.
Family Garden Trains is a participant in the Amazon Services LLC Associates Program, an affiliate advertising program designed to provide a means for sites to earn advertising fees by advertising and linking to amazon.com.

For more information, please contact us